North Wales Coast Football Association

.History will show a victory for Caernarfon Town in this North Wales Coast FA Cup final, but the real plaudits should go to the young City players who played for 90 minutes with only ten men.

The local derby got off to a lively start within the first minute as the referee was forced to stop play as smoke bombs were hurled onto the pitch by the visiting fans. It was City however who showed the first real sparkle and on 14 minutes Jamie Mcdaid put the home side in front after rounding the 'keeper and sliding the ball into an open net. 30 minutes into the game Caernarfon made a break into the City penalty area and as Gerwyn Jones cleared the ball off the lin the referee blew his whistle and indicated a penalty. Worse was to follow as Gerwyn Jones was dismissed for what the referee said was a pulling of shirts. Nick Bould in the Bangor goal became the hero as a well struck penalty was saved by the young stopper down to his right-hand side. It took until the 41st minute for Caernarfon to make their numerical advantage count as captain Graham Austin beat Bould after a long period of pressure by the visitors.

As the 2nd half got underway, City fans may have been forgiven for thinking that the match would now be dominated by Caernarfon. The young Bangor players had no intention of lying down though, and at times it seemed as if it were them who had the extra man. Time after time City pushed the visitors back into their own half with Colbeck, Mcdaid and Culshaw all going close to regaining the lead. Despite the pressure City just couldn't find the goal they needed and on 88 minutes Caernarfon thought they had won the match as Dion Donohue put the ball in the back of the net. Caernarfon were already celebrating before they finally noticed the linesman's flag raised for offside. With only 2 minutes of normal time left it was a well deserved let off for the depleted Bangor side and extra time was on it's way.

It took until the 8th minute of injury time for the next goal, and this time it was Bangor City who found the net as Colbeck got on the end of a lovely cross into the box and put the ball beyond the visiting 'keeper Paul Pritchard. The travelling fans had been silenced behind the goal and 10 man Bangor had the upper hand. Another controversial decision on 105 minutes then changed the match. As a Caernarfon player broke into the box 'keeper Nick Bould came racing out from his line and appeared to win the ball but the referee again pointed at the spot ruling that the young stopper had fould the attacking player. Jordan Barrow stepped up to take the penalty and this time Bould could do nothing to stop it as it was struck straight down the middle.

City had not yet given up however, and on 114 minutes substitute Ieuan Lloyd smashed a long distance effort off the top of the post. Despite more pressure in the dying minutes the game ended all square at 2-2 and penalties would decide the outcome. Culshaw and Mcdaid both scored their spotkicks but Colbeck's effort was smothered by the 'keeper. Whelan and Hughes took the next kicks for City and brought the score to 4-4 with just the one Caernarfon penalty left to take. Jordan Barrow duly scored to win the cup for Caernarfon.