Saturday night could be a pivotal moment in the 2018/19 JD Welsh Premier League season as the league’s top two clubs The New Saints and Connah’s Quay go head to head at Park Hall (Sgorio, 7.30).
A win for visiting Connah’s Quay would not only give them a five point cushion at the summit but also confirm them in the eyes of many as genuine title contenders.
Ever since The New Saints took a firm grip at the top of the Welsh football pyramid eight seasons ago, the league has lacked a convincing challenger to their crown.
The New Saints defeated defending champions Bangor City in the last game of the 2011/12 season to win their sixth-league title – and they’ve won it comfortably ever since, with little opposition from the rest of the league who have fought amongst themselves chasing the carrot of European prize money.
As magnificent as The New Saints have been in their dominance of the Welsh top-flight, the league desperately needs a legitimate title race and if Andy Morrison can find a way to steer his side to victory on Saturday, even he will find it hard to deny that a third of the way through the season, his team are serious contenders to win their first WPL title.
This weekend’s fixture is the first time the two teams have met at the New Saints’ Park Hall stadium this season, in what is the second of four meetings between them in the league.
The Nomads have already landed one blow on The New Saints when Andy Owen’s strike separated the two sides when they met back in August at the Deeside Stadium.
Andy Morrison has assembled a relatively competitive and deep squad for a couple of seasons now, but what appears to make them most dangerous this season is their consistency.
Whereas in previous season’s Connah’s Quay would obtain an encouraging result one week and then drop points the next, their steady stream of wins this season has been a progressive step forward.
Impressive one-off performances have always been well within the Nomads capabilities, but this season they seem to have produced that on a much consistent basis.
The club were up against an largely unknown opponent in the form of Northern Ireland’s Coleraine in the Irn-Bru Cup last weekend and ground out a hard-fought win in difficult conditions to reach the quarter-final stage.
That left Tuesday night’s visit of Cefn Druids as a huge banana skin and was on paper at least given their efforts on the weekend, a game which could’ve easily have slipped away from the Nomads
That appeared to be the case when Cefn Druids forced an early lead but three second-half goals saw Connah’s Quay send another defiant message to The New Saints.
An away win for Connah’s Quay in front of the live TV cameras on Saturday would send The New Saints their biggest message yet.
WEEKEND FIXTURES
Friday: Barry Town v Llanelli, Caernarfon v Newtown. Saturday: Caernarfon v Bala Town, Cefn Druids v Cardiff Met, Llandudno v Aberystwyth, The New Saints v Connah’s Quay (7.30, TV game).
| 1 | Connah’s Quay Nomads | 10 | 8 | 0 | 2 | 26 | 8 | 18 | 24 |
| 2 | The New Saints | 10 | 7 | 1 | 2 | 32 | 7 | 25 | 22 |
| 3 | Barry Town United FC | 10 | 6 | 1 | 3 | 12 | 13 | -1 | 19 |
| 4 | Bala Town | 10 | 5 | 2 | 3 | 18 | 16 | 2 | 17 |
| 5 | Newtown | 10 | 5 | 1 | 4 | 15 | 13 | 2 | 16 |
| 6 | Cardiff Metropolitan University | 10 | 5 | 0 | 5 | 15 | 12 | 3 | 15 |
| 7 | Caernarfon Town | 10 | 4 | 3 | 3 | 9 | 9 | 0 | 15 |
| 8 | Aberystwyth Town | 10 | 3 | 2 | 5 | 11 | 19 | -8 | 11 |
| 9 | Cefn Druids | 10 | 3 | 1 | 6 | 13 | 14 | -1 | 10 |
| 10 | Llandudno FC | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 7 | 17 | -10 | 8 |
| 11 | Carmarthen Town AFC | 10 | 2 | 2 | 6 | 9 | 21 | -12 | 8 |
| 12 | Llanelli Town AFC | 10 | 2 | 1 | 7 | 9 | 27 | -18 | 7 |