And so to the last week in June and the recommencement of European club competitions. Tonight the visit of HJK Helsinki to Connah's Quay Nomads, appropriately at the Bangor University Stadium, a mere 107 mile round trip for the 'home' side, in the Europa League.
Before the Nomads, Connah's Quay FC was founded in 1890 and disbanded after a second Welsh Cup final loss in 1911. Connah's Quay & Shotton was then formed in 1920 and beat Cardiff, featuring several players from the team that beat Arsenal in the 1927 FA Cup Final, in the 1929 Welsh Cup Final. Six months later the club went bust....
The existing club was formed in July 1946 as Connah's Quay Juniors, and a senior team was formed and joined the Flintshire League in 1948. Prior to the 1952/53 season the club's suffix changed to Nomads; the Nomads joined the Welsh League (North) and, despite returning to local leagues for 7 years, rejoined it in 1966. In 1974 the club joined the newly formed Clwyd League and, following 3 successful seasons in the Welsh Alliance, became founder members of the Cymru Alliance in 1990 then the League of Wales two seasons later.
The Nomads, an odd name for a club that had spent 51 seasons at the Halfway Ground, moved after a season of groundsharing at Rhyl to its current home, the Deeside Stadium in 1998. After bereavements and retirements the club was taken over by gap personnel in June 2008 to become gap Connah's Quay Nomads.
2010 saw the club narrowly miss out on the cut off for the Super 12 League - thus the club began the 2010/11 season in the Cymru Alliance which they won the following season but were deprived of promotion after failing to gain a domestic license. Notwithstanding this setback the Nomads were again crowned Cymru Alliance champions in 2013 and this time the ascent to the Welsh Premier League was granted.
Last year saw the Nomads qualify for the Europa League - and a giantkilling as the club beat Norwegian team Stabaek over two legs before bowing out to Vojvodina from Serbia. A second place finish last term, a mere 27 points adrift of The New Saints, brings about another Europa League adventure starting tonight with the club also removing gap from its name in the close season.
Helsingin Jalkapalloklubi, 'The Football Club of
Helsinki', was founded on 19 June 1907 by Fredrik Wathen. HJK, or 'Klubi' (The
Club) have won 27 Finnish championships, including six in succession between
2009 and 2014, 12 Finnish Cups and 5 Finnish League Cups.
The visitors from the Telia 5G-areena were a multi sport club until 1978, but other official sports - bandy, tennis, bowling, ice hockey, handball and figure skating - are no longer endorsed. Runners up in last season's Veikkausliga, HJK stand 8 points clear at the top this time after 15 games and today's game sees a return to Bangor - in 2011 a 3-0 away win against Bangor City formed part of a 13-0 aggregate victory in the Champions League.
It's hardly flaming June as the rain teems down under
battleship grey skies. Past Little BigHeads and a slight detour via Thelwall
and Warrington before rejoining the M56 and overtaking a car and trailer
carrying a septic tank - foul like the weather.....
Then the A494 where the traffic is held up by a Dewulf combine harvester, past Bodelwyddan, and through the Conwy, Penmaenbach and Pen-y-Clip tunnels. Penrhyn Castle greets us on the outskirts of Bangor, 'City of Learning' - one of the UK's smallest cities with a population of 19,000 including 10,500 students !! It's also the home of a multitude of empty shops and closed pubs - even The Black Bull, the local Wetherspoons offering, is shut....but the rain has relented. The cathedral dates back to 546 AD and we pay a quick visit before climbing Bangor Mount, shrouded in cloud.
Lunch is at The Feral Cat with a pint of Palomino from the Wild Horse Brewery. Then a trip to Garth Pier, 50 pence to get on - scandalous but no one is collecting... All the outlets are closed leaving just the view of the Menai Bridge and a couple of bemused HJK fans for your 50p ! Back to the car, passing Peep nightclub and the Lash Lounge, both of which conjure up unwanted images, and the rain returns.
A quick pootle down the Holyhead Road brings us to Bangor University Stadium in Nantporth, the home of Bangor City Football Club, Club Pel-droed Dinas Bangor. The Citizens were founded in 1876 as Bangor FC, and have played in the inaugural season of the Welsh Cup and the Europa League - as well as being founder members of the North Wales Coast League, Welsh National League, North Wales Combination, Welsh League (North), Northern Premier League, Alliance Premier League and League of Wales.
The club moved to Nantporth in 2012 after 43 years at Maes y Dref (now housing) and 92 years at Farrar Road (now the town's Morrisons supermarket). The Citizens have won 3 Welsh titles, the last in 2010/11, and 8 Welsh Cups, and are tonight on Europa League duty themselves in Lyngby, Denmark.
The car park backs onto the main grandstand where the 'home' supporters sit, with the segregated Finns in the smaller family stand opposite, next to the press gantry. The HJK tifosi have brought two banners - 'Forza' and 'HJK kannattajat' - and a travelling support of 29 (we count 33 !), two of whom are topless..... The other three sides of the ground are tree lined, preventing views of the Menai Strait.
In the swirling rain our neighbour in the main stand
turns to ask 'It is June isn't it ?' - he leaves, shivering, ten minutes into
the second half, whilst other spectators are wearing winter coats and gloves -
but 12°C is positively tropical for the HJK hardcore two !!
The tannoy officiously informs both teams that there are 10, then 5, then 2 minutes of warm up time left, before instructing the players to leave the field. We are also told that HJK's Brazilian captain, Rafinha, is celebrating his birthday today (he's 35). Andy Morrison, Nomads' manager, takes his seat three rows ahead of us and provides us with a typically animated performance, the language naturally industrial.
Nomads are in red with white trim, HJK in blue and white
with an eclectic team mix of 5 Finns, 5 Africans and a South American.
Unsurprisingly Helsinki, overwhelming favourites tonight, take control and
start to exert pressure. Akseli Pelvas rolls his man and shoots, but Nomads'
custodian John Danby saves well and Demba Savage's follow up is heroically
blocked.
Savage beats his man to dink over an inviting cross but there are no takers, whilst Rafinha warms Danby's hands. Shortly after, Ghanaian international Anthony Annan's shot is deflected, just, wide into the side netting. Nomads have defended superbly but hardly threatened until the 38th minute when they are awarded a slightly dubious free kick.
Mike Pearson rolls the ball to Nathan Woolfe thirty yards out, and his delivery into the corridor of uncertainty causes mayhem, missing everybody before going beyond HJK's unsighted keeper, Markus Uusitalo, hitting the inside of the post and trickling in. Nobody can quite believe it, certainly not HJK who look shell shocked and create nothing more before half time.
The second period sees Nomads best spell with Callum Morris forcing a decent save from Uusitalo, and Jay Owen's header is touched aside. Thereafter HJK dominate possession, but in the face of resilient defending never look convincing enough to force the equaliser.
Wild long range efforts from Faith Obilor sail out of the ground, whilst Vincent Onovo, Evans Mensah and Rafinha, again, only require regulation saves from Danby. As time ticks on two moments of goalkeeping madness nearly provide a Finnish finish (sorry!).
First, flailing at a cross he could never expect to reach, Danby tips the ball to Savage whose lob is headed off the line by Pearson. Then inexplicably carrying the ball outside the area gives Klubi a dangerous free kick which is blocked and the subsequent goalmouth melee and flurry of corners come to naught, leaving the Nomads with an unexpected and famous victory. ‘Is Connah's Quay Nomads win the Welsh Premier's greatest in Europe ?’ asks the BBC.
