After speaking to Bala Town’s Colin Caton in part one of our Welsh Cup final preview, we spoke with Craig Harrison for a TNS perspective ahead of Sunday’s game.
The New Saints head into Sunday’s JD Welsh Cup final against Bala Town determined as ever to capture the latest piece of possible silverware.
Victory for the Saints would not only see them lift the Welsh Cup trophy for a third year in succession but will also complete a clean sweep of domestic titles, not just this season but for the third year in a row – an unprecedented treble treble.
The league’s only professional club have already won the League at a canter, setting a new world record in the process, and proved too hot to handle for Barry Town in this season’s League Cup.
Completing the treble treble would set a new benchmark for Saints, who’ve already taken domestic success within the Welsh game to a new level.
Sunday’s opponents Bala Town would cherish a Welsh Cup win with equal vigor.
Bala have enjoyed a fairytale rise from the lower levels of the Welsh system to becoming Welsh Premier League heavyweights and European qualifiers, but the side are yet to record a victory of any sort over The New Saints and Sunday will be their first ever Welsh Cup final appearance, something which Saints manager Craig Harrison will be looking to exploit.
“It’s another fantastic day and the players are really looking forward to it,” said Harrison after his side trained at Bangor City on Thursday in preparation for the game.
“I’ve got a great squad of players and they’ve got a lot of experience in cup finals which I think will help with it being Bala’s first time in a cup final. We’re just looking forward to it now.”
“We’ve trained at Bangor and had a good feel of the stadium, obviously, we’ve been there a lot of times but it’s always nice to go and play on the surface building up to it.”
Harrison confirmed he has a full-strength squad available to him which, given the squad’s strength in depth, will create a number of selection headaches for the Saints boss.
“Funnily enough we’ve got everyone fit for the Cup Final!”, he quipped. “We have a full squad available which is good – not just for the Cup Final, as what I didn’t want is injuries with people being away and not coming back until preseason. The whole squad has trained for the last two games which has been great.”
The two sides will be very familiar with each other having faced each other just last weekend. The New Saints were once again victors in an entertaining 6-4 win and it’s the Saints’ impressive goalscoring form this season which Harrison believes has given his team the edge this season.
“We’ve scored 101 goals in the league this season which is unbelievable. I had a bit of a go at the lads at the start of the season as we didn’t score as many goals last season as we should’ve, 79, so to break the 100-mark is unbelievable,” he said.
“What is good is the spread of the goals. I think league-wise we’ve got 15 or 16 from Greg Draper, 14 or 15 from Alex Darlington, we’ve got 12 from Cieslewicz, eight or nine from Quigley, eight or nine from Seargeant, six from Jamie Mullan, six from Aaron Edwards… seven or eight from Ryan Brobbel, Robbie Parry had five or six.
“We’ve got goals spread right through the squad and for me, that’s the most important thing and we’re not relying on one person to get you goals.”
Standing in the opposite dugout on Sunday will be Colin Caton. The Bala Town manager has crafted a reputation as one of the league’s brightest managers and Harrison spoke of his respect for Caton’s achievements with the Lakesiders.
“He’s done brilliant. He’s come through the club, he’s come right the way through the system, right the way up through the Huws Gray Alliance and into the Welsh Premier League, and not only has he consolidated a Welsh Premier League position, they’ve gone on from that and competed right at the top and got themselves into Europe so it’s a fantastic achievement.
“At this moment in time there’s some big budgets in our league, you look at the four big-boys: ourselves, Connah’s Quay, Bala, Bangor. There are four clubs that stand head and shoulders above most other budgets so to get into Europe again, he’s done a fantastic job and he attracts some really good players and they’ve always got a really good team spirit.”
In an era in which Harrison’s Saints have tasted success after success there is little doubt that they remain as hungry as ever to add to their list of honours.
“To win the Welsh Cup again would be our fourth time and third year in a row. Don’t get me wrong when I came to TNS, I came here to win trophies and be successful but the amount of success we’ve had in the last five and a half years is unprecedented and way beyond my wildest dreams.”
Welsh Cup final, Sunday 2pm
Bala Town v New Saints
Bangor University Stadium