Bangor City overcame a 2-1 deficit against Carmarthen Town, scoring twice inside the final five-minutes to keep themselves within touch of an automatic European place.

Five points now separate the Citizens from second-placed Bala Town and third-placed gap Connah’s Quay.

Only second place is guaranteed automatic European qualification unless The New Saints go on to lift the Welsh Cup – in which case would see third-place in the table awarded a European spot.

Bala Town saw their six-point cushion in second spot halved at the weekend after suffering a 3-2 defeat to The New Saints on Sunday.

On Saturday, Connah’s Quay maintained the pace picking up a 2-0 win against Cardiff Met while Bangor City’s visit to west Wales proved to be a rather less straightforward affair.

Carmarthen frustrated Bangor and twice led until two late strikes from Daniel Nardiello saw the former Football League striker claim a hat-trick and secure his side a 3-2 victory and a vital three points, much to the delight of his manager, Ian Dawes.

“I thought player for player we were outstanding and obviously one of the stand outs was Nards today,” he told Sgorio after the game.

“He took his goals ever so well. I thought he gave their marker a really tough time throughout the game, he kept getting a yard on him and I just was thinking if he gets into the right area I fancy him to score. I thought Nards was outstanding today and we have other great performances to go with it.

“It’s a massive result for us, we knew that coming here wasn’t going to be perfect,” he added.

“We knew that the type of football Carmarthen play suits them and it’s effective for them, so we knew we had to stand up to it. We knew we would have to find a way of winning the game, we knew that we would have spells of quality and spells of possession and that we would have to make it count.”

City now face a crucial couple of weeks as they head into their final five league fixtures of the season, facing the two sides immediately above them on successive weekends.

The club host Bala Town this coming Friday night before visiting Connah’s Quay on March 25. The outcome of those two games is likely to have a major baring on Bangor’s quest to secure European football.

The team stuttered last weekend and were on the receiving end of a heavy 4-0 defeat to The New Saints and Dawes was pleased to see his side rediscover their character in timely fashion.

“A little bit of criticism from the TNS game last was when we did concede the two goals we went a little bit. It’s easy to do in football but you’ve got to be stronger than that and I thought we were today. We needed to win this game and it’s a massive result and a happy camp at the moment.”

Dafabet Welsh Premier League (Top-Six)
The New Saints P26 Pts 73
Bala Town 27, 50
Connah’s Quay 26, 47
Bangor City 27, 45
Carmarthen 27, 35
Cardiff Met 27, 32