Colin Caton has achieved more than most in his 15-year reign as manager of Bala Town but winning Sunday’s JD Welsh Cup final against The New Saints would be his biggest triumph yet.
The 46-year-old has overseen a huge transformation at Bala Town during his managerial tenure, taking the club from the depths of the Wrexham Area League to the heights of European qualification after establishing themselves as one of the Welsh Premier’s leading sides.
The Gwynedd market town has historic ties dating as far back as George III – the King was insistent upon wearing knitted stockings made from Bala, then famed for its sock production. Nowadays, the town with a population of less than 2,000 is best known for its lake and a thriving football club of which Caton is hoping to deliver silverware.
Surprisingly, this year’s final will be the first appearance for Bala in the competition’s 130 years but the Lakesiders will be clear underdogs against treble-seeking The New Saints.
“Preparations have been good, we trained last night and we’ll train tomorrow night – we don’t normally train two nights a week so we want to give ourselves the best chance possible but it’s going to be nowhere near the preparation that TNS are going to have over us,” admitted Colin Caton on his side’s chances.
The two sides played their final league game of the season against each other last weekend. The Saints came out top on that occasion with the match remarkably finishing 6-4.
The fixture was the latest of six consecutive victories for the Saints between the two teams but Caton doesn’t believe that will affect their chances on Sunday.
“We’ve played them six times including Sunday so we know they’ve got good quality and good players and they’re the flagship of the league so it’s going to be difficult.
“We’ve not got a great record against them, similarly to everyone else, but we’ve had a lot of draws and it gives us heart that we should’ve beat them in some of the games where the scoreline doesn’t reflect the battle. Obviously because we’ve played them so many times it can only work in our favour that we know so much about them.
“It’s obviously a massive occasion and massive game for everyone involved with the club. It’s only the last couple of days when it’s started to sink in how big the Cup is.
“I just hope that if the game was as it was last week like, 6-4, but in our favour – I think everybody would be happy bar TNS!”
From the days of playing park football with a rope around the pitch to competing against AIK Solna in Sweden under a retractable roof in a 30,000 capacity stadium, Colin Caton has remained an ever-present on the touchline.
Bala have just finished third in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League, surrendering second-place to Connah’s Quay in the closing weeks of the league season but they are already guaranteed another lucrative European adventure this summer.
With a growing presence in the Welsh domestic game comes a growing expectation.
“People outside of the club seem to expect success at Bala now,” says Caton. “When we finished outside second in the league to Connah’s Quay with the resources they have got, people said to me ‘Am I disappointed? Has it been a bit of failure not to get second?,’ but I don’t think we have ever failed since I’ve been at Bala. Every year has been an achievement or we’ve pushed for something. If people are saying we haven’t achieved this year then I don’t know what we will be achieving. Have we got to win the Cup? Have we got knock TNS off their perch? But how do we do that when we’re training one night a week?
“We’re ran on a part-time basis, all our lads are working. Our training is hindered by night shifts and that’s the same for everybody in the league but that’s not taking anything away from TNS – they’re full-time and full respect to them, they do what they should do and they win the league year in year out and they do it in style so full marks to them.”
Bala are expected to be at near full-strength for Sunday’s final with only two confirmed absentees.
Defender Will Bell is cup-tied from his previous involvement with Aberystwyth Town whilst long-term injury victim Mark Connolly sidelined with knee ligament damage.
Welsh Cup final, Sunday 2pm
Bala Town v New Saints
Bangor University Stadium
