Andy Morrison hailed Connah’s Quay’s character after they edged past Edinburgh City in sudden death penalties to become the first Welsh side to reach the Irn-Bru Cup final.
Nomads stopper John Danby saved Ciaran Diver’s sixth penalty to settle the tie in front of a record 1,068 crowd at the Deeside Stadium.
The two teams remained deadlocked after Michael Wilde’s 18th-minute equaliser cancelled out Edinburgh City’s second-minute lead.
“They’re a good team – they are organised, they’ve got threats all over the pitch, they’ve got a great presence up-front, but that’s the character of my team to come back,” said Morrison to Sgorio.
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Edinburgh City opened the scoring when Josh Walker followed up a rebounded effort from close range.
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A long throw into the box from Jake Phillips caused havoc among the Edinburgh defence allowing Wilde to scramble the ball home.
In penalties, Wilde had the chance to settle it with the Nomads converting all four of their previous spot-kicks, but saw his effort saved.
George Horan made no mistake with the Nomads’ sixth attempt, with Danby’s save securing the victory.
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Nomads secret weapon
Jake Phillips’ long throw-ins proved a key weapon to the Nomads artillery with his deliveries complimenting Andy Morrison’s direct approach, which is heavily built around capitalising from set-plays.
Phillips’ throws had looked to threaten prior to the play which resulted in the Nomads equaliser.
The 22-year-old full-back had been out on loan at Bangor City until he was recalled by Connah’s Quay late last month and looks set to become a regular fixture in Andy Morrison’s team.
Morrison said his deliveries were key: “If you have got ammunition, just use it. They were unplayable at times today. A little bit more luck and we would have put the game to bed.”
Morrison proud of progress
Having eliminated Edinburgh City, Connah’s Quay become the first Welsh club to reach the final since the competition changed it’s format allow non-Scottish clubs to enter.
The Nomads have beaten sides across the Scottish system to reach the final, as well as North Ireland.
“I’m so proud, we are representing the Welsh league,” said Morrison.
“We’ve knocked out Falkirk, who’re a Championship team. We’ve knocked out Coleraine, who were 35-games unbeaten – they come here and we beat them 2-0. We went to Queen’s Park and beat them bunch of babies and we’ve come up against men tonight and we’ve stood up and been awesome.”
Ross County await in final
The Nomads will face Scottish Championship leaders Ross County in the final after they defeated East Fife 2-1 on Friday night.
Daniel Armstrong scored directly from a corner to put County ahead and Declan McManus doubled their lead, before East Fife pulled a goal back before half-time.
The final is expected to be held on the 23rd or 24th March with the venue to be confirmed.
