The 134th Welsh Cup final will be decided when The New Saints play Bala Town at Nantporth Stadium this Sunday.
The third oldest national cup competition in the world returns to Bangor this weekend where The New Saints – who retained the JD Cymru Premier this season – are a step away from completing a league and domestic cup double.
Colin Caton’s Bala Town have also achieved success this term, winning the Welsh League Cup earlier this year.
However, Bala – currently sitting fifth in the league – are looking to pick up their first win in the second half of this campaign. The Lakesiders have suffered defeats at the hands of The New Saints this season, losing all four of their meetings, scoring one goal and conceding 12 in the process.
Caton told S4C: “We’ve got to be better, and we’ve got to be better prepared going into the Welsh Cup final, otherwise it will be a bad day for us.”
Bala won their last Welsh Cup final meeting in a 2-1 victory over The New Saints in 2017, coincidentally, played at Nantporth Stadium.
Saints manager Craig Harrison hasn’t forgotten this loss. He said: “Bala was the last team that, my last game of the season the last time I was here, that beat us in the cup final to stop the treble. So, I haven’t let that go. No, I haven’t!”
The league champion’s star striker, Declan McManus, will be looking to extend his goal tally tomorrow. The Scotsman has netted 21 goals so far in all competitions and is in line to retain the Golden Boot.
JD Cymru Premier veteran Nick Pratt will officiate the final. FAW officials manager Lee Evans said: "Our national cup final is the pinnacle for any match official's career and Nick deserves the honour of officiating in the JD Welsh Cup final.”
Pratt will be joined by assistant referees Daniel Beckett and Harry Hendricks, while Thomas Owen is the fourth official and Connor Fowler the reserve assistant referee.
Kick-off is 4:45pm and the match will be broadcast live on S4C and will be available to stream on BBC iPlayer and S4C Clic.
