THE WAR TO THE SWINGING 60S

THE GLORY DAYS RETURN

After the Second World War, and with Bangor City now having switched to the Lancashire Combination League, things improved somewhat. The 1949-50 season saw City defeated 2-0 by Merthyr at the Quarter Final stage, and the following season City again reached the last eight to be put in their place on the wrong end of a 6-1 scoreline at Cardiff City. Two seasons later Bangor found themselves in the familiar position of a difficult South Wales away tie at the Quarter Final stage, and they duly emulated previous seasons as Newport County recorded a 5-1 success over the beleaguered Blues.

When Thomas George (TG) Jones became Bangor Boss, he was expected to lead the team to success. The Welsh Cup was TG’s favourite competition and over the ten years he was in charge Bangor had a fantastic Welsh Cup record. After a wait of 25 years Bangor reached the Semi Final in 1958-59. City lined up against South Wales outfit Lovell’s Athletic. After a scoreless match, Bangor were disappointed to lose the replay in Newport by the odd goal in three. The very next season, the Semi was reached again, but this time City faced a Cardiff team on their way to promotion to the second division. At Wrexham, Bangor did well to hold Cardiff to a 1-1 draw, but in the replay in Newport, Cardiff won 4-1. In 1960-61, Bangor defeated Chester in the Quarter Final to set up a home Semi Final tie against Wrexham. Bangor had already knocked Wrexham out of the English FA Cup, and Wrexham were keen on revenge. Bangor completely outplayed their visitors with Eddie Brown and a Micky Hunt brace completing a 3-0 scoreline. Bangor had reached the Final for the first time since 1928, where they met Swansea Town at Cardiff.

The decision to play in Cardiff was widely considered unfair, as the tie was to be played in midweek. Tommy Jones was fairly complaining that his part-time players would have to take three days off work to travel down to Cardiff, play the Welsh Cup Final and to travel back. What was even more annoying for the Bangor team was that the professionals of Swansea Town were prepared to play the game in North Wales. The Bangor board decided to fly to Cardiff, and chartered a plane from Speke Airport in Liverpool to do the whole journey in the one day. Bangor went into the Final with injury doubts, skipper Ken Birch had a bad knee and Gwyn Thomas had broken a bone in his foot. Bangor had been playing three games a week leading up to the Final and were tired but even so, Brian Ellis scored after just three minutes. The Swans equalised shortly afterwards and from then on it was one way traffic – Swansea, with six internationals in their team, winning in the end by four goals to one. When the cup was presented by the FAW secretary, Herbert Powell, the crowd gave him a hard time for not switching the tie to the North. Shortly after this the Welsh FA changed the format of the Final to a two legged affair.

Because Bangor had reached the Final they received a bye to the fifth round for the 1961-62 season and after defeating Barry Town and Pwllheli, set up a Semi Final clash with Cardiff at the Racecourse. Cardiff were a First Division outfit at the time and included no less than nine internationals in their team. Two goals from Eddie Brown, Bangor’s centre forward gave the Citizens a surprisingly easy, but much celebrated victory. Bangor had never reached two Finals in a row before, and were quietly confident of beating Wrexham in the Final over two legs. The first leg on April 16th did not go according to plan for City, with Wrexham scoring three goals and stopping the Bangor attack from even getting a consolation. The 2nd leg in Farrar Road was played on April 30th with Wrexham needing a draw to win and enter European Competition. Despite having a broken jaw, Eddie Brown played and after 20 minutes was on hand to knock the ball home after Ken Birch had hit the bar. After 66 minutes, Barry Wilkinson doubled Bangor’s advantage, and that was that. Goal difference was not taken into account, and a play off was needed.

The play off took place at Rhyl before a Belle Vue record crowd of 12,000 people. The previous week, Wrexham had gained promotion to the third division and went into the tie with a lot of confidence. Bangor relished being the underdogs, and scored twice in the first half. After 23 minutes, a Ken Birch long throw was hammered home by Brian Ellis and after around 40 minutes a long Ken Birch free kick was finished off by Eddie Brown. The second half saw Wrexham put a lot more pressure on Bangor, but Reg Hunter scored for City after 70 minutes in a breakaway. Ken Barnes pulled one back for Wrexham but it was no more than a consolation. When the final whistle went a massive pitch invasion and celebration took place as Bangor had not only beaten Third division opponents to win the cup after 67 years, but also qualified for Europe for the first time in their history.

The following season, Bangor were the victims of a giant killing, losing 4-1 against Welsh League (North) outfit Borough United, who went on to win the trophy. In 1963-64, Bangor bounced back. A home Quarter Final tie against Rhyl ended in Bangor just scraping through by the skin of their teeth, winning 8-1!. This set up a Chester Semi Final tie against North Wales rivals, Wrexham. Bangor repeated the ’62 Final play-off score, and won 3-1. Cardiff were the opponents for the 2-legged final and on 27th April, 8500 people crammed into Farrar Road for the first leg, most people expecting a Bangor victory. Goals from Gray and Stan Edwards gave Bangor yet another famous victory. 2 days later, in the return match, Welsh legend John Charles moved up from centre half to centre forward and set up two of Cardiff’s three goals in a 3-1 scoreline, Bangor’s reply from Grey. A play off was needed, and took place in Wrexham on May 4th. Peter King scored for Cardiff early on and doubled his tally with 20 minutes left to take the trophy to the capital.

In 1964-65 Bangor lost to Chester City in a replay in the fifth round. The rules changed again for the next season, with neutral Semi Finals being given the boot. It was decided that the winners of a coin toss would be the hosts for this vital encounter. After two exceptional 5-0 victories over Holywell and Borough United, City called right and were rewarded with a home tie against Chester for the right to play in that season’s Final. Despite Bangor being red-hot favourites, the Chester side raised their game and caused a massive shock by triumphing 3-0 at Farrar Road. In 1966-67 Bangor were hopeful of a good run, but dreams of glory were shattered by a quarter final replay defeat at Newport County, the Blues missing out by a solitary goal. A year later Chester reasserted their status as Bangor’s bogey side, the Farrar Roaders slipping out of the competition after a 2-1 defeat at Chester in the fifth round. A strong Wrexham completed several seasons of misery for Bangor, shading a thrilling match by the odd goal in seven at Farrar Road. The 60s ended on a slightly higher note, with Bangor reaching the Quarter Finals in 1969-70, only to be defeated on home turf by Hereford United.