Gibson and Nomads set for another European adventure

Neil Gibson is a former Wales Under-21 international

Connah’s Quay Nomads manager Neil Gibson has described their upcoming Europa Conference League tie as “the most important game of the season.”

Nomads, the Welsh Cup holders, have been drawn against Slovenian side NK Bravo in the first qualifying round and will be away in the first leg.

Bosnian side HŠK Zrinjski Mostar await the winners in the second qualifying round and Gibson is well aware of the rewards that progressing in the competition would bring to the club.

“It’s a game that’s worth as much for us in terms of income as it is playing the whole season,” Gibson told BBC Sport Wales.

“It’s probably the most important game of the season.

“The draw’s difficult because obviously Slovenia are much higher ranked than ourselves in terms of the standard of their league.

“However we’re seeded and their unseeded, which is always a bit of a strange one to work out why you get a club of that stature.

“But the club had real success under Andy Morrison previously in Europe for Connah’s Quay.

“So it’s something we feel we are able to do with a strong staff and a strong group of players.”

Under former Manchester City captain Morrison, Nomads achieved some notable results in Europe.

They famously knocked Kilmarnock out of the Europa League in 2019, winning 2-0 at Rugby Park.

Morrison led Nomads to back-to-back Cymru Premier titles in 2020 and 2021 but since then have played second fiddle to The New Saints.

Josh Williams' spectacular winner secured Nomads the Welsh Cup in April

Nomads finished 33 points behind Saints as runners-up in last season’s Cymru Premier but beat them 2-1 in the JD Welsh Cup final.

“It was a fantastic way to end the season,” Gibson said.

“I thought we had a really strong season, finishing second, although we would have liked to have been closer to TNS.

“But they’re a juggernaut at the moment and it’s so hard to get in and around them but in a one-off game we thought we could beat them in a Cup final.

“The players were excellent and we fully deserved to come away with some silverware which was a nice end to the season after they’d worked so hard for 11 months.”,

But no sooner had Nomads won the Welsh Cup for the second time in their history than thoughts turned to preparing for a European campaign.

“In someways it feels like it was forever ago,” Gibson said of the Welsh Cup final win at the end of April.

“You probably get four weeks where the players aren’t in for training and it’s important they get that time away to recover.

“Then they get the plans sent through to start doing the pre pre-season training.

“For us [management] it doesn’t stop and we’ve had a high turnover of players, which isn’t ideal with six or seven players moving on from the squad.

“We want to progress through a round and I felt the team we had at the end of the season was good enough to do so.

“Unfortunately we’ve probably had to make more changes than we’d have liked to but we’re fully focused on trying to win that tie."

Gibson’s planning for the European campaign received a blow with the departure of goalkeeper Andy Firth.

Firth has left to take up a coaching role at Saudi Pro League club Al-Ettifaq, managed by his former Rangers manager Steven Gerrard.

“It’s a huge blow because Firthy’s been great for us for two years,” Gibson added.

“But when people get those life opportunities to go to Saudi Arabia and to work full-time in football then we as a football club wouldn’t stand in his way to do that.”

Former Wales Under-21 keeper George Ratcliffe has been signed as Firth's replacement although Nomads have also lost Welsh Cup winner Josh Williams.

The highly rated 19-year-old has recently signed for League Two club Tranmere Rovers.

While Nomads have had European nights to remember, so too has Gibson.

As player-manager of Prestatyn Town he guided the club to victory over Leipajas Metalurgs of Latvia in the Europa League in 2013.

“It was fantastic,” Gibson recalls of the penalty shoot-out win.

“When I took over at Prestatyn we were in tier three in the Welsh pyramid system and being in the Welsh Premier League seemed a distant dream and getting into Europe was even further.

“So to win through a round in Europe was fantastic. I was very fortunate that I scored the winning goal in the tie and also scored a penalty.

“It was a bit of a Roy of the Rovers moment for me personally because I’m from Prestatyn and I’ve got real affinity with the football club over a period of time.”