Former Connah’s Quay Nomads manager Neil Gibson has backed his old side to retain the JD Welsh Cup on Sunday, claiming they are ‘more than capable’ of defeating The New Saints again.
Gibson, now at the helm of English National League side Wealdstone, guided Connah’s Quay to a shock victory over TNS in last season’s final – the third time he had lifted the trophy.
Last year’s success saw Gibson achieve a “full set” of JD Welsh Cup victories, having won the competition as a player/manager, assistant manager, and manager.
2025 JD Welsh Cup Final
“When I won it last year, it was almost like I’d completed the set,” he said. “I won it as a player/manager in 2013 with Prestatyn, then I won it as an assistant manager to Andy Morrison at Connah’s Quay in 2018, and won it with Connah’s Quay last season as the manager.”
Gibson fondly recalled the support of the Nomads’ faithful: “There are two great fans who follow Connah’s Quay, and they got a banner made out of it [the three Welsh Cup wins]. They brought it to the game when Wealdstone played in Rochdale earlier in the season!
“The competition has given me some really great times. Whenever you win the Welsh Cup, it’s such a special competition. It was always one you really try to go as far as you could in and I’ve been very lucky to have some success in it.”
The New Saints went into last season’s final after an unbeaten campaign in the JD Cymru Premier, but goals from Harry Franklin and Josh Williams saw the Nomads claim a shock 2-1 win at Rodney Parade.
“Looking back at it, I feel we definitely earned the right to win it,” Gibson said. “We felt we were the second best team in the league to TNS – albeit we were quite a bit behind them in the league, but we were second consistently right the way through.
“But in the Welsh Cup, we had to beat Caernarfon in the first round we entered and we had to beat Flint, who were getting promoted that season. Then, Bala in the semi-final and obviously TNS in the final, so we had to beat all three other clubs who had entered Europe that season to win the competition.
“There’s different ways to win and whatever path takes you there, but we certainly felt we’d earned our right to win.
“I thought in the final, that although TNS had definitely got the better of us in the league over the four fixtures, we kind of held a little bit back for the Cup Final, where we didn’t really want to show what we were planning to do.
“Sometimes those things work and the game plan comes off and it worked that day because the players were magnificent and the players executed it properly, so all credit to them.”
2025 JD Welsh Cup Final
The New Saints are again the favourites this year, but Gibson has every faith that his former players can rise to the occasion.
“On a one-off game, yeah,” he said when asked if Connah’s Quay can cause an upset and deny The New Saints the domestic treble again.
“When you talk about the type of players like Kai Edwards, Noah Edwards, Ben Nash, Callum Bratley, Declan Poole, Jon Disney and of course, Chris Marriot, they’ve been in and around that and know what it’s like to win. So there’s a lot of players, that when there’s something really riding on it, that group are more than capable of winning any game they go into.
“They have to play exceptionally well to beat TNS but it can happen on a one-off game and they’ll have the belief and showed they can do it last season, so what’s to stop them again?”
Gibson departed the Nomads last August and took on the challenge of leading Wealdstone away from the National League relegation zone in January.
The Stones head into their final game of the campaign on Monday with the club still desperately fighting to avoid the drop, but despite his commitments, Gibson retains a close interest in the Welsh game, and will be supporting his former club from over the bridge.
“I keep a close eye on it as much as I can, obviously the National League is pretty hectic with the 46 games and playing every three days, but I still manage to keep an eye out and I’ve got a lot of close friends who’re still heavily involved and it’s close to my heart.
“We’ll be in training Sunday morning, so my plan is once I’ve got all my work done and prep for Monday, me and Lee Jones will sit down somewhere and watch the lads.
“Obviously, it’s a fantastic achievement for everyone at TNS and Craig Harrison for what they’ve done, but a lot of the players still at Connah’s Quay are my players in a way. A lot of them have played for me at three different clubs and we had a strong bond there, so I’ll be cheering them on and hoping those players are able to retain it again this year.”
