Cambrian’s youthful captain Thomas praises character of resilient Cam

Cambrian captain David Thomas has praised the character of his side in their semi-final victory over The New Saints.

The Rhondda side reached their first ever Nathaniel MG Cup final after beating the Saints in extra-time after a goalless ninety minutes.

The New Saints had been involved in the last four finals but after claiming a fourth Welsh Premier League scalp of their terrific cup run.

The central midfielder said: “It’s the character of boys. They worked hard for each other, we stayed compact when we needed to.”

“The boys were absolutely brilliant tonight. They’re a very good side. They’re very organised. We dug in, dug deep and did everything we can to get the win.”

Having looked at the betting odds earlier in the day, Cambrian were ranked as firm outsiders at 16/1 to beat The New Saints. Not odds similar to Leicester City’s title win but they were still unfancied and given the underdogs tag.

But there was always a belief within the Cambrian a camp that an upset would be possible in Tonypandy yesterday evening.

“We knew we could beat them. It’s one of those of things, it’s a game of football at the end of the day, it can go either way.

We’ve got a very good group of players here. We’ve got the quality to win games like this.”

It’s massive. It’s massive for the players. People like Phil who have put time and money into this club. It’s really big. The highs and lows of scoring in extra time. To go 1-0 up, concede a penalty as we did and score again is unbelievable.

The New Saints who are a full-time team and train each day were up against a side who train just once.  Cambrian have a number of younger players, with a number still in full-time education with Dai Thomas playing football for the University of South Wales, it highlights how significant of a result it is, given the setup of the two sides.

In such an early stage of their footballing careers, Cambrian are now presented with a chance of cup glory in a competition they were invited to. A number of players did play in Cambrian’s FAW Youth Cup final defeat to Swansea City at the Cardiff City Stadium a number of years back.

“Their (The New Saints) movement is unbelievable. At the end of the day we’ve dug in as much as we can and we’ve won a game.”

It’s absolutely massive. We’ve got a genuine chance of going there and winning silverware.

“It’s the first final I’ve been as a senior player. We’ve got a genuine chance of winning silverware in a cup competition our league isn’t really involved in is unbelievable.”

They await the victors of Connah’s Quay vs Cardiff Metropolitan at Deeside Stadium today.

(Featured Image: Will Cheshire)