TWO Richard Jones goals in the space of a minute just before half-time sank Bangor City, as the Dragons romped home to a fine 4-2 victory at Jenner Park on Saturday.
After putting in a number of lacklustre performances in recent weeks, a period during which the Town were knocked out of the Welsh Cup by Connah's Quay and held 0-0 by Rhayader there were stron suspicions that the mid-season slump could be coming to an end.
With Justin Perry sitting out the last match of a three match suspension and Eifion Williams sidelined through injury, Richard Jones was pressed into action as the main striker.
For the majority of the first half Jones toiled away to no avail, and Barry looked pretty punchless, even though, with the return of Mark Dempsey, there was more purpose to the Town's play than throughout most of February - even after losing Andrew York after just eight minutes. York was replaced by Gary Lloyd.
Maybe of late, Barry have been suffering from SAD (Seasonal Adjustment Disorder) and with a hint of Spring in the air, that was all the Town needed to cast off the gloom of the winter months.
In defence, Gareth Shone stood firm alongside Lee Barrow, while Chris Pridham and Paul Mitchell injected some much needed muscle into the midfield, and while the Dragons only put together a few moments of the kind of football which was characteristic of the Town back in the Summer, passes were zipping across the turf and eager legs were running into space.
But without Williams, Barry looked to have lost that all-important cutting edge and while, overall, there was a new sense of purpose about the Town, it was difficult to see where the goals wre going to come from.
And then, with half-time approaching, the game was turned on its head. First Dempsey set up Jones who fired past the Bangor player-manager, Lee Williams, and within seconds of the restart Pridham opened up the Bangor defence, only for Jones' shot to be blocked by Williams' feet. The ball spun away behind Jones, who somehow managed to get his foot around the ball and squeeze in a shot as he fell over. Bangor full-back and ex-Barry player, Dave Norman, seemed to have stopped the shot on the line, but the ball spun over his foot and into the corner of the net.
Just to make sure that the game was in the bag, five minutes into the second half came the goal of the game. A long, crossfield ball from Lloyd, was played first time by Jones into the path of Dempsey, who raced to the byline and cut the ball back for Carter to sidefoot home from a few feet. It was the kind of goal that Barry supporters have been enjoying for most of the season.
The third goal signalled a number of substitutions. Bangor brought on Ronnie Gouldbourne for Steve O'Shaughnessy and Barry brought on Jody Jenkins for Danny Carter.
Barry's lead was cut to two goals when Tommy Mutton, Bangor's best player, took full advantage of an error on the edge of the penalty area by Lee Barrow to nip in and score past David Wells.
But back came Barry. A cross into the Bangor penalty area just would not sit right for Jenkins as he desperately tried to get a foot to the ball. Bangor managed to clear the danger, but only as far as Gareth Shone, who volleyed the return straight past Williams.
Wiliams was forced to throw the ball for a corner after almost carrying the ball into his own net after saving a delicately aimed header from Jones.
Williams did get the ball into the net 10 minutes later, when the keeper stepped up to blast a penalty past Wells after Barnett had brought down Mutton.
Cardiff City boss, Frank Burrows, who turned up at Jenner Park on Saturday, was asked about City's performance the previous night (they drew 0-0 with Chester): "We just can't score goals," said Frank.
The fact that he left before the game even started would suggest that he was there to cast his eye over Eifion Williams and, with the League of Wales top striker not playing, Burrows possibly felt that there was no point in staying.
City are entering a crucial period of the season.Cambridge knocked them from the top spot over the weekend and if the Bluebirds continue to drop points they may find themselves slipping from the automatic promotion spots.
A goal-getter like Eifion Williams could make the difference between City going straight-up or getting involved in the play-off lottery.
Burrows has already raided the League of Wales this season, snapping up Carmarthen's Mark Delaney at the start of the season. Delaney has earned rave reviews and only injury prevented him from making his Wales B international debut against Northern Ireland last month, when Eifion scored the only goal of the game.
The main difference between signing Delaney and Williams is money. With no fee involved in taking Delaney to Ninian Park, if the West Walian had failed to make the grade it would have been a case of nothing ventured, nothing gained. The same can't be said of Williams, and Barry will want a sizeable fee for their leading marksman, so if Burrows thinks that Williams can spearhead a final push towards promotion, then that judgement will have to be backed up with hard cash, cash City could well make available if Delaney makes a big money move to a Premiership side.
Then there is the money which comes with winning this tournament. The losing semi-finalists are guaranteed a minimum of �20,000. The match also brings with it the baggage of League of Wales v English non league football. With the Town the only professional football club in the LoW, Barry will, in the eyes of many, be flying the flag for Wales in a Wales v England encounter. Admission, �4 adults, �2 children and OAPs.
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This page edited by the Yellow Dragon, 1999.
This article first published in the Barry Gem, 11.03.1999
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