Caton “hoping” to progress

By Jay Bayford
Colin Caton is looking to make history this week when his Bala Town side travel to Italy to take on SP Tre Fiori in the preliminary qualifying round of the UEFA Europa League.
Bala will embark on their fifth European tie on Thursday night but they have not enjoyed much success in previous campaigns, losing all four ties on aggregate.
Manager Caton is aiming to break that losing run but understands the difficulty of the task ahead.
“We haven’t got through over two legs over the last four games so this year it is very important that we make that progress, to keep our coefficiency, to make sure that Wales has as many slots as possible for our sides to compete at this level,” he said.
“We’ve been a bit unlucky to play such high calibre teams but we’re ready for what lays ahead of us and we’ll do everything we can to progress.”
Caton has enjoyed a successful managerial career since taking the reins at Maes Tegid in 2003.
He has taken the club from the Wrexham Alliance to the JD Welsh Premier League and also guided the club to a first Welsh Cup triumph in 2017.
But advancing in Europe would come out on top for the former defender.
“I think if we make the kind of progress we want to make for Europe it would be our biggest achievement during my time at the club, perhaps topping the JD Welsh Cup final win against TNS,” he said.
“It has frustrated me over the years, and angered me a little bit, that we haven’t progressed as much as we’d have liked.
“I’m really hoping that this time will be different.”
San Marino outfit Tre Fiori are competiting in Europe for the first time since 2011, and like Bala, they have never enjoyed victory over two legs, however, all of their previous games have been in Champions League qualifying.
Cefn Druids are also in European action on Thursday as they host FK Trakai, of Lithuania, at Park Hall.
The Ancients’ only previous European experience came in 2012, where they held Finnish club MYPA to a goalless draw in Wales before losing the away leg 5-0.
Trakai are slightly more experienced having competed in Europa League qualifying for the past three seasons, making the third qualifying round last year.
Both return legs will be played on July 5.
Slovenian outfit NK Rudar Velenje will be Bala’s next opponents if they get through with a potential tie with Steaua Bucharest in the following round.
Victory for Druids will see them face Kazakhstan’s FC Irtysh with Rudar Pljevlja, of Montenegro, or Serbia’s Partizan Belgrade awaiting the winners.
Connah’s Quay Nomads have been drawn with Shakhtyor Soligorsk, of Belarus, in the first qualifying round, with the ties to be played on July 12 and July 19.
If they progress, they will then face Polish side Lech Poznan or Armenia’s Gandzasar-Kapan.
Meanwhile, The New Saints will take on either Georgian outfit Torpedo Kutaisi or Moldova’s FC Sheriff in the second qualifying round of the UEFA Champions League if they can find a way past Macedonian outfit KF Shkendija.