A FLINTSHIRE town is brimming with excitement as their football team prepare to do battle with a former European giant.

Connah’s Quay Nomads take on the 1965/66 European Cup runners-up, FK Partizan today (Thursday) in a UEFA Europa League qualifier.

The Serbian side, more commonly known as Partizan Belgrade, come into the tournament at this stage thanks to their third-place domestic finish last season.

Connah’s Quay Nomads, meanwhile, head into the second qualifying round clash on the back of their historic 3-2 comeback win over Kilmarnock last week.

Should the Deeside team produce another miraculous victory over two legs, the Nomads will find themselves one step closer to entering the Europa League group stages alongside some of the best teams in the continent.

Hannah O’Connor, manager of The Boathouse Sports Bar, believes the Nomads’ success is positive for Connah’s Quay and its people.

She said: “It’s nice for them to have a big game like this.

“It’s good for the town and for the children who have people to look up to, and especially for my son who plays for the Connah’s Quay Tigers.

“Hopefully it’s a similar atmosphere to earlier in the year, although I think Partizan Belgrade will win 3-0. But you never know with football…”

Linda Phillips, landlady of The Clwyd pub in Shotton is forecasting a 2-1 win for the Connah’s Quay Nomads.

She said: “It means a lot to the town which you can see from how more and more people are paying attention to their results and going to the games.

“The Nomads are giving people around here an avenue to watch high-quality football without having to pay the crazy prices that Premiership football teams demand.

“It’s brilliant for a small town to have a team doing well, and you just don’t know in football, anything can happen.”

Charlie Barton, a Connah’s Quay resident, said: “It’s great to see the smaller teams doing well, especially in Europe.

“The Nomads have been doing really well recently, especially last season when they came second in the Welsh Premier League and runners-up in the Scottish Challenge Cup.

“But Partizan Belgrade are a big team with their neighbours Red Star Belgrade even beating Liverpool in the Champions League last year, so I’ll predict them to beat the Nomads 2-0.”

Tracey Williams, a team leader at the Custom House pub in Connah’s Quay, echoed that prediction.

She added: “We have quite a few locals who go to the games, with a few even travelling far to support the team.

“It was an absolutely fantastic atmosphere last year when the Nomads were winning their Scottish Challenge Cup games, and that’s really good for the town.”

Connah’s Quay Nomads take on FK Partizan at Belle Vue in Rhyl with the sides kicking-off at 6.30pm.

The match is being shown live online by Sgorio, on the S4C Clic service and on the Sgorio Facebook page.