CONNAH’S QUAY NOMADS made a mockery of their semi-final hoodoo by beating Bala Town 2-0.

Callum Morris converted an early penalty after the in-form Jamie Insall was adjudged to have been brought down in the box, before Michael Wilde doubled Nomads’ advantage prior to the interval.

Bala tried to get themselves back into the contest after the break, but came up against a resolute Nomads, marshalled by captain George Horan.

And Nomads held firm to book their place in the final for the first time since 1996 and end a run of four successive last-four defeats.

Under the stewardship of Andy Morrison, Nomads have now reached four finals in just under 20 months, a statistic the former Manchester City boss revels in.

“We’ve come a hell of a long way,” said Morrison, who took charge when Nomads were languishing at the wrong end of the top-flight.

“The chairman backed me when I came in and that’s four finals in just over 18 months, so we’ve got to be doing something right here to make that happen.

“I’m fortunate I’ve got great staff and a fantastic group of players. When it comes to nip and tuck games, which are 50/50 with thin lines between the two teams, far too often Connah’s Quay come out on top for it to be a coincidence.

“We do a lot of hard work through the week and sometimes it comes to fruition on a Saturday.

“All we are responsible for is the preparation, the outcome is in the lap of the lords.

“It went our way with a couple of key decisions and when we get our noses in-front at 2-0 then we are very hard to break down or get chances against if everyone does their jobs.

“I’m really pleased and great credit to my group of players for getting to the final.”

Morrison was keen to praise opponents Bala, who kept Nomads on their toes throughout the 90 minutes.

“We are hanging on with 10 minutes to go,” continued Morrison. “We are tactically dealing with everything that they are throwing at us, but I knew they’d throw the kitchen sink at us in the second-half and leave themselves open to the counter.

“The pitch is that heavy that when you do get the counter-attack, they are able to get back because you can’t move the ball quickly enough to penalise them.

“They had a right go at us, but fortunately in George Horan we’ve got someone that when teams go long will dominate and he was fantastic again.

“Hats off to Bala. I knew it was going to be that type of game and we came out on the right side in the end.”

Nomads will face STM Sports in the final of the competition after they stunned top-flight Aberystwyth Town 2-1.

Marc Williams had given Aberystwyth the lead, but STM Sports hit back to win through Callum Bateman’s penalty and Josh Graham.

It means Nomads will be favourites to lift the trophy on Saturday, February 1, but Morrison is wary of his side’s opponents.

“They’ve beaten Newtown at Newtown and they’ve now beaten Aberystwyth, who are in a bit of form, so they are going to fear nothing,” said Morrison.

“They are clearly going to be the underdogs with nothing to lose and they can enjoy the occasion.

“We are going to be very mindful that they’ve knocked two Cymru Premier teams out and we will do our preparation.”