NIALL MCGUINNESS enlisted the help of Andy Morrison as he masterminded Flint Town United’s giant-killing of Bala Town.

And the Silkmen boss hopes the next time he comes face-to-face with Connah’s Quay Nomads manager Morrison is not on the touchline in round four.

Goals in either half from Callum Bratley and Andy Brown gave Flint a deserved 2-0 success over top-flight title challengers Bala, who were given a mountain to climb when Lassana Mendes was shown a straight red card.

“I went to meet Andy because my focus is on Cymru North teams and it’s not easy to get to Cymru Premier games,” said McGuinness.

“We had a chat about a few things and came up with a plan, which paid off.”

It means Flint are in the last 16 ahead of Monday night's draw, which McGuinness hopes will be kind.

“People say ‘we just want a home tie’, but in reality you want to avoid the top teams and TNS and Connah’s Quay are the best sides left in the competition.

“We want to progress, so a home tie against anyone else - although we have just beaten the team in third in the Cymru Premier - or a trip to south Wales, would be great.”

Flint certainly have little to fear whoever they come up against after sinking Colin Caton’s Lakesiders despite the absence of John Danby, Mark Cadwallader, Chris Li and Kyle Smyth, an with captain Richie Foulkes only fit enough for a cameo off the bench.

“We were massively depleted against a Bala team with all of their big hitters - Henry Jones and Chris Venables - so the victory is testament to the club,” said a proud McGuinness.

“The lads were organised and they all bought into how we wanted to play against a very good Bala side, who only forced our goalkeeper into one or two saves.

“The win sums up how we’ve been playing and sums up how the lads have been applying themselves.

“It was a fully deserved win from start to finish and we could have had a couple more goals.”

McGuinness also delivered good news on midfielder Brandon Burrows, who spent the night in hospital after being on the wrong end of Mendes’s challenge.

“It was a disgusting tackle,” said McGuinness. “Brandon is lucky he’s just needed stitches.”

Bala goalkeeper Josh Tibbetts meanwhile, said sorry to the Lakesiders’ fans, tweeting: “Apologises to any Bala fans today we weren’t good enough as a team but that’s football, bounce back as a team.”

While Flint were knocking out Bala, Nomads were continuing their cup run with a 3-0 success at Abertillery Bluebirds.

The game was goalless after an hour, but Nomads’ superior fitness levels told as Michael Bakare, Michael Wilde and Sameron Dool struck in the final 30 minutes.

Nomads boss Morrison praised the battling hosts, tweeting: “Big shout out to @AberBluebirdsFC, what a great club and a team to be proud of.”