Gareth Owen knows a thing or two about shocks - and he savoured Connah's Quay Nomads' defeat of Kilmarnock

Box-to-box midfielder Owen played in the Wrexham team that stunned The Gunners from Arsenal in the FA Cup third round at The Racecourse back in 1992 - probably one of the biggest upsets ever in the famous competition.

Connah’s Quay’s 2-0 win at Kilmarnock in last Thursday’s Europa League caused the same kind of stir and Owen, who was brought up in the Deeside town, says Andy Morrison and his Nomads side should be massively proud of their European exploits.

Owen, who grew up in Deeside and went to Golftyn Primary School and Connah’s Quay High, is one of the town’s famous footballing sons having played more than 300 games for Wrexham.

“It was unbelievable,” said Owen, who ended up playing for his home-town club between 2003 and 2005. “What an amazing job Andy Morrison, his staff and team have done there.

“What a result for the town. It certainly made me feel proud, coming from Connah’s Quay. You have to take your hats off to everyone at the club, who played a part in achieving one of the greatest wins in Europe for a Welsh club.

“You sensed that Kilmarnock had the attitude that they just needed to turn up and they’d get through but I know how meticulous Andy Morrison is and he would have left no stone unturned heading up to Scotland for that second leg.

“But to go and put that plan into action and win 2-0 at a team who finished third in the Scottish Premier League last season, is some feat. It’s an amazing result.”

Nomads now face the might of Partizan Belgrade - a team Owen knows all about having endured a 12-0 hammering while playing for Rhyl 10 years ago.

“The plan was to keep it tight in the first leg!” recalled Owen, who played in a Rhyl side that included ex-Wrexham team-mate Neil Roberts and current Nomads’ captain George Horan.

“They were brilliant, had some great players but it was a great experience.”

Owen, who also played for Wrexham against Manchester United in the European Cup Winners Cup, wanted to talk more about the here and now and about the great job Morrison - the former Manchester City captain - is doing at The Deeside Stadium.

“He’s done so well with Nomads,” added Owen, who worked alongside Morrison in the summer in his role with the Football Association of Wales Trust’s highly-rated coaching courses.

“They pushed The New Saints all the way in the Welsh Premier League season and then to get results in Europe like this shows what progress is being made there.

“During the summer course with the UEFA A licence at Dragon Park, I saw at first hand what Andy’s like.

“He’s a planner, he’s got that passion and it’s why he can inspire his teams to performances like that at Kilmarnock.

“I liked his tweet after the game when he joked about the amount of passes that led to the Nomads first goal at Rugby Park.

“Everyone thinks Nomads play one way but I liked the way Andy got his point across in the after match interviews.”

“Just seen goal and it’s not 13 it’s 22 passes,” Morrison tweeted. “Coaches meeting Monday morning at 9 this is terrible for my reputation.

“Training Monday focusing on long throws and corners lets keep it real.”

As for another cup shock at Rhyl’s Belle Vue ground tonight against a Partizan side who are managed by ex-Aston Villa frontman Savo Milosevic, Owen, who hopes to be at the game, said: “Let’s hope so!”