BANGOR City eased into the JD Welsh Cup third round with a comfortable 6-1 home win over Cefn Albion.
The in-form Citizens’ produced another ruthless attacking display to book their place in the hat with minimal fuss, and Stephen Vaughan Jnr’s side will now have a weekend off before they welcome a resurgent Prestatyn Town to the VSM Stadium on November 23 (7.30pm).
After the home side spurned a host of chances in the opening exchanges, Albion took a shock lead midway through the half after a rare foray up field, but City responded well to the setback and levelled matters soon after when Alex Darlington slotted home after a prolonged spell of possession.
Darlington was at it again with another fine finish to put the hosts ahead for the first time soon after, and the in-form forward secured his second hat-trick in as many games to double their advantage just before the break from the penalty spot.
After the interval saw the home side all-but seal their passage to the third round on 57, and once again it was Darlington on target with a stunning free-kick to take his tally to eight goals in the last two games.
Credit to the visitors, they kept plugging away and made things difficult for the Huws Gray Alliance outfit, but they were caught short at the back in stoppage time which resulted in substitute Robbie Parry turning in Alex Boss’ fine delivery for City’s fifth of the tie.
There was still time to rub further salt into the visitors’ wounds, and this time Parry went from scorer to provider when he put through Marc Williams, and the prolific striker kept his composure to find the net and round off the scoring.
This was the Citizens’ fourth consecutive victory since the high-profile departure of Craig Harrison, and following their clash against the Seasiders’ they make the trip to fierce rivals Rhyl.
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