When Bay face The New Saints in the Welsh Cup semi-final at Rhyl’s Belle Vue on Sunday, it will be our fourth appearance in the last four of the competition.
Bay first reached the semi-finals of the Welsh Cup for the first time in the 1929-30 season beating Bangor City, Chester, Holywell and
Newport County, Rhyl Athletic were the semi-final opponents played in Llandudno in late April 1930.
Johnny Neal, who later that year would win two senior Wales caps, was forced off with an ankle injury early in the game but he returned to the action as Rhyl dominated the early exchanges.
But it was the Bay who took the lead with Williams scoring from Rayner’s free-kick.
Neal was described in a newspaper report of the game as “nothing more than a spectator at outside-half.”
After going close to scoring several times, Rhyl equalised through Jesse Williams and they scored two more goals to end Bay’s run and set up a final against Cardiff City, which they lost after a replay.
It would be another 53 years before the Bay reached the semi-finals once again and they would face First Division Swansea City in the last four.
John Toshack’s side had made a meteoric rise to the top flight of English football and the Bay had taken the Swans to a replay the previous season, losing 3-0 in the fifth round.
The replay in 1982 had also been staged at the Vetch and for the home leg of the semi-final in 1983, Rhyl’s Belle Vue hosted the game.
In front of around 2,500 the Bay put up another sterling performance in the first leg and were only beaten by a goal from former England international Bob Latchford.
A momentary lapse of concentration saw Eddie Roberts misjudge the high ball into the box and allowed Latchford to score with a back header.
Swansea won the second leg 3-0 at the Vetch through goals from Nigel Stevenson, Alan Curtis and Latchford to complete a 4-0 aggregate victory and they beat Wrexham in the final.
Bay under manager Bryn Jones enjoyed many notable Welsh Cup adventures – reaching the quarter finals on two occasions between 1988 and 1991 before they won through to the semi-finals in 1992, most notably dispatching Wrexham in the last eight.
Beazer Homes League Midland Division side Hednesford, who had entered the Welsh Cup for the first time were Bay’s semi-final opponents in the 1991-1992 season.
Bryn Jones’ side had lost the first leg 1-0 at the Cross Keys in Cannock the previous month and they fell further behind at a packed Llanelian Road in controversial fashion.
That season’s Welsh Cup was trialling an offside rule in which players could not be offside if a player received the ball from their own half.
But Television replays would confirm that Hednesford goalscorer Terry Knight did not receive the ball from his own half and the goal should not have been awarded.
Skipper Dave Brett equalised on the night but goals from Joe O’Connor and Andrew Walsh ended Bay’s hopes of a first Welsh Cup final appearance and a trip to Cardiff Arms Park.
Steph Rush scored a late consolation for the Bay, but it would be the Bay’s final act in the competition as the following season the club were forced into exile after refusing to join the League of Wales.
Incidentally Colwyn Bay-born Carl Dale’s goal proved enough to secure victory for Cardiff City in the 1992 final.
