"I have a set of lads that simply don't know when they are beaten," reflected the Bangor boss the morning after.

"I am so proud of them and the City fans, I just can't praise them enough."

Powell also hit back at critics who said that they had a back door entry to Europe with meeting Llanelli in the final.

"I know where most of those comments came from and it gives me a great deal of satisfaction to make those people eat their words, we knew that we could go through by beating Llanelli," he added.

"It was ten years to the day since I was managing Connah's Quay Nomads and we lost to Bangor on penalties in the 1998 final.

"Last Sunday took me back to when I was playing for Bangor City twenty years ago, I was proud to be a part of the club then, and it's obvious by their performance on Sunday that the players also have that same feeling for the club."

The players will now go on holiday and report back in three weeks time to prepare for Europe.

"I now start preparations and will sit down with the board this week to agree a budget and possibly bring in players to strengthen the squad," said Powell.