Football: Bangor on mission to the Arctic

BANGOR CITY, the Konica League of Wales champions, travel to Iceland tonight still hopeful of making progress in the Uefa Cup, despite their 2-1 home defeat by Akranes a fortnight ago.

Nigel Adkins, the player-manager of the north Wales club, maintains the luck was against his side in the preliminary round first-leg tie at Farrar Road. 'That was our first competitive match of the season, while they've only got a few matches left. Now we've got that extra match fitness,' he said.

Bangor warmed up for their flight to the Arctic by beating Caersws 3-1 at the weekend, a performance that delighted Adkins, who claimed: 'We could have had double figures.' However, Uefa's rule on 'foreign' players means a restricted selection against the Icelandic champions for the player- manager, whose first-choice team contains seven Englishmen.

'We're going full of confidence,' Adkins said. Akranes will field the former Sheffield Wednesday and Arsenal midfielder, Siggi Jonsson.