Football legends of the Llŷn No4: Paul Roberts

Paul Roberts must rate as one of the finest goalscorers ever to emerge from the Llŷn Peninsula.

Hailing from Criccieth, Roberts sits proudly among the top 10 Welsh Premier League marksmen of all time, having netted 147 times in 288 starts (plus 59 substitute appearances).

A former Wales Under-21 international, in 1996-97 he signed for Football League Second Division club Wrexham, where he gained first team experience.

He has also scored the winner in a Welsh Cup final and the deciding goal in a Uefa Cup match – both for Bangor City.

Born on July 29, 1977, Roberts began his career at Porthmadog in 1993 but came to prominence three years later when 11 goals in 12 matches earned him a £10,000 move to Wrexham.

Wales U21 honours followed, but he was unable to consolidate his place at the Racecourse and joined Bangor in 1998.

Roberts was a big success at Farrar Road. He notched the only goal of the 2000 Welsh Cup final, in which the Citizens beat Cwmbran Town 1-0.

In 2002-03, the lethal striker grabbed Bangor’s famous winner from 20 yards in a 1-0 home triumph over Sartid Smederevo of Yugoslavia in the Uefa Cup.

It was City’s first win in a European game since famously beating AC Napoli 2-0 at Farrar Road in the 1962-63 Cup Winners’ Cup.

Unfortunately, the League of Wales side lost the return leg to Sartid 2-0, exiting the competition 2-1 on aggregate.

Between 1998-2006, Roberts pocketed 95 goals in 194 League of Wales outings for the all-blues before joining Rhyl for a short spell.

He returned to Bangor, adding two more goals in 14 games, bringing his Welsh Premier career tally for the club to 97. He was WPL top goal-getter for the Citizens in 1999-2000 (14 goals), 2004-05 (24) and 2005-06 (22).

Further stints with Porthmadog, Technogroup Welshpool and Newtown followed, Roberts producing a steady flow of goals before calling time on a 17-year top-flight career.

Roberts later represented Porthmadog in the Cymru Alliance and joined Welsh Alliance League club Penrhyndeudraeth, with whom he reached the FAW Trophy final in 2014-15, scoring in a 4-2 defeat to Holywell Town.