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Happy birthday Chris Jones – scorer of important goals

Bangor City manager Neville Powell (right) and Chris Jones after the 2010 Europa League victory over Honka of Finland (Photo by Martin Rickett/PA Images via Getty Images)

Happy 35th birthday to a highly-rated footballer who throughout his career has specialised in important goals.

Born on October 9, 1985, Chris Jones has represented quite a few clubs, but is probably best known for his achievements with Bangor City.

Chris was a key member of the Bangor side which won the Welsh Premier League title in 2010-11, but he had made himself part of club folklore nine months previously.

Not only did he score the priceless away goal in a 1-1 Europa League draw against Honka Espoo of Finland, he also grabbed the winner in the return leg at the Racecourse Ground, Wrexham, to seal a 2-1 victory and 3-2 success on aggregate.

In the 2010-11 season, Chris also bagged a stunning late 25-yard winner in a 1-0 Welsh Cup semi-final victory over Connah’s Quay Nomads at Rhyl.

And he repeated the dose in 2012-13, again at Belle Vue, when deep into injury time he plundered the deciding goal in another Welsh Cup semi.

This time City defeated TNS 1-0 to reach a fourth successive final, Chris sealing the win with a dipping volley over keeper Paul Harrison.

The memory of Chris being chaired off the field that day is something that will live with Bangor fans forever.

The season after, Chris scored the only goal of the Citizens’ 1-0 win against Newtown in the Europa League play-off semi-final at Nantporth. He also netted in the final, a 2-0 beating of Rhyl.

Chris left Bangor at the end of 2015-16 in pursuit of more game time.

He featured in 175 WPL matches for the Citizens, scoring 37 goals. In total, he has played in 297 Welsh Premier games and netted 56 times.

A former Wales Under-19 and Under-20 cap who gained professional experience at Leeds United and AFC Bournemouth before moving to League of Ireland club Limerick, he then joined Colwyn Bay and a few months later began his stint in the Welsh Premier with Caernarfon Town in the 2006/07 season.

Jones then had spells with Llangefni Town in their sole WPL campaign and Porthmadog in 2008-09 before a move to Bangor City in May 2010.

After leaving City, he rejoined Porthmadog in 2016-17.

For the past three seasons, he has been a regular goal-getter for Holyhead Hotspur. who have just been promoted to the Cymru North.

Always played at a high level, always made an impact.