Feature: A (very) detailed statistical look-back at Bangor 1876’s first five years
Five years after Bangor 1876 met FC United of Manchester in their first ever match, the return clash took place at Nantporth on July 6, 2024. Picture: MATT JOHNSON
ARTICLE: MATT JOHNSON
The date Saturday, July 20, 2024 made it five years to the day exactly that Bangor 1876 played their first-ever football match.
Our trip to northern Manchester to face FC United on 20/7/2019 was a memorable one. I’m sure many of you at the weekend were thinking back to that gloriously sunny day with its azure sky of deepest summer.
However you quantify the last five years – five years, half a decade, 1826.25 days, 43,830 hours, 2.6 Million minutes or 157.8 Million seconds – the time has passed at almost breakneck speed.
We all have favourite matches, moments and goals from our wonderful ventures through the tiers of the Welsh football pyramid this but this article is less about the emotional side of the journey, it’s more about the factual side. With that is mind, let us begin with some headline 1876 facts.
In the last five years (for reasons of convenience we’ll omit the events of Friday evening) Bangor 1876 have played 143 competitive matches in four seasons. We’ve won 112 matches, drawn 6 and lost 25. 604 goals were scored and 179 were conceded. The first team have won 78% of their league matches and 79% of their cup matches. Lest we forget, we also managed to deal with the football-free 16 months of Covid regulations.
The top ten appearances makers, in all competitions, have been; Cameron Barry & Joe Culshaw (102), Jamie Petrie (101), Corey Jones & Les Davies (97), Tom Clarke (96), Ben Owen (93), Corrig McGonigle (85), Harry Galeotti (75) and Gethin Thomas (74).
The top ten goalscorers, in all competitions, have been; Corrig McGonigle (119), Les Davies (72), Jamie Petrie (66), Dylan Summers Jones (45), Liam Morris (34), Tom Clarke (24), Gethin Thomas (23), Cameron Barry (21), Harry Galeotti (20), Chris Jones (18).
Now for the less obvious facts………..
Six players have appeared in every tier for 1876 (Jamie Petrie, Les Davies, Cameron Barry, Dylan Williams, Ben Owen and Luke Steele) but only two (Jamie Petrie & Cameron Barry) have scored in every tier.
Another fact highlights the remarkable consistency in the composition of our squads; on top of the seven players mentioned above a further ten players have appeared in three tiers for 1876; (Corrig McGonigle, Tom Clarke, Corey Jones, Sion Edwards, Joe Culshaw, Gethin Thomas, Harry Galeotti, Cian Williams, Michael Johnston and Shaun Lock).
In all 56 players have represented 1876 in first team matches. Within those 56 players the most common surname was Jones (7 players), followed by Williams (6 players) and Thomas (3 Players). The most common first name has been Ben (or Benn) and Sam (3 players each). Rather interestingly, only 26 of the 56 players have failed to score for the first team.
Those 56 players have collectively faced 66 different opponents. Our most commonly faced opponents have been Denbigh Town, Llanystumdwy and Pwllheli (Five matches against each). The place that’s produced the most opponents is Llandudno (Three clubs – Llandudno FC, Llandudno Albion & Llandudno Athletic).
Lastly, we have played more opponents beginning with the letter “Ll” than any other letter (16 opponents). 1876 have visited the entire span of our constantly increasing catchment area. This means that 1876’s away trips have covered an area with an imaginary perimeter that stretches along the entire north Walian coast from Pen Llyn, including all points in Ynys Mon, to the outskirts of Chester before departing southwards to cover the opposite sides of mid Wales.
In pure numerical terms this means that 1876 have travelled 4398 miles to play away matches (there and back of course). Our furthest destination was Guilsfield (95 miles from Bangor), followed by Llanidloes Town (89 miles), Caersws (86 miles) and Bow Street (82 miles). Our closest destination was Menai Bridge (2 Miles), followed by Y Felinheli (5 Miles) and Ogwen Tigers, Bethesda Athletic and Mynydd Llandygai (6 Miles).
In terms of matches, 1876 have won a match in nearly every competition we’ve entered, the exception being the Welsh Blood Service League Cup. Our biggest victory has been 15-1 and our biggest defeat 4-0. During matches we have managed score a full range of goals from 15 and 0 in at least one match. At the other end we have kept 50 clean sheets. In fact, we have only failed to score in 10 matches and as we all know our fans have only witnessed three scoreless draws in five years.
In terms of goalscoring, the five players with the best goal to game ratio have been; Dylan Summers Jones (1.55 goals per game), Sion Parry (1.5), Corrig McGonigle (1.4), Chris Jones (1), Les Davies (0.74).
However, if we restrict the data to players that have played for 1876 in more than one season the stats look like this;
Corrig McGonigle: 85 Matches, 119 goals, 1.4 goals per game Les Davies: 97 matches, 72 goals, 0.74 goals per game Jamie Petrie: 101 matches, 66 goals, 0.65 goals per game Liam Morris: 58 matches, 34 goals, 0.59 goals per game Gethin Thomas: 74 matches, 23 goals, 0.31 goals per game
Club record goalscorer Corrig McGonigle (left) with 1876 manager Michael Johnston. This picture was taken after McGonigle reached 400 career goals
Eight players have scored at least three goals in a match. These figures include 25 hat-tricks, 12 four goal hauls, 3 five goal hauls and an eight goal haul. McGonigle has scored at least three goals in 14 matches whilst Petrie & Summers-Jones did likewise in 7.
In terms of the times of goals scored, we have scored more goals in the second half than in the first half (334 v 263), we have also conceded more goals in the second half than in the first half (96 v 81).
If we split our matches into ten-minute periods the most productive period for 1876 goals was the last ten minutes (106 goals), the next most productive period was the 70th-80th minute (72 goals).
The worst ten-minute period for 1876 in terms of conceding goals was the last ten minutes (29 goals), followed by the 20th-30th minute & the 70th-80th minute periods (25 goals).
If we apply a little more precision here we discover that the single minute that has produced the most 1876 goals is the 90th minute (24 goals), followed by the 45th minute (20 goals). However these facts are clouded by the changeable amounts of additional time added to matches.
If we discount the 45th and 90th minutes the most productive minutes for 1876 goals were the 44th, 52nd, and 84th minutes (12 goals in each of those minutes), the next most productive single minutes were the 8th, 34th. 64th, 73rd, 88th & 89th minutes (11 goals in each of those minutes). The single minute in which 1876 conceded most goals was the 80th minute (8 goals), followed by 44th & 60th minutes (5 Goals).
Collectively speaking if you were looking to see goals in an 1876 match the best two minutes to have been there, outside of the 45th and 90th minutes, were the 44th minute (18 goals – 1876 scored 12 and conceded 6) and the 80th minute (17 goals – 1876 scored 10 and conceded 7).
I’ll end with a slightly interesting fact that I uncovered during my research; the 81st minute was least interesting single minute in 1876 matches. This is because in the five years of our existence no goals have been scored in the 81st minute of any 1876 match. Will that change in the forthcoming season?
I’d like to thank the unwitting help I received whilst writing this article. Firstly, Dave Jones produced a great statistical article about our first four years last year. Secondly, Mike Smith’s Citizens Choice was an invaluable reference point for our first season. Lastly, the Cymru Football app was a great help.
Disclaimer – Whilst every endeavour has been taken to ensure that this article was written with customary forensic-level analysis feel free to confront your humble narrator at a match if you discover the almost inevitable mistake or feel the need to suggest edits or clarifications, after all, knowledge is fan-owned.