Connah’s Quay Nomads were unfairly robbed of a dream on Sunday by a daft FAW policy

Connah’s Quay Nomads women’s team should not be crestfallen tonight, in fact they should not have been playing today.

Instead, Jordan Parry’s side should have been celebrating at the double last month after clinching the Adran North league title with a 12th straight win of the season.

That day should have marked Nomads being crowned champions – and also rejoicing over promotion to the Adran Premier.

When a team applies for promotion to a higher level, attains the necessary licence and wins their league, they should not have to enter a play-off to achieve their ultimate dream.

That’s not to take away Pontypridd United’s achievement of being victorious in Sunday’s winner-takes-all final at Latham Park.

The Ardal South champions performed marvels to recover from 2-0 down at half time, win 3-2 and seal an instant return to the top flight. What they did takes character.

Nomads played brilliantly in spells too. They could have been out of sight at half time. In the second half they took their foot off the pedal a bit too much.

Goalkeeper Molly France was magnificent in that first 45 minutes. And imagine being a striker with the quality of passes to run onto that Anna Marsh supplies!

Ponty deserve to go up – but so do Nomads. They won the north league and should not have needed to play another big match to land promotion.

Both of today’s finalists have a Tier 1 licence – that should have been sufficient to earn them progression.

When are the FAW going to finally see sense and promote both the Ardal North and South champions?

There are only eight teams in the Adran Premier. Why not relegate the bottom two and replace them with the Tier 2 north and south champions?

Licence issues, knock-on effects, geography matters can be sorted out later, even if it means one or both lower leagues operating with an odd number the next season. It wouldn’t be the first time.

No team which has won 14 games out of 14 in a lower league should be denied progress up to the next step as long as they tick all the boxes – and Nomads do.

Connah’s Quay are ready for the Adran Premier. They proved this in their gallant 2-1 loss to mighty Cardiff City in the Genero Adran Trophy this season, and also in knocking Barry Town United out of the same competition in 2022-23. Yes they have endured heavy cup defeats in recent seasons against Tier 1 sides too, but they are a different proposition now.

Jordan Parry’s young squad would flourish in Tier 1. They may need time to find their feet, but there is enough quality there to hold their own. Parry’s recruited well for this season, superbly in fact. He can do this again.

Instead of planning for a huge step forward, Nomads today ended a magnificent season with a feeling of despair when it should never have had to happen.