CWMBRAN Town must endure a second successive 420-mile round trip this Saturday if they are to defeat Welsh Premier rivals Bangor City and reach the semi finals of the Welsh Cup.

The Crows had a wasted trip to the North Wales coast on Saturday when their quarter final clash was called off 15 minutes after they arrived at a rain-drenched Farrar Road.

Cwmbran had set out from their clubhouse at 8am and, following a short stop for a pre-match lunch, and by the time they were about 20 miles from Bangor, the weather was still fairly fine.

However, when the heavens opened and driving rain and a high wind made even driving conditions hazardous, the prospects of a football game being played were fast receding.

As Cwmbran disembarked from the team coach at 1pm, it was fairly obvious from taking one look at the saturated pitch, that this particular game would have no chance of starting.

And so it proved when match referee Brian Bevan, of Wrexham, turned up. Donning wellington boots, he made one of the quickest pitch inspections in football history before telling sets of players they were about to have the afternoon off.

"I called it off because the pitch was waterlogged," remarked Mr Bevan. "It's still raining as we speak, the forecast is for more of the same and therefore the conditions are simply not good enough."

And both managers agreed with that verdict.

"I believe this was the right decision. There's been torrential rain here over the past hour or so and you can see for yourself that the pitch just couldn't cope in the end," observed Bangor manager Peter Devenport, the former Manchester United, Nottingham Forest and England striker.

Cwmbran stand-in boss Roger Gibbins agreed: "Clearly the state of the pitch dictated it's unplayable," he observed. "We were informed yesterday that it was fine, but sometimes this type of thing does happen.

"There's surface water and the pitch is on a slope which meant the bottom corner is particularly bad. We are desperate to play, but even if we had started there'd be no way we'd finish it."

Saturday's new date for the quarter-final tie means Cwmbran's away WP match at Llanelli on Friday has been postponed.

Meanwhile, two other Welsh Cup matches fell victim to the inclement weather on Saturday. Aberystwyth Town v Barry Town plus non-league Ton Pentre's home game against Oswestry Town will have to be re-scheduled.

The one last-eight game which did take place saw Rhyl reach the semi finals by beating visiting Connah's Quay Nomads 1-0.