BANGOR CITY 2-0 AC NAPOLI

In 1962, European club football and particularly the European Cup Winners' Cup was still in its infancy. The competition was beginning only its third season in 1962 but the preliminary round was to see a result that remains to this day one of the biggest shocks in the history of European football. The winners of the Welsh Cup in 1962 had been Bangor City, part-timers playing in the English league system in the Cheshire League. Their first ever European tie saw them paired against Italian Cup holders AC Napoli (now SSC Napoli), newly promoted to Serie A.

The Italian side were expected to brush aside their semi-professional opponents, but they cound not have imagined the test that was to face them. The first leg of the tie was played at Bangor's Farrar Road ground on the 5th of September 1962, in front of a capacity crowd. From the start, Bangor set about trying to unsettle their illustrious opponents and disrupt their passing style of football, and it was the underdogs who made the stronger start.

Napoli could not find any rhythm or any way to stamp their authority on the match, and as the first half went on Bangor grew in confidence and started to believe that a shock result could be on the cards. Shortly before half-time, this confidence was rewarded with the opening goal. Reg Hunter's cross picked out Roy Matthews who shot home through a crowd of players, and Bangor went in for the half-time interval with a sensational 1-0 lead.

When the second half got underway, Napoli were desperate to get back into the match as quickly as possible. The Bangor defence was inspired, especially goalkeeper Len Davies, and every attack that the Italians mounted was dealt with. As the match went on, it was Bangor who came closest to adding to the scoring as they were twice denied by the woodwork but they were holding on to their narrow lead as the minutes ticked away.

With eight minutes left, Eddie Brown was brought down in the Napoli penalty area and Bangor had a penalty, and a wonderful chance to seal the win. Ray Birch took the kick and doubled Bangor's lead, and there was no way back for the Italian side. Bangor saw out the remaining minutes and amazingly, a team of part-timers playing in the depths of the English non-league pyramid had beaten a side from one of Europe's strongest league.

Unfortunately for Bangor, there was to be no fairytale finish. They were beaten 3-1 in the second leg, only a late third goal levelling the aggregate score at 3-3 and stopping them going through. With no away goals rule, which would have seen Bangor through, a play-off took place in London and again a late goal saw Napoli go through to the next round with a 2-1 win, but not without an incredible struggle in what was expected to be an easy tie.