Europa League third qualifying round second leg - Bangor City v CS Maritimo
Venue: Racecourse Ground Date: Thursday, 5 August Kick-off: 1930 BST

Neville Powell has played for and managed Bangor in Europe

Neville Powell hopes the Wrexham rain will help his Bangor City underdogs restore some Europa Cup credit against Portugese side Maritimo on Thursday.

The Welsh side lost 8-2 in their third qualifying round first leg in Madeira last week and boss Powell wants Bangor to end their Euro adventure on a high.

"It was never an 8-2 score but the heat and humidity took its toll," he said.

"Hopefully it will be cold and raining as they've Brazilians and Portuguese that love the sun and the heat."

So Powell will be performing a rain dance ahead of Thursday's return leg at the Racecourse Ground as his Bangor boys are used to the chilly and damp Welsh climate.

The Farrar Road manager accepts turning around the 8-2 first-leg deficit is a mission impossible for his Welsh Cup winners but hopes the weather helps his part-time team bridge the gap with the Portuguese League professionals.

"Hopefully it will be our turn on Thursday," Powell told BBC Sport.

"It was a great experience over there and we held them to 0-0 until 34 minutes and we scored two goals in a second-half when we had 10 men so to put ourselves in that position against a top side meant we did well.

"And it was only 3-1 after 73 minutes but the last 15 minutes took its toll and hopefully we can improve the score-line.

"Their one-touch football in the second-half was amazing and everything they hit seemed to go in our goal.

"Nobody likes getting beat by eight goals but we a bit naive playing the way we did against a side of that calibre."

Bangor beat Finnish side Honka in the second qualifying round - their first European triumph in Europe for 25 years - to set-up a tie against CS Maritimo.

Powell hailed his side's performance in their first European showpiece and wants his team - minus the suspended Jamie Brewerton following his red card in the first-leg - to end their Euro heroics on a high.

"It will be not be easy," he admits.

"But I'm sure my players will put in that extra five or ten percent after last week if not to get back some pride but win back a little credit.

"For me, we have started a fresh this week. We're starting at 0-0 again and we'll do our best to get a positive result so we can look back on this European experience with pride.

"It has been a great learning curve for my lads and you don't get to play against such quality of opposition very often so my message to my players will be just enjoy themselves."

Midfielder Craig Garside will return for Bangor after recovering from hamstring and ankle injuries to replace banned Brewerton.

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