BALA Town’s Stuart Jones has tasted success and defeat in a Welsh Cup Final - but he is determined to see his side go on and lift the silverware this weekend.

The Lakesiders take on Dafabet Welsh Premier League champions The New Saints in the 2017 final at Bangor on Sunday, and the experienced defender wants another winners’ medal.

Jones says that winning the trophy in 2011, in a Llanelli side that also included current Lakesider Chris Venables, was one of the best moments of his football career.

Tasting defeat to The New Saints in the 2014 Welsh Cup Final, in an Aberystwyth Town side that also had Venables in the starting line-up, however, was one of his lowest moments in the game.

“Reaching the Welsh Cup final is great, but only if you go onto win it," said the 33 year-old former Swansea City Youth player. "The experience of winning the Cup with Llanelli was probably the highlight of my career in terms of one off games.

"But at the same time the experience of losing it with Aberystwyth was without doubt my worst moments.”

Jones, however, is upbeat about Bala’s chances against The New Saints, and he is confident that that Colin Caton’s men have what it takes to win the showpiece match on Sunday.

The New Saints are targeting the treble-treble, having won all three domestic trophies in the last two seasons, but with European qualification achieved, the pressure will be off Bala.

“We go into the game as underdogs, but we won’t be using that to play down our chances," said Jones, who has been Voted into the Welsh Premier Team of the Season on four occasions.

"All we can ask of ourselves is that collectively we perform to the best of our ability, and if we do that then I believe we have a chance to go on and lift the trophy."

He added: "On reflection of the season as a whole, I think we’d all have to say it’s been a fairly successful one.

"We already have achieved what we set out to achieve at the start of the year, which was European football.”

Remarkably, the Lakesiders have not had to face a Welsh Premier League side en route to the final, having beat Caldicot, Penybont, Guilsfield and Caernarfon Town.

Jones added: “Our Cup run so far has arguably been a lot easier than our opponents in that we haven’t yet faced a Welsh Premier League side."But that brought with it an element of the unknown. There were a couple of tricky moments, particularly against Penybont, but on the whole we managed the games pretty well.

“To be honest, our cup run came in the middle of a great run of form for us, so it was just a matter of winning one game after another.

"It wasn’t really until the semi final against Caernarfon that we started to think about the potential of going on to win the Cup.”

This will be the sixth meeting between the Lakesiders and the Saints this season, with the Welsh Premier champions coming out on top on each occasion.

Jones, however, believes that Bala can upset the form guide in the Final - but the Lakesiders must focus on themselves.

“To go on and win the Welsh Cup again for me would mean a lot, I know I’m not getting any younger and these opportunities don’t come around that often," he said.

“I would also like to win it for the people at the club, who do an amazing job and have been so welcoming to me since joining.

"I’m sure they will have a great day out whatever, but a win would be the deserved icing on the cake for all of them too."

He added: “The mood in the camp going into the game is the same as usual, it’s well documented about the togetherness created within the squad.

"Even at the start of the season, when things were a little difficult, the mood remained upbeat which is probably a large reason as to why we were able to turn our form around.”

The Lakesiders face The New Saints on Sunday, 30 April in the JD Welsh Cup Final at Bangor City FC Kick-off is at 2pm.