Champions League: The story of Connah's Quay Nomads' wandering supporter
- Published
Mike Edgeworth took three banners to the game, one of which said 'mae鈥檔 dod adref', which is Welsh for 'it's coming home'
Connah's Quay Nomads were as surprised as anyone to hear their name being sung in Armenia.
Even under normal circumstances, the Cymru Premier champions would not have anticipated a busy away end at the Republican Stadium in Yerevan, where they faced FC Alashkert in a Champions League first qualifying round tie on Wednesday night.
In Covid times, they were stunned to find one man, Mike Edgeworth, cheering them on - particularly as he had never watched them before.
Edgeworth, 37, was born in England but spent around 30 years living in south Wales before moving to Poland, where he teaches English, three years ago.
With his school closed for the summer, Edgeworth spotted Connah's Quay's meeting with Alashkert and decided he had to make it part of a holiday trip across eastern Europe.
"I was planning to come to Armenia as part of a summer of travelling and I love my football," Edgeworth told 大象传媒 Sport Wales.
"I am a die-hard West Ham fan, but I like to support the home nations and the clubs when they are playing in Europe.
"I had to come and cheer Connah's Quay on because I thought with Covid, they wouldn't have any support here.
"I think when the players came on to the pitch, they were shocked."
Connah's Quay presented their blood shirt - an extra one in the kitbag in case an players bleed on their own shirt - to Mike Edgeworth
Edgeworth was significantly outnumbered, with around 3,000 home fans seeing Alashkert progress as an extra-time goal gave them a 3-2 aggregate victory.
It was an agonising defeat for a depleted Nomads side who seemed set to take the tie to penalties.
Despite the disappointment, the Welsh club recognised Edgeworth's efforts by giving him a shirt.
"It's absolutely awesome," Edgeworth said.
"I flew from Gdansk in Poland to Georgia. I travelled through Georgia for a week.
"I then managed to get a minibus for about six hours from Tbilisi to Yerevan. It was really uncomfortable but totally worth it."