MATCH REPORT: St Joseph’s AFC 0-5 Cardiff Airport 

Cardiff Airport put in a commanding performance in front of a bumper crowd as they came out 5-0 winners over St Joseph’s on a sunny Bank Holiday Monday.

St Joseph’s Maes-y-Coed Road ground saw a bigger attendance after being chosen as one of the games for the annual Welsh Groundhop weekend.

Fans were treated to a convincing win from the away side as they scored a variety of goals and quelled the pressure of the home side.

It would be the Airport who whowould have the first real chance of the game as Theo Richards would pick the ball up from midfield and pride by going on a solo run, making space for himself and was able to pull off a shot which Joseph’s keeper Richard Harvey initially fumbled but saved at the second attempt.

It wouldn’t take long for the away side to take advantage of their early domination as they would open the scoring following a long throw from Jonathan Paget which fell straight into the path of Richards who skipped past a number of defenders before slotting the ball into the bottom left-hand corner.

St Joseph’s almost pulled one back five-minutes after conceding as Ben Bailey’s cross almost found Lewis Walters but Airport centre-back James Scott blocked the shot.

Airport’s Ross Taylor-Gibbs was trusted on set piece duties and his free-kicks were something that the home side were finding it hard to deal with as he whipped one in which met the head of James Scott whose powerful headed was saved well by Joseph’s Harvey.

Airport were making the most of dead-ball situations and another good thrownfell in the path of Teejay Caton who saw his shot whistle past the post.

Jack Davies was next to go close for the Blues as he danced last the defenders and was able to pull a shot away but the keeper palmed it away from goal to safety.

Towards the half hour mark, it was feeling like the game was only going to go one way as Michael Hall would go close with a diving backwards header from a well-delivered corner from Caton, before it was cleared away.

After a dominating spell of pressure, it would become 2-0 as Theo Richards would play the ball over the top and it would fall into the path of Caron who scored on the half-volley to put the away side two goals to the good.

Incensed by going two goals down, the tackles were flying in and Ashley Bryan put in a well timed challenge on Caton to win a throw-in for his side.

The referee would bring the first half to a close and Cardiff Airport would seem content with how they had played in the first half as they showed their attacking threat through Richards and Caton.

The second half got back underway and Theo Richards was showing his quality as he won a free-kick and from that he almost bagged another assist to his name early on but it failed to meet a player in a Blue shirt.

With Airport restricting St Joseph’s, Lewis Walters had to shoot from distance and his speculative effort went wide of the goal.

Ross Taylor-Gibbs once again caused problems from a dead-ball situation after whipping in a free-kick and it met the head of James Scott whose header was saved well by Richard Harvey.

Harvey would then be forced to foul Teejay Caton just outside the box for the free-kick and Michael Hall would step up to hit the free-kick which Harvey would palm it out for a corner.

From the corner, it would be three though as Teejay Catton would loft the ball in and with a bit of a scramble, Michael Fallas would force the ball into the goal to give Cardiff Airport, a 3-0 lead.

As they trailed 3-0, Joseph’s did try and bring the deficit down and a lob from outside the box almost caught Liam Sadler off guard.

Joseph’s then had their best chance of the game as Matthew Lloyd had a free-kick in a good area and it was tipped on to the crossbar by Sadler, before an acrobatic attempt from a yellow shirt, but it was cleared out of danger.

The home side would rue that missed chance though with abut fifteen minutes to go as it would be 4-0 as Ross Taylor-Gibbs free-kick was met by the diving head of Teejay Caton as Harvey was rooted to the spot.

Matthew Lloyd’s cross would almost find the path of substitute James Batten but the Airport defence stood strong.

To top off the performance, late on the away side made it five as Jonathan Paget’s throw would find the feet of Teejay Caton and he would take the match ball, scoring on the half-volley.

(Featured Image: Will Cheshire)