Christian Edwards has called on Cardiff Met to get back to winning ways after a 2-1 loss to Barry Town United at Jenner Park on Boxing Day with just three games left to play in the first split.
The result sees Cardiff Met FC sit in 8th place on 21 points, six points behind 6th placed Aberystwyth Town.
Now, they must aim for a maximum points haul for the remainder of phase one to stay in the race for sixth place.
Following their defeat at Barry, in which goals from Kayne McLaggon and Jordan Cotterill sealed a home victory, the Students’ boss spoke of the need to create a winning habit.
He said: “We’ve just got to get into that habit, like Barry do, of winning games, and you do it by knuckling things out, (and) you do it by playing good football.
“We are well aware of what it takes because we have been able to do it in the past ,but at the moment for us it’s not quite clicking but we will make sure we do. We will strive to work hard as we always do and we’ll hopefully get the those performances and points that we want.”
The game was Cardiff Met’s second consecutive loss after suffering a 6-1 defeat to Connah’s Quay at Deeside the previous week. Despite losing, Edwards identified improvements from the side after their clash with Nomads.
“It was improved from Connah’s Quay, but it still wasn’t good enough. We were in the game for large periods, although Barry have hit the crossbar late on.”
“We just didn’t trouble the goalkeeper enough but they went to such a low block it was very hard to break down and that’s credit to them.”
“We just got to be a little bit more patient a little bit more purposeful with our passes when we do have the ball in order to break them down.”
Barry danger man McLaggon opened the scoring with a header in the 20th minute, but the home lead was short lived when on 24 minutes, when a 25 yard strike from Eliot Evans levelled the game.
The winning goal also came in the first half, when a strike from Cotterill, assisted by in-form Chris Hugh, went in on 38 minutes.
Reflecting on the result, Edwards admitted that their season so far has fallen short of their targets, but is looking to change their fortunes as the campaign surpasses its halfway point.
“We’ve got to be fundamentally better all over the pitch, we know that, and it’s been an indifferent season for us.” We haven’t met the expectations of last year, but we keep striving to do so in order that we can finish strong.”
Cardiff Met have the chance to avenge their derby defeat almost immediately, as they welcome Barry to Cyncoed Campus to complete their festive double header against Gavin Chesterfield’s side.
Edwards previewed Cardiff Met’s activity and his squad choices ahead of the fixture: “We will prepare by having two sessions between now and New Years Eve, and we will assess the one or two knocks we got today.”
“Hopefully we will have Joel Edwards back for that game, and (goalkeeper) Will Fuller’s just around the corner.” “Will’s first game is hopefully in January for the reserves, so it’s all boding well for the boys to come back.”
The next month will be a pivotal one for Cardiff Met, as they eye big wins over Barry, Bala, and Llandudno, and hope for other results to go their way in a late push for the top six.
They then have a chance to lift silverware, taking on fellow South Wales counter parts Cambrian and Clydach Vale in this season’s Nathaniel MG Cup Final.
And whilst Cardiff Met will be more familiar with playing at Jenner Park in recent times than Cambrian & Clydach, Edwards notes that momentum will be vital going into the final.
“We’ve played at Barry Town quite a few times, we know what the pitch is like; it’s big it’s a vast open place.
“It’s important that we see the next three games out in the split so that we have momentum going into the weekend break and cup final, but also for us to go into the next round of games come January through to April, and yeah, we look forward to it.”
Featured Image: NCM Media
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