A youthful Cardiff City moved to joint-third after defeating Cascade Ladies 2-0 in the Welsh Premier Women’s League.
Catherine Walsh’s second-half penalty added to Phoebie Poole’s opener as the Bluebirds claimed their seven points out of a possible nine in a busy week for the capital side.
Iain Darbyshire’s side move level on points with third-placed Abergavenny with the victory meanwhile the Cade remain rooted to the bottom of the table.
The hosts were without a number of first-team players and saw full debuts for two 15-year-olds in Amelia Mills and Charli Carrol.
Cardiff City also handed first-team debuts to youngsters Carys Minton and Charley Hocking.
Almost within an instant, the Bluebirds set about imposing their dominance.
Merely six minutes in, Danielle Green’s effort from outside the area ricocheted off the woodwork, highlighting the threat that the visitors carried from the off.
And it was Green who would prove to be a tricky customer all afternoon. Time and time again, her eyes would light up with joy down either flank as she routinely beat her marker and used her fleet-footed trickery to devastating effect.
Phoebie Poole subsequently broke the deadlock with a curled strike into the top left corner after seventeen minutes and it provided little surprise to see the starlet on the scoresheet yet again, having found the back of the net in recent fixtures against Cardiff Met and Port Talbot.
The sixteen-year old’s display extended far beyond the realms of goalscoring. Following her early goal, she sought to make her presence felt even more as she pressed high, drifted into space and displayed an air of tenacity to regain possession.
And after going ahead, Cardiff were not willing to let up and invite pressure.
Almost relentlessly, the Bluebirds asked questions of Hollie Williams, who stood firm and pulled off a number of impressive stops over the afternoon.
One such save was when the Welsh keeper palmed away a powerful drive from Catherine Walsh to keep her side in the affair, then making another quality intervention from Green’s goal-bound effort three minutes later.
The buoyant young Bluebirds began the second half much like they had played prior to the interval, subduing Cascade to prolonged pressure once more.
Jasmine Simpson came close to doubling her side’s lead as she burst through the Cade’s high line, but after finding herself one-on-one, was unable to strike gold as Williams collected her tame effort.
Although their attacking exuberance slightly diminished as the second half progressed, an air of defensive resoluteness was entailed. Holding firm at the back with a compact, combative midfield grouping together effectively, Cardiff stood firm and limited their opponents to very few chances upfield.
The Bluebirds ensured that the three points would be making an unscathed journey to the Capital when, in the 67th minute, Walsh fired a composed penalty straight down the middle of the goal.
Fifteen minutes from time, Simpson knocked on the door for not the first time, calling Williams back into action with a testing strike from 20 yards out.
Though ultimately, the clash petered out from there on and Cardiff claimed the victory.
Cascade Ladies: Hollie Williams, Casey Thomas, Daisy Evan-Watkins, Charli Carroll, Katie Davies, Lana Cooper, Chrystalla Moreton, Amelia Mills, Mia Kemp (Chloe Condy, 85), Aimee Jones (Celsey Williams, 64), Zoe Anthony (Sophie Hamer, 64)
Yellow Cards: Lana Cooper 28’
Cardiff City: Ceryn Chamberlain, Ffion Price, Hannah Daley, Sophie Norman, Danielle Green, Jasmine Simpson, Ellie Jones, Phoebie Poole (Charlotte Hocking, 61), Catherine Walsh (Lisa Owen, 71), Cerys Pinchard, Brooke Evans (Chloe Minton, 84)
Goals: Phoebie Poole 18, Catherine Walsh p 67’
Cascade Ladies’ Holly Hughes said:
“Congratulations to Amelia Mills and Charli Carrol on making your full debuts at 15 today.
“Both put a shift in for the full ninety. Plenty of youth on the pitch.”
Cardiff City’s Iain Darbyshire said:
“A solid performance to get the three points.
“The girls have performed incredibly with three tough fixtures in seven days.
“It was fantastic to have five 16-year-olds get minutes with three starting and playing unbelievably well. The future looks bright.”
Recap the action by going through our live blog as-it-happened:
(Featured Image: Chwarae Sports Agency/Richard Poynter)
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