After last weekend’s FAW Cup action, the Adran Premier was back, with some intriguing ties being played.
With the Adran North and South sides involved in the second round of the Adran Trophy, Wales’ showpiece female competition took centre stage.
We start with two of the league’s in-form sides, TNS and Swansea City. The clash in North Wales ended in delight for the Swans, as they prevailed 3-1. Swansea started quickly by scoring two goals in the opening 15 minutes. First, Nia Rees poked in after Saints keeper Sarah Parkes parried a cross before Emily Freeman scored with an audacious backheel. Replays appeared to show Freeman in an offside position, a decision that was contentious to say the least.
This TNS side is a team that fights until the end, and they got themselves back in the game through a Beth Lewis penalty in the 34th minute. As they tried to push for an equaliser in the second half, they couldn’t create many chances, with the Swans seeing out the game professionally, and got their just rewards with Katy Hosford scoring three minutes from time.
The result sees Swansea in third place, while TNS sit one place behind them in fourth.
One place above Swansea is Cardiff Met, as they ran out 3-1 winners at home to Barry Town United. After a quiet opening 20 minutes, Erin Murray took the game by the scruff of the neck and made it hers by scoring two goals in two minutes and put the Archers in a strong position. The league’s top scorer however, Mackenzie Olden, scored one back for the Town after the half hour mark and the game hung in the balance.
This Met team has been on a good run of late, and a goal six minutes into the second half from Evie Griffiths, her first for the senior side, secured all three points for the university side. Barry drop down to sixth in the table.
If you want a team to look out for in the coming weeks, look no further than Pontypridd United. Having faced the ‘big three’ of the league already, they now perhaps have a good run of fixtures to push themselves up the table, and they started that run with a 3-0 win over Abergavenny Town. There was no doubting who were the stars of the show for Ponty, Jasmine Turner and Liv Francis.
Turner scored two in the first half, both assisted by Francis, then in the second half Turner returned the favour and teed up Francis for her goal. The result sees Ponty rise up to fifth in the Adran Prem, while the Pennies remain rooted to the bottom of the table without a point to their name.
Our roundup ends down in Leckwith, as league leaders Cardiff City remained unbeaten with a 1-0 victory over Aberystwyth Town. For the vast majority of the game, the Aber defence was resolute and held out City numerous times. Some great blocks and tackles, in particular from Elin Jones, was certainly a joy to behold for the defensive purists.
City did score in the first half to clinch the points. The electrifying speed and casual finish from Rhianne Oakley enough to send the home crowd away happy and to make it five from five for the Bluebirds, without conceding a goal either.
The Seasiders shouldn’t be disheartened. They currently sit seventh, with only three points separating them and the side in fourth place. This goes to show just how competitive the league is this season, and we can’t wait for the action to continue next week.
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