Cardiff City taking game-by-game approach insists dynamic defender
Treforest, WALES - 6 November, 2022: Cardiff City celebrate their first goal scored by Megan Brown. Pontypridd United v Cardiff City in the Genero Adran Premier at USW Sports Park on the 6th November 2022. (Pic by Lewis Mitchell/FAW)
The mantra coming from the Bluebirds is a simple one, take it one game at a time.
That’s according to Cardiff City defender Meg Bowen. City have finished phase one undefeated and are five points clear at the top of the table.
They also find themselves in the semi-final of both the FAW Cup and the Adran Trophy. An unprecedented treble is really on. However, Bowen and her side are not getting ahead of themselves.
“It’s all gone to plan so far, but there’s still room for improvement and things for us to work on to hit our goals and achievements.
“Iain and the other coaches have put us in the mindset of taking it game by game, we take every training session seriously, if you want to win the league or win the cups you have to take everything seriously.
“We definitely have the confidence in the team to think we could do it but knowing how to do it and then actually executing it are two very different things.”
Bowen joined the reigning FAW Cup champions this summer after a successful season at Barry Town United. While the step up from Jenner Park has been a challenge at times, it’s an opportunity that the young defender couldn’t decline.
“I knew it was going to be a challenge, but it was an opportunity I couldn’t turn down. The way that I want to improve in football, it was the right move to come here in my career.
“We train three times a week, we have analysis sessions, it did take time at the beginning to adjust to it, because you go from a team that were fighting relegation last season to a team in two semi-finals and wanting to win the league.
“It was a massive step up, but the girls around me have helped me a lot to adapt to it and I think it was the right decision.”
There’s no doubt that the Wales U19 international has shined when playing in a blue shirt this season, none more so than away to Pontypridd United.
She scored one of the goals of the season that night, but the fact that City didn’t come away with the three points is still a thorn in her side.
“It’s my best goal to date so far. It was in a tight game as well. We hadn’t created as many chances as we wanted to, so it came at a good time, but we did concede in the 90th minute of that game.
“So, we didn’t take as many points out of that game as we would’ve liked, but it was a nice goal to score.”
While they were gutted to concede so late against the Dragons, Bowen has been part of an imposing defence.
Cardiff have only conceded seven goals in 14 league matches, making them the meanest defence in the Adran Premier.
“We don’t want to concede goals, obviously to win games you have to score goals, but you have to concede less goals.
“With the defence that we have, Siobhan Walsh, Hannah Power, it helps massively. We’ve only conceded seven goals in the league, and it’s not solely down to the defence either.
“You have to look at Ceryn in goal, or you have to look at the midfield, because it’s the whole team as a unit that’s keeping these goals out.
“That’s our mentality, we go into every game not wanting to concede.”
A key cog in the Bluebirds’ system has been Seren Watkins.
Watkins has been nothing short of superb this season as a defensive midfielder, and Bowen is under no illusions of just how important Watkins is to the team.
“She’s one of those players you can rely on in a one-on-one. We don’t worry because she’s got it covered and she’s someone you can always back to succeed.
“She tackles so aggressively that it feels like she’s one of the back three. There’s been times when we’ve been hit on the counterattack and she’s there cleaning everything up.
“I think she’s one of the best players in the league.”
As we look towards the end of the season, the target for Cardiff is clear, but Bowen knows the Bluebirds will be chased until the very end.
“Success as a team is winning the treble. That’s what we set out at the start of the season and that’s what we’re aiming for.
“We are very focused as a team to take it game by game. Of course, you can get overconfident, especially when you have a big gap to the team behind you it’s easy to get complacent.
“But the players in the squad are focused and we make sure that we keep each other focused.
“The likes of Met, Swansea and one of Ponty or TNS, they want to take points off of us. We are number one in the league, we have a target on our backs, so we have to take it one game at a time.”
