Cardiff Met survived a late scare from Swansea City to get a 3-1 win at Cyncoed Campus and get their first win of the Adran Premier season.
Goals either half for Cardiff Met from Ingrid Aadland and Ellie Preece helped Cardiff Met to a 2 goal lead a close range finish from Swansea captain Katy Hosford made for a nervy last 10 minutes for the home side, but a late goal from Erin Murray secured the victory for Met.
Cardiff Met made just one change from the side that played out 4-4 draw to TNS as Tiggeraa Webb came in Delia Ebbin. Swansea made 2 changes to the team that dismantled Barry 3-0 Monett Legall and Nieve Jenkins replace Kelsey Thomas and the injured Chloe Bull.
Adran Premier 2023/24: Results, Table, and Top Scorers:
Cardiff Met’s gameplan was clear early on. They looked to exploit Swansea’s high line with pace in behind and utilise their 3 cents backs to nullify the threat of Pinder up front.
After a cagey opening 10 minutes Swansea appeared to be growing into the game. Hosford and Chivers had a number of long range efforts that sailed comfortably over the bar.
However Met against the run of play took a goal lead, a Preece one on one which was valiantly saved by Claire Skinner, fell into the path of Aadland whose left-footed rebound hit the roof of the net. With this Aadland continued her streak of scoring in every Met game since signing this season.
A stingy defensive effort from The Archers meant they went into the break with a well-earned one goal lead. It was clear that they were benefitting from the torrid conditions at Cyncoed better and were keen on making life very tough for Swansea.
After a quiet first 45 for Met goalkeeper Charlotte Smith straight after the break she was forced into action early on denying Legall from close range getting down very well to deny the forward.
That miss would come back to haunt them as Met left winger Preece, whose pace tormented Swansea all game found a pocket of space on the edge of area and laced a right footed strike into the bottom right corner to double the Met lead.
Swansea’s afternoon in the capital almost went from bad to worse as Met defender Grace Corne was denied by the right post from a corner.
Robust defending from the Cardiff side meant the trailing team were limited to long range efforts from the likes of Hancocks and Chivers who forced a great save from Smith.
On 80 minutes nonetheless, the Cardiff Met wall was finally broken down as a wonderful through ball from substitute Cullen set Chivers through down the right who drilled the ball across the box and gave Hosford the easy task of putting it into the net.
A late barrage from a motivated Swansea made for a nervy Cyncoed Campus but a goal in the stoppage time for Met captain Erin Murray from close-range settled their nerves confirmed a first win of the season and their first league win against Swansea since 2018.
Next week Swansea host Pontypridd United while Cardiff Met welcome Aberystwyth Town.
Cardiff Met
Charlotte Smith, Sophie Davidson, Faith Mulenga (Grace Batsford 71′), Tiggeraa Webb (Anna Houghton, 89′), Grace Corne, Emily Bayliss, Amy Long, Chelsea Cochrane, Ingrid Aadland, Erin Murray ©, Ellie Preece
Unused Subs: Carys Gittens, Emily Nicholson
Goals:
Yellow Cards:
Swansea
Claire Skinner, Alicia Powe, Lucy Finch, Stephanie Turner, Nieve Jenkins (Jessica Williams, 57′), Robyn Pinder, Chloe Chivers, Katy Hosford, Samantha Wynne, Sophie Hancocks, Monet Legall (Rachel Cullen, 57′)
Unused Subs: Kelsey Thomas, Imogen Harris, Saffron Davies
Goals:
Yellow Cards: Robyn Pinder 40′
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