Pontypridd United finally picked up their first win of the season, as they defeated Barry Town 2-1.
After being relegated last week, Ponty bounced back to claim their first victory. First half goals from Erin Murray and Madison Williams set the home side on their way to their first three points. Aimee Deacon pulled one back for Barry from the penalty spot, but it was too little too late for the Plate chasers.
The result keeps Ponty bottom, while Barry slip down to sixth after the defeat.
Pontypridd coach Claire O’Sullivan named an unchanged side from the one that drew with Cardiff Met last week. Barry’s Stevie McCarthy-Campbell made three changes from the team that defeated TNS last weekend. Lauren Harris, Taite Trivett, and Catherine Walsh all made way for Grace Batsford, Zoe Atkins, and Aimee Deacon.
Some Barry players were playing in unfamiliar positions to start this game. Atkins found herself as part of the back three, while Hana Bennett was leading the front line. And it was Bennett who had the first clear chance of the game. Holly Jenkins drove through the middle of the park and slid the ball into the feet of the makeshift striker, but she could only scuff her shot wide.
For all the possession Barry had in the opening quarter, they would find themselves behind against the run of play. Shannon Hindmarsh’s searching ball forward found the run of Erin Murray, who conjured up a magical chip over Erin Brennan to give the winless Dragons the lead.
It’s not often that Ponty score more than one in a game, so when they added a second two minutes later, the USW Sport Park was stunned. A Mia Sherrard cross wasn’t dealt with by the Barry defence, and it allowed Murray to lay off Madison Williams, who stroke the ball home with confidence.
Barry are going for the Plate and have been one of the in-form sides in the division, but they seemed shell shocked after conceding two quick goals. They couldn’t offer anything for the rest of the half, and Ponty went back into the dressing room holding a rare lead.
While the hosts had good spells of possession at the beginning of the second period, they would see their advantage halved after the hour mark. Danielle Broadhurst danced into the area and was cynically fouled by Klaudia Wojtyczka. From the spot, Deacon made no mistake and found the bottom corner with ease.
Now with a new lease of life, the Linnets set off to find an equaliser, and they almost did through Bennett. Yet, she saw her powerful shot from 30-yards out cannon off the crossbar. Most of the crowd thought it was in.
Other than that chance, Barry were quiet once again. In fact, it was Pontypridd who were controlling the ball and looking the more dangerous. This was epitomised when Efa Preece Jones put a howitzer of a cross into the box, but no one in white could stick a leg out to turn it in.
For all the comfort they seemed to have, Ponty were dealt a blow when Hindmarsh received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away. It was now all hands-on deck for Ponty. But they saw the game out in a professional manner to claim a priceless win. The relief was clear for all to see in the ground.
Both of these sides will be in action on Wednesday night. Ponty travel north to face TNS, while Barry make the short trip over to Cyncoed to face Cardiff Met.
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Player of the Match: Erin Murray
A lot of players I thought were on form, but Erin Murray just stood out to me. Not only did she score and assist, but she was always an outlet. She held the ball up really well and brought others into play to enable counter attacks. Probably her best game in a white shirt.
Pontypridd United
Klaudia Wojtyczka, Shannon Hindmarsh, Madison Williams, Jasmine Turner ©, Ellie Gunney, Efa Preece Jones, Mia Sherrard (Holly Broad 87’), Ruby James, Lucy Attwood (Clare Daley 90’), Erin Murray, Lucy Jones
Unused Subs: Eleanor Brook, Katie Williams, Caitlin Davies
Goals: Erin Murray (27’), Madison Williams (29’)
Yellows: Ruby James (45’)
Reds: Shannon Hindmarsh (86’)
Barry Town
Erin Brennan, Holly Jenkins, Hana Bennett, Danielle Broadhurst, India Shanahan (Evie Griffiths 84’), Emily Freeman, Grace Batsford (Sienna Stone 59’), Chloe Tiley © (Lucy Coles 84’), Zoe Atkins (Taite Trivett 59’), Aimee Deacon, Angharad Beman
Unused Subs: Catherine Walsh
Goals: Aimee Deacon (63’ p)
Yellows: Holly Jenkins (38’), Ruby James (45’)
After the game, we spoke to Pontypridd United captain Jasmine Turner.
“Finally is definitely the right word. We’ve deserved this. This is something we’ve been really working on. We’ve missed out in games because of fine margins in the past three games, so we definitely deserved one to go our way. I think we deserve to stay in this league, but the table says differently.
“Given our situation in the table, we wanted to try and ignore the noise around us. It’s the same as last week, we put absolutely everything into these past few games and it’s just the final third that has been our stumbling block. After Christmas, we’ve been a completely different team than we were at the start of the season, and I don’t think we deserve to be where we are.
“Our focus is to keep winning now until the end of the season. No decisions have been made on any of us for next season, and we’re not thinking about that now either. We want to win every game now until the end of the season.”
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