Cardiff City win maiden treble after narrowly beating Wrexham in Welsh Cup
NEWPORT, WALES - 05 MAY 2024: Cardiff City Womens' Rhianne Oakley celebrates scoring her sides first goal during the 2023/24 Bute Energy Welsh Cup Final fixture between Wrexham AFC Women & Cardiff City Women FC at Rodney Parade, Newport, Wales. (Pic By Lewis Mitchell/FAW)
Cardiff City claimed a hard-fought victory over Wrexham to claim the Bute Energy Welsh Cup and complete their first ever domestic treble.
Goals in each half from Rhainne Oakley and Emma Beynon handed Cardiff their third successive Welsh Cup In front of a record crowd of 1,734 supporters at Rodney Parade.
To their credit, the Red Dragons, who were playing in their first ever Welsh Cup final, can leave Newport with their heads held high after pushing the treble-winning Bluebirds all the way.
But it was Iain Derbyshire’s side who got their hands on the coveted trophy to spark jubilant scenes and cap off a historic season after winning both the Adran Premier and Adran Trophy.
Cheryl Foster led the first five-woman refereeing team in the final’s history as the Bluebirds nearly broke the deadlock after just seven minutes of play.
Oakley’s jingling run saw her end up in the box, and when her cross was cut out she fired towards goal, but the 22-year-old forward could only send her strike over the bar.
Wrexham’s Carra Jones found herself clean through on goal but the midfielder’s tame effort flew straight into the gloves of City goalkeeper Ceryn Chamberlain.
And just a few minutes later Cardiff grabbed the final’s opening goal arrived in the 16th minute.
Oakley played a one-two with Benyon before receiving the ball over the top, she was forced wide by Olivia Fuller but the forward showed great composure to slot the ball past Delyth Morgan into the bottom left-hand corner.
Beynon saw a long-range effort superbly parried away by Morgan before Wrexham’s shot-stopper denied Molly Kehoe after standing up strong to push away the midfielder’s close-range strike as City held a narrow lead at half-time.
Amber Lightfoot had two chances in quick succession after the break for Wrexham. First, she fired over inside the six-yard box in the 52nd minute before shooting straight at Chamberlain two minutes later.
City did have the ball in the back of the net in the 75th minute after Seren Watkins’ corner was headed home by Eliza Collie but the Bluebirds’ joy was short-lived as the forward’s effort was ruled out for offside.
Rosie Hughes could only fire wide from Chamberlain’s error from close range before Fuller’s inch-perfect through ball was picked up by Lightfoot, with City’s shot-stopper doing superbly to keep out Hughes.
At the other end, Mikayla Cook could only fire over Ffion Price’s cross before Cook’s attempted lob went wide before City sealed the silverware in style with a second in stoppage time.
Beynon picked the ball up around 25 yards from goal and picked her spot as she curled an unstoppable effort past Morgan to begin the celebrations.
Cardiff City
Ceryn Chamberlain, Fifon Price (Hollie Smith 90 +4), Hannah Power, Siobhan Walsh (C), Megan Bowen, Rhianne Oakley (Lisa Owen 76), Seren Watkins, Molly Kehoe (Kelly Adams 88), Mikayla Cook, Emma Beynon (Kerry Walklett 90+4), Eliza Collie
Unused substitutions: Anna Phelps
Bookings: Seren Watkins 25
Wrexham
Delyth Morgan, Phoebe Davies, Olivia Fuller, Erin Lovett, Brooke Cairns (Annie Small 57), Rebecca Pritchard, Amber Lightfoot, Carra Jones, Lili Jones, Keren Allen, (Katie Sharp 90+3), Mari Gibbard (Rosie Hughes 69)
Unused substitutions: Chloe Ankers, Tonicha Dickens,
Bookings: Keren Allen 85
(Featured Image: Lewis Mitchell/FAW)
