Wrexham reached the Adran Trophy semi-finals for the first time in their history with a 3-1 win over Barry Town at Jenner Park.
After peppering the Barry net, Wrexham eventually led through Liv Fuller, before second half goals from Nat Clark and Ava Suckley sealed the win. Ellie Preece did pull one back to briefly make it 2-1, but Barry were well beaten in the end.
Joining Wrexham in the semis are Swansea City and TNS, while the game between Briton Ferry and Aberystwyth Town was postponed.
Barry Town manager Stevie McCarthy-Campbell made just the one change from the side that drew 0-0 with Briton Ferry last weekend, with Keira Harris replacing Ingrid Ådland.
Steve Dale made four changes from Wrexham’s last game, which was a 4-1 defeat away to Cardiff City. Lizzie Craven, Erin Lovett, Amber Lightfoot and Lili Jones all missed out, with Del Morgan, Rebecca Pritchard, Nat Clark and Mari Gibbard coming in.
Wrexham have had a real stuttering season so far, with good performances few and far between, but they were up for the challenge today.
From the off they asserted themselves onto Barry, with Carra Jones’ chipped ball over the top finding the run of Brooke Cairns, who volleyed onto the roof of the net.
What then followed was a large lull in the game. Both teams wanted to press each other and find pockets of space, but those openings remained closed for large periods. However, in the final 15 minutes of the half, Wrexham began to turn the screw.
Somehow beating the offside trap, Rosie Hughes raced through one-on-one with Molly Arnesen, but the young keeper stood tall and made a great stop. A golden chance that you would expect the forward to gobble up, but not today.
It was only a couple of minutes later that she was at it again, as the striker ran onto Rebecca Pritchard’s inviting cross, but she could only side foot her volley onto the bar. Ava Suckley was the next to go close, as she got on the end of a cross, but she could only poke wide. And when Mari Gibbard wasted another one-on-one chance, you began to feel that this wasn’t going to be Wrexham’s day.
But right on the stroke of half time, they finally broke the deadlock. Brooke Cairns’ ball over the top was met by Liv Fuller, who proceeded to hit a spellbinding shot over Arnesen and into the back of the net, as the Red Dragons went back into the dressing room with a narrow lead.
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Wrexham’s dominance continued right at the start of the second half as they doubled their lead. A free kick into the box simply wasn’t dealt with by Barry, and with the ball being allowed to bobble freely in the area, Nat Clark swept home.
Moments later a third almost came for the visitors, as Suckley’s wind assisted effort from 40-yards was tipped over the bar, while Fuller saw her effort saved onto the crossbar by the young shot stopper.
For all the while, it looked like Wrexham would stroll to victory, with the only question being how big would the margin be? But suddenly, they were pegged back. Ellie Preece beat the offside trap and sprinted away from Phoebe Davies, before slamming past Del Morgan.
It would have been easy for a team to wilt under the pressure of a more confident team, but Wrexham showed a lot of composure to restrict Barry and force them into loose passes. And with 15 minutes remaining, they grabbed a deserved third, with Suckley finishing off a fine passing move.
Wrexham will feel they could, and probably should, have won by more, but it was a performance of old from them, as they reached the semi-final of the Adran Trophy for the first time ever.
Both teams will end 2024 playing against each other once again. This time it will be in the Adran Premier, with the match next week taking place at The Rock.
Player of the Match: Brooke Cairns
A big reason as to why Wrexham created so many chances was that those in the midfield kept playing fantastic balls through the middle, and more often than not, Cairns was the creator of those. Especially with Lili Jones not in the team today, Cairns really made the middle of the park her own this afternoon.
Barry Town
Molly Arnesen, Holly Jenkins, Grace Corne, Erin Murray (Ellie Preece 46’), Amy Long (Chloe Tiley 84’), Keira Harris (Scarlett Davies 84’), Jasmine Turner (Amelia Herbert 75’), Emily Freeman ©, Sienna Stone, Ellie Gunney, Angharad Beman
Unused subs: Mackenzie Ellingham
Goals: Ellie Preece (57’)
Yellows: Holly Jenkins (52’)
Wrexham
Del Morgan, Phoebe Davies, Liv Fuller, Rebecca Pritchard (Erin Lovett 87’), Brooke Cairns (Amber Lightfoot 76’), Rosie Hughes, Carra Jones, Nat Clark, Ava Suckley (Katie Sharp 83’), Keren Allen ©, Mari Gibbard (Grace Morris 87’)
Unused subs: Chloe Ankers
Goals: Liv Fuller (45’), Nat Clark (52’), Ava Suckley (73’)
Yellows: Brooke Cairns (62’), Ava Suckley (63’)
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