Chloe Chivers’ moment of brilliance earned Swansea City a 1-0 win over title rivals Cardiff Metropolitan.
The former Archer forward haunted her former side with a fine strike from distance as she maintained Swansea’s perfect start to the season.
Both sides played to a nervy affair with the importance of the fixture evidently playing on the mind of both sets of players.
Swansea created the majority of the chances and were deserved winners in a nervy encounter.
Lauren Hutton Townsend’s free-kick was the first opportunity of the game but she undercut her effort.
Met’s early chance however wasn’t a sign of things to come as Swansea created a number of opportunities.
Katy Hosford reached Emma Beynon’s through ball and hit a deflected shot into the side netting from Grace Corne’s block. The tricky winger took the resulting corner which skimmed the head of John-Davis as the Swans looked to trouble the Met goal.
Moments later, she had another opportunity as she broke down the flank but curled her shot just wide of the upper corner of the goal.
Met weathered the Swansea storm and almost nipped in front. Stephanie Turner’s header was hooked off the line by Ellie Lake after getting on to the end of Chloe O’Conor’s well-delivered corner.
Swansea, however, had the greatest chance of the half. Hosford broke down the flank into the box again to pull the trigger from a tight angle which Randall tipped into John-Davis path, but the Swans forward’s close-range shot was saved by Randall who instinctively used her other arm to save.
The hosts were unable to breach the Met defence and had to make to with going in scoreless at the break, despite having a fair share of chances.
Met remerged from the second-half and had a half opportunity to score as Lucy Finch’s through ball found Erin Murray but she was unable to tuck it past Border who stretched her leg out in a scramble.
The tide of the game however was still with Swansea as Met continued to invite pressure from Ian Owen’s side.
The Archers’ defensive efforts to soak up Swansea’s pressure were almost undone by themselves as Turner flicked Lake’s cross almost into her own net.
Richardson, formerly of Met, almost grabbed a goal for her current employers as her looping header almost troubled Randall.
Swansea’s triumphant moment came from just inside Met’s half as Chivers let fly from distance to patiently watch the ball glide over the goalkeepers head into the Met goal.
In search of an immediate response, Met moved from box-to-box swiftly and after O’Connor’s hold-up, Evans smacked a shot at Gemma Border who saved well.
Swansea wanted to add another and they almost did as Ellie Lake found Laura Davies but her header went over from close range.
Chivers almost added to her tally as two powerful efforts went just over the bar as she looked to utilise her powerful left foot.
As Met threw bodies forward they twice allowed Swansea to attack, but Richardson, who cut in from the side, curled her effort wide of the goal.
John-Davis, who had shown glimpses during the match, should have wrapped up the victory but her chipped effort went over the bar in her one-on-one with Randall.
Swansea City: Gemma Border, Alicia Powe (C), Ellie Lake, Shaunna Jenkins, Ria Hughes, Tija Richardson, Katy Hosford, Chloe Chivers, Emma Beynon, Laura Davies, Stacey John-Davis.
Goals: Chloe Chivers 72′
Cardiff Metropolitan: Estelle Randall, Nealy Martin, Stephanie Turner (C), Grace Corne, Amy Long, Sophie Hancocks, Erin Murray (Jodie Passmore, 79) Chloe O’Connor, Shannon Evans, Lucy Finch, Lauren Hutton-Townsend.
Yellow Cards:
See how Swansea City narrowly defeated their title rivals by recapping with our live blog:
(Featured Image: Geraint Nicholas)
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