Cardiff City Women 1-4 Cardiff Met Women: Archers put in dominant display against city rivals

Cardiff Met put in a dominant performance in Leckwith, as they swept aside their city rivals Cardiff City 4-1.

While the result means that both teams have reached the Championship Conference, Met really showed their title credentials on Sunday. Two goals from Laura-May Walkley, and one goal each for Sophie Hancocks and Stephanie Turner sealed the victory, while Phoebie Poole scored for City through a penalty.

The opening fifteen minutes were a very cagey affair. With City and Met sitting third and second in the table respectively going into the match on Sunday, both were understandably trying to test each other out.

It took a moment of brilliance from Walkley in the 21^st minute to open the scoring. She dribbled into the area and was tracked by her marker all the way to the by-line. She then turned her marker and expertly curled the ball into the top corner to put Met one up.

They doubled their lead later on in the first half through Walkley again. A short corner routine resulted in Walkley waltzing unchallenged into the area and her shot wormed its way under Ceryn Chamberlain and into the bottom corner and Met went into the break 2-0 up.

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Met started the second half where they left off. Emily Allen hit the crossbar, but City went straight up the other end and were awarded a rather dubious penalty after the referee had judged that Lily Billingham was tripped in the area by Amy Long.

Poole stepped up and sent Annabel Sweeney the wrong way to give some optimism to the Bluebird supporters in attendance.

However, ten minutes after the penalty, Met restored their two-goal buffer. City failed to clear the ball which ended up falling to the feet of Erin Murray. Murray drove into the box and unselfishly cut the ball back to Hancocks who had the easiest of finishes.

The third goal was a sucker punch for City who just couldn’t create any chances of note, and their misery was compounded with the last kick of the match. Hancocks’ powerful free-kick was well saved initially by Chamberlain, but Turner was there to put in the rebound and Met now make it six victories in a row.

The positive for City is that they can get their revenge pretty quickly, as both teams meet again in Cyncoed on Thursday night.

Player of the Match: Laura-May Walkley

Walkley was by far the best player on the field today. Her moment of brilliance got Met underway and she was always driving at the City defence, causing problem after problem.

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Cardiff City: Ceryn Chamberlain (GK), Lisa Owen, Hollie Smith, Siobhan Walsh (C), Hannah Daley, Seren Watkins (Zoe Atkins, 76’), Danielle Broadhurst, Catherine Walsh, Danielle Green, Lily Billingham, Phoebie Poole (Amy Williams, 71’)

Subs: Amelia Forkings (GK), Emily Bayliss, Megan Waite

Yellow Cards: Lily Billingham (60’), Catherine Walsh (68’), Seren Watkins (73’), Siobhan Walsh (90’)

Cardiff Met: Annabel Sweeney (GK), Amy Long (Erin Murray, 54’), Lucy Finch, Hannah Mills (Tiggy Webb, 90’), Stephanie Turner, Sophie Hancocks, Jessie Taylor, Laura-May Walkley, Emily Allen, Lauren Hutton Townsend (Ellie Preece, 83’), Elianna Chavez

Subs: Charlotte Smith (GK), Grace Corne Yellow Cards: Lauren Hutton Townsend (27’), Stephanie Turner (27’), Laura-May Walkley (60’)

(Featured Image: Carl Robertson)