City Women dominated in a 5-1 away win against The New Saints in the opening fixture of Phase Two in the Genero Adran Premier Championship round.
Goals from Maddie Lloyd, Lily Billingham, Maddison Perrott and a brace from Shannon Evans ensured City continue their unbeaten run in all competitions dating back to September.
📺 #90in90 | The New Saints 1-5 @CardiffCityFC Women
⚽⚽ @shaanevans_ 6' 73'
⚽ @MaddisonPerr 8'
⚽ Billingham 16'
⚽ Lloyd 59'
Watch more on @CardiffCityTV! #CityAsOne | @rjfinancial1 pic.twitter.com/3P6Ci4tzjZ— Cardiff City FC Women (@CardiffCityFCW) February 16, 2026
Head Coach Iain Darbyshire named four changes to the side that beat TNS in the Bute Energy Welsh Cup last week, with Meg Bowen, Kerry Walklett, Perrott and Lloyd all coming into the starting XI.
And as they did the week before, City came out of the gates quickly, with Lloyd immediately involved in the action and hitting the woodwork inside two minutes to send an early warning to the opposition.
The Bluebirds continued as they began, scoring twice in two minutes to assert their authority on the game. Following a corner delivered to the near post, Evans capitalised on a loose ball in the area and ruthlessly struck an effort clean into the bottom corner.
The second goal came from another corner delivered by Mackenzie Olden which found Perrott in the box, and with her back to goal managed to guide her header beyond the keeper to double the lead.
Billingham added a third after Lloyd drove up the pitch and squared it for the midfielder in the area who made no mistake with the finish to give City a 3-0 lead after 15 minutes.
Chances continued to flow for the visitors throughout the half, with efforts from Olden first coming off the post and another blocked on the line and had to settle for the three goals at half-time.
Lloyd added a fourth on the hour mark after being played in by Olden, with the striker poking the ball beyond Olivia Howard and into the net.
The hosts brought one goal back via Caitlin Chapman however Evans restored the four-goal lead with her second of the game following a delivery from Ffion Price, with the centre-back rising highest to nod in City’s fifth.
Next up, City will face Wrexham AFC in the Genero Adran Trophy final in Bangor on Sunday 22nd February, with a kick off of 17:00.
Cardiff City: Chamberlain, Owen, Bowen, S. Evans (c), Price, Jenkins, Walklett (Power 79’), Billingham (Thomas 72’), Perrott (Cook 62’), Lloyd (Curnock 62’), Olden (Barry 72’). Subs Not Used: Saunders, Long.
TNS: Howard, Gibbs (Buckland 79’), Davies (Baker 45’), Webb, Dunkerley (Jones 45’), Richardson (Edge 45’), Teare (Crees 79’), Harrison, Lewis (c), Chapman, Shepley. Subs Not Used: Bowen, Homer.
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE
“I’m very proud of the performance and the result.” Iain began. “We spoke a lot in the last week about us taking our chances, we create so many and today particularly in the first half we did, but recently we haven’t been as clinical as we can be.
“TNS gave us a very tough game last week, which on another day, we could have lost. We spoke about being ruthless, aggressive and for 90 minutes today, we were unbelievable so a massive credit to the players.
“We’ve got a big game next week with the Trophy final. It’s going to be a brilliant day and everyone is looking forward to it. Picking the team will be a big challenge for me as so many players are in-form, but it’s a squad game and I know they will be on it next week.”