City Women produced a clinical performance to beat Pontypridd United 7-1 and remain top of the Genero Adran Premier table.
Goals from Nieve Jenkins, Megan Bowen, Hannah Power, Amy Long and a Laura Curnock hat-trick ensured City came away with the victory at the USW Sport Park.
The Bluebirds came out of the blocks quickly, opening the scoring on the six minute mark. After some neat play on the left wing from Mackenzie Olden to find Curnock in the six yard box, the striker found the net.
The hosts came close to responding instantly as Seren Thomas hit the bar one minute later, which was followed by Olden hitting the crossbar in the following phase of play after being found in the box by Scarlett Baker-Perry.
City doubled the advantage shortly after as Ffion Price delivered a perfect corner towards Jenkins at the back post, who leaped in front of the Ponty defence to head home.
Skipper Power came close to a third shortly before the half-hour mark, with her long-ranged effort crashing off the crossbar. Pontypridd responded well as Madison Lloyd halved the deficit, converting from inside the area after being found by Jemima Lister.
But City restored their two-goal advantage through Curnock shortly before half time, tapping home after Olden’s effort was parried into her path.
After the break, the visitors scored their fourth after Olden’s corner was dangerously delivered to the back post, where Bowen made no mistake to guide it into the net.
Curnock completed her hat-trick from the penalty spot after a handball in the area, confidently placing the ball high into the roof of the net to make sure she took home the match ball.
Just seconds after being introduced off the bench, Long made it six, scoring her first goal for the club after fellow substitute Lily Billingham tested the keeper with a low effort which fell kindly for Long to slot home.
With eight minutes left to play, Power got in on the action following another testing corner, this time from Mikayla Cook, where she secured the victory in style.
Next up for City Women is a home match against Barry Town United on Sunday, November 2nd, with a kick-off of 2pm.
FINAL SCORE: PONTYPRIDD UNITED 1-7 CARDIFF CITY
Pontypridd United: Hawkins, Davies ©, Lister, Lloyd, Rutter, Fenton, Thomas, D’ambrosio (Anggove 45’), Grenfell (Sherrard 70’), Medcraft. Subs Not Used: Phelps, Ackerman, Edwards, Hibbert.
Cardiff City: Olsen, Price (Owen 81’), Bowen (Billingham 56’), Jenkins, Baker-Perry, Power ©, Evans (Long 66’), Walklett, Barry (Malin 81’), Curnock, Olden (Cook 66’). Subs Not Used: Saunders, Ashun.
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE
“It's another positive result.” Iain began. “We know we have some difficult games coming up and we’ve ticked this one off with another win and we can turn our focus to Barry next weekend.
“In the first half, I thought Pontypridd played well. They frustrated us in how they played. I think we lacked a little bit of quality that we work to get from the group every single week. It was a bit of a slow performance in the first half but second half I thought we raised the standards.
"We could have been better but it’s still a 7-1 win which we can take positives from. For me, there is room for us to work on, in terms of our passing and our ability to manipulate the opponents’ shape. There’s work for us to do in training to make sure it’s addressed for next weekend.
Today’s outing saw youth products Grace Olsen and Scarlett Baker-Perry play 90 minutes of senior football for the Bluebirds.
“They’ve earned it," Iain continued. "They have both been pushing for a starting position for a number of weeks.
"With Scarlett, we asked her to do something slightly different first half, which didn’t quite suit her, so we switched it back to showcase her best qualities and it showed in the second half.
"As for Grace, I thought she commanded her area well, her distribution was quality, and I thought she played well. It’s good to get them minutes but they deserve it and it puts them in a good position going forward.”
After securing a hat-trick in today’s performance, Laura Curnock now has eight goals this season, taking her to the top of the league scoring charts.
Iain concluded: “I thought Laura did really well especially in the first half, she held the ball up well, made some good decisions and took her goals well. Any time a player scores a hat-trick, and we score seven goals, it’s a positive.”