City Women produced a brilliant second half performance to come from behind and beat Swansea City 2-1 in the Adran Premier.
Head Coach Iain Darbyshire made three changes to the side that beat Wrexham last week, with Madison Lloyd, Mackenzie Olden and Amy Long brought into the side.
The hosts took the lead after 38 minutes as Chloe Chivers’ free-kick was tipped onto the bar by Ceryn Chamberlain, with Jess Williams following in and tapping home from close range.
City came close to instantly responding through Mikayla Cook, whose free-kick rose just over the bar shortly before half-time.
After the break, half-time substitute Lily Billingham was straight into the action, playing a sweeping through ball for Cook to meet first time and strike beyond the keeper to level the score.
And Cook put her side into the lead five minutes later, sending in a corner from the left-hand side which flew beyond everyone in the box and into the net.
The Bluebirds were awarded a penalty after Laura Curnock was brought down inside the area, however she was unable to convert, sending the spot kick wide.
Cook came close to completing her hat-trick, first being played in by Fiona Barry’s through ball however her effort was dragged just wide of the goal, and almost replicating her second goal, with another dangerous corner being tipped over the bar by Amelia Forkings.
City had to produce some resolute defending in the final stages and hung on for a vital three points in this season’s title race.
And the two sides will do it all again next week as City host Swansea City in their next fixture on Sunday 22nd March, with a kick-off time of 2pm.
FINAL SCORE: SWANSEA CITY 1-2 CARDIFF CITY
Swansea City: Forkings, Finch, Murray, Miller (Davies 63’), Chivers, John (Richards 86’), Lake, Mitchell (Wynne 74’), Trivett, C. Williams, J. Williams ©. Subs Not Used: Rayner, Turner, Legall, Jones.
Cardiff City: Chamberlain, Perrott (Owen 78’), Power ©, Jenkins, Bowen, Cook, Long, Walklett, Barry, Olden (Billingham 45’), Lloyd (Curnock 45’). Subs Not Used: Saunders, Price, Thomas, Nicholls.
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE
“I’m very proud of the players.” Iain began. “We knew the first half performance wasn’t good enough, but we showed a lot of character to respond to that how we did.
"We could have been two or three goals down by half time, but to come back and dominate the second half the way we did, create a lot of chances and be solid defensively, the players deserve a lot of credit for that.”
REACTION | MIKAYLA COOK
“It feels amazing to get the win. It was a really hard game in tough conditions but after the first half, we dug in deep, and we wanted it more in the second half.
"We knew it would be a big game but I’m very happy with the win.”