City Women defeated Cardiff Met 5-0 to move on to the next round of the Bute Energy Welsh Cup.
Head coach Iain Darbyshire elected to make six changes to the side that beat Swansea City last time out, with Ceryn Chamberlain, Megan Bowen, Amy Long, Mackenzie Olden, Holly Jones and Somoraa Fletcher all coming into the starting XI.
The Bluebirds created numerous chances to take the lead in the opening quarter of the game, with Mikayla Cook narrowly sending a free kick wide of the post and Lily Billingham narrowly missing the target with her effort.
City did take the lead after 19 minutes, as Olden confidently converted Billingham’s cross into the corner of the net from inside the Met area.
Olden came close to doubling the lead after some neat link up play between Billingham and Laura Curnock, who released the inform striker on the left wing, however the shot was pulled wide.
Shortly before half-time, Jones’ header came close to finding the net following a Ffion Price corner but went over the bar and kept the hosts with just the one goal lead at the break.
Half time substitutes Fiona Barry and Maddison Perrott both looked lively after coming off the bench, drawing strong saves from Met keeper Violet Bell.
However, the visitors had chances of their own to level the scores. Chamberlain was forced into action to deny Demi Parry at the near post, before Summer Kilby came close to a spectacular effort but was denied by the crossbar.
As we approached the hour mark, City did double their advantage as Price’s cross from the right wing was controlled well by Curnock in the area, who then turned and fired her shot into the top corner.
Lucy Malin added a third shortly after being introduced, following Olden’s shot that was parried by Bell who made no mistake on the rebound.
The Bluebirds then scored twice in quick succession to ensure the victory. First, Long capitalised on the Met defence failing to clear the danger by thundering home an effort in the far corner, before Barry added a fifth with an excellent strike with eight minutes to play.
Next up for City Women is a home fixture against TNS on Sunday 30th November with a kick-off time of 2pm.
FINAL SCORE: CARDIFF CITY 5-0 CARDIFF MET
Cardiff City: Chamberlain (Saunders 78’), Price, Jones, Bowen, Fletcher (Perrott 45’), Long, Billingham (Malin 69’), Walklett, Cook © (Barry 45’), Olden (Ashun 78’), Curnock.
Cardiff Met: Bell, Mulenga, Garton (Churcher 75’), Jones, Gittins, Barnes © (Pearce 75’), Houghton, Gladwyn (Howard 59’), Chapman (Davies 75’), Kilby, Parry (Kilburn-Thompson 54’).
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE
“I thought it was it was a good performance in the end.” Iain began. “It was a little bit slow at times in the first half, credit to Cardiff Met as they caused us some problems with their shape but overall, I’m happy with the performance and happy to score five goals.
“I thought the team really stepped up in the second half and produced some really good finishes. It was a game where we could have probably put a few more away but like I said, Cardiff Met hung in there and they and they were dogged in their defending at times which made it complicated but overall, I’m happy with the five goals and we’re into the next round of the competition.”
Today’s fixture saw places in the starting XI for Under 19’s players Holly Jones and Somoraa Fletcher.
“I’m really proud of Holly and Somoraa," Iain added. “And Emillia [Ashun] as well who's been in and around the senior team the last few weeks. They've all really stepped up and showed their qualities and I thought they learnt a lot out of today.
They've understood the differences between senior team and U19s football and I thought they can all really hold their head high. And Ffion [Saunders] coming on towards the end of the game as well, these are players that we're going to need throughout the season and it's great to see them stepping up in the senior team.”