City in focus | Eliza Collie’s dream start for the Bluebirds

It’s been a breakthrough season so far for striker Eliza Collie, who has had a dream few weeks in a City shirt.

From netting her first Adran Premier goal to netting twice at Cardiff City Stadium, the Bluebirds striker has made an impression.

Eliza had a brilliant campaign for the U19 side last year, netting 51 goals in all competitions.

However, heading into this season, the City attacker set her sights on a first team spot.

“I knew it was going to be hard to make the step up, especially with the competition in my position,” Eliza began. “But I knew if I worked hard enough, I would eventually break in and get through to the first team.”

It’s been a remarkable start to the campaign for Iain Darbyshire’s side, who have won eight and drawn one of their opening nine league fixtures.

A 3-2 victory over The New Saints in October included a huge moment for Collie, who found the net in the 34th minute, her first Adran Premier goal.

“I was buzzing, it was class,” she said. “It was such a good feeling to score and the whole team were buzzing for me as well.

“It gave me a lot of confidence proving that I can score at this level and as soon as I scored, I wanted to push myself even harder to score even more.”

In City’s recent victory over Abergavenny Women, the Bluebirds broke the record for a Welsh domestic league attendance, with 5,175 fans at Cardiff City Stadium.

Coming on as a substitute, Eliza made an instant impact, netting twice with two clinical finishes.

Looking back on a historic night at CCS, she said: “It was unreal, I’m still buzzing about it now. Scoring in front of that many people, the crowd were going mental for the whole game, it was such a good experience.

“When I scored my first goal, adrenaline was going through the roof. I was so excited, the feeling was just unbelievable.

“It was a perfect night, to get two goals in front of that many people was just amazing.”

City return to action on Wednesday evening, as they travel to title-rivals Cardiff Metropolitan University’s Cyncoed Campus.

With a busy period of fixtures coming up, Eliza has set her sights on further success in the first team.   

She concluded: “It’s been a great few weeks for me, but I just want to keep pushing now, keep playing more and scoring as many as I can.”