On the 2nd of February, Cardiff City Women faced Swansea City Women at the Cardiff International Sports Stadium. The Bluebirds played with passion and beat their bitter rivals 1–0. Cardiff City needed the vital three points to widen the gap between the second-place team in the Adran Premier. With the end of the season fast approaching, it makes us question whether Cardiff can maintain their title charge.
Swansea City looked like the better team in the opening ten minutes. It was clear that they had practised attacking in training, as in the seventh minute the captain, number 12 John-Davis, went for goal. The Bluebirds defence was very strong and forced Swansea City to play the ball back to their goalkeeper. In the seventeeth minute, Swansea had a free kick in a dangerous position. Despite a heroic effort, the Bluebirds keeper, Cerys Chamberlain. made a terrific save. Cardiff City looked very uncomfortable on the ball and Swansea’s attack was consistent throughout the first half. It was clear there was a lack of communication on the pitch between the Cardiff players as they struggled to keep possession. Swansea’s number 10, Chivers, had great footwork which caused a lot of pressure and panic for the Bluebirds’ backline. Despite the poor passes from Cardiff’s midfielder, Kerry Walklett, the Bluebirds defender Shannon Evans made some clinical tackles that kept the Bluebirds in the game in the first forty-five minutes. Towards the end of the first half, the Bluebirds had some great chances, particularly from Molly Kehoe and Lily Billingham, who both had shots on target. Billingham had a lot of pace as she ran up the wing, which rattled the Swansea number 10 Chivers as they bashed heads just before half-time. Swansea definitely looked like the stronger team. At half-time the score was 0–0.
The second half kicked off and Cardiff City had an immediate impact on the ball. Molly Kehoe looked really good making crucial interceptions in order to kick the ball up the pitch to her teammates. The Bluebirds looked really threatening and their attack paid off when Lily Billingham opened the scoring in the fifty-fifth minute. The Bluebirds looked like a completely different side compared to the first half.
Cerys Chamberlain made some fantastic saves as Swansea pressed up the pitch for an equaliser, but every shot fired at her was saved. In the last ten minutes, Swansea’s Chivers got very aggressive towards the linesman as she expressed that the Bluebirds number 15 Molly Kehoe was in an offside position. Cardiff’s goal scorer Lily Billingham came off in the eighty-seventh minute as Eliza Collie stepped on the pitch for the final moments. Swansea looked completely drained.
The match ended 1–0. Hopefully, the Cardiff City celebrations will continue when they play their last home match of the season on the 23rd of February. UP THE BLUEBIRDS!
A very special thanks to George Jones, who helped pitch-side this week and contributed to this article.