Issue 155

Soccerettes slump

08th May 2007

Cardiff 4 - Swansea 1

Swansea women's football struggled against an opportunistic Cardiff side, who simply were more experienced and organised.

The Swansea side had spells of pressure but were unable to get on the score sheet until the game was already out of reach. Cardiff had the best of the early exchanges with striker Robinson having a shot saved by the Swansea keeper in the opening minutes. Cardiff kept up the pressure with another attack minutes later, but the Swansea left back managed to force the striker wide and put the ball out for a corner.

Swansea then started to build some pressure and Trotman managed to get away Swansea's first shot on target, although it was saved well by Ruth Smith the Cardiff keeper. Cardiff then caught Swansea on the break, which led to the opening goal, a great cross from Joannides allowed Nat Jenkinson to slot home from 10 yards for the home team in the 20th minute.

Cardiff kept up the pressure and had a penalty shout turned down, and drew several last ditch tackles, notably from the Swansea centre back who was the woman of the match for Swansea, as she made several crucial tackles and even cleared a ball off the line at one stage.

However, Cardiff's lead was doubled just before half time as Joannides got free in the box and beat the Swansea keeper, to leave the halftime score 2-0 to Cardiff.

In the second half Swansea showed more attacking threat, but the dependence on the long ball was easy for the Cardiff defence to read, and they played a high line and allowed the keeper to pick up the through balls, as Swansea just did not have the pace up front to latch on to them. Swansea should have at this point tried something else, but their lack of vision allowed Cardiff to look comfortable at the back and limited their goal scoring potential.

Cardiff scored their third with half an hour left to play, as a fairly tame shot from Chatur rolled painfully past the Swansea keeper, leaving her red faced. By this stage of the game both sides were tiring and the game was getting more open, with chances at both ends. Swansea forced a top class save from the Cardiff keeper before heading the resulting corner over the bar.

The counter attack brought a last ditch tackle from the outstanding Swansea centre back to stop Jenkinson going through on goal again, but Swansea failed to soak up the pressure and Cardiff scored their fourth. The Cardiff cross took a nasty bobble and the Swansea centre back was unable to clear the ball, and left Cardiff's Chatur free at the back post to slot home Cardiff's with 20 minutes left on the clock.

Swansea managed to get onto the score sheet with 10 minutes left on the clock. They had been looking promising, passing the ball around in the midfield, and starting to push on up the field more and managing to connect with some of the long balls from the back.

Gape got the goal for Swansea as she broke free from the midfield, and calmly slotted the ball past the advancing Cardiff keeper, who otherwise had a very good game.

All in all Swansea looked a bit single minded in their attacking, and their reliance on the long ball limited their scoring chances. They were also unlucky at the back, as several mistakes lead to unnecessary goals.

Swansea captain said "Cardiff are two leagues above us, and after last year's defeat 6-0 we have made a great improvement.

A special mention goes out to Sarah Johnson who played amazingly. We have all had a good day and enjoyed ourselves, and hopefully we will get them next year."

Matt Cannon