Reserves v Yeovil Town Reserves

Cardiff City Ladies Reserves took all three points in their home game against Yeovil in the FA Womens (Reserves) Southern Division 2 with a rather one sided 5-1 score line.

Cardiff made the opening goal from a through ball off Suzie Davies making a run down the wing using her quick feet taking on two players before crossing the ball and finding the feet of Cori Williams. She in turn laid the ball into Sinead Melinn’s path to open the scoring.

The second goal came about five minutes later as Williams got taken out by the keeper in a one on one situation for then a penalty to be awarded. Captain Charlotte Preen stepped up to the spot to place the ball in the bottom right corner.

Continuing their good performance Cardiff tripled the score line from a late tackle by the Yeovil defender bringing striker Melinn down a few yards outside the box. She curled the resulting free kick in for Williams to head home, giving Cardiff a comfortable lead.

A few minutes before half time Cardiff were still pushing forward searching to increase their lead. Many opportunities arose especially for Preeny taking a few chances from long range working the keeper. The ball was passed around midfield then on to the wing landing at the feet of Kay Hateley. She made a run down the left wing before putting a through ball in for Williams to tap into the back of the net for the fourth before half time.

The second half saw Yeovil step up their game gaining a bit more possession and creating opportunities down both sides of the pitch trying to break Cardiff’s defence which proved to be strong. With two centre backs Kat Lovett and Jaz Thomas as well as left back Sophie Cole and right back Joni Warner working well together to break down Yeovil’s chances.

Yeovil still tried to break through getting another chance at goal this time with a corner where they had three players lined up unmarked on the goal line. The corner went high and was heading back post straight on to a striker’s firing line but keeper Laura O’Sullivan made a finger tip save clearing it from the danger area.

The sandy pitch left heavy legs for the last 30 minutes, giving manager Deb Ball the decision to make substitutions. Rachael Griffiths, Sam Rogers and Storm Buchanan replaced Preeny, Hateley and Suzie Davies.

A tired defence lead to Yeovil breaking through and keeper O’Sullivan to make an unfortunate mistake for the visitors to score their only goal.

At the 80 minute mark Cardiff weren’t quite finished taking every opportunity at goal. The Yeovil keeper was forced into an error when she brought Williams down again in the box. The referee awarded another penalty. This time Williams stepped up resulting in the fifth goal and Wiliams’ second a hat-trick in as many games.

Yeovil didn’t give up throughout the 90 minutes of the game even making a final attempt on goal in the dying seconds of the game which O’Sullivan knocked over the bar ensuring the score stayed at 5-1.

Report by Laura O'Sullivan