Match Preview: Abergavenny Women vs. Cardiff City FC Women

Cardiff City FC Women travel to face Abergavenny Women at Pen-Y-Pound Stadium in the Quarter-Final of the WPWL League Cup on Sunday, December 2nd – 2pm kick-off and free entry!

The match is the second of back-to-back games between the sides, following City’s 2-0 victory in the WPWL at the Pennies’ home on Sunday, November 25th. The result meant that the Bluebirds moved up to fourth in the league table, level on points with third-placed Swansea City, two points behind second-placed Abergavenny and six points behind leaders Cardiff Met - having a game in hand over each of those teams.

The Quarter-Final is Cardiff City’s first match in the 2018/19 WPWL League Cup and they will look to carry their fantastic form of six victories and one draw from eight competitive encounters into the clash. Victory would mean a Semi-Final against one of Cyncoed, Cardiff Met, Llandudno, Rhyl, Port Talbot Town or Swansea City.

Manager Joel Hutton spoke prior to the Abergavenny test, discussing the fixture, opposition, last Sunday’s victory and the aim for the WPWL League Cup.

“It’s a different test this weekend with it being in the League Cup,” began Joel. “We know what to expect from Abergavenny because we played them last weekend and they’ll probably be wanting to get one back on us, because of the way the previous result went.

“I was really happy and impressed with the result last week at Abergavenny, but as I said, it’s going to be a different game and they’re going to want to use the previous result to favour them this weekend. You can’t really compare the back-to-back fixtures.

“We’ll make sure that the girls are focused going into the next game and have the same mindset as us coaches, in that they are looking to progress to the Semi-Final of the League Cup. Historically, we haven’t done well in the League Cup, but we’re aiming to progress as far as we can this season. I know we’re coming in now at the Quarter-Final stage, so if we can get two wins - we’re in the Final.”

Alana Murphy and Catherine Walsh scored the goals in the 2-0 win at Pen-Y-Pound Stadium last Sunday and Joel concluded by commenting on their impact, saying: “Alana and Catherine have had an impact on every game that we’ve played in this season, but with regards to the top scoring spot, there’s a long way to go because we’ve only played six games in the league. Hopefully, they keep chipping away and putting the ball in the back of the net.”

Goalkeeper Claire Skinner made several stops and kept a clean sheet at Abergavenny in the previous encounter and she added: “I’m really looking forward to this weekend’s game and it’s potentially going to be a different environment if we play a different team. We want to prove ourselves in the League Cup, as well as in the league, like we did last weekend and hopefully we’ll come away from Pen-Y-Pound with another good result.

“I think they’ll put up more of a fight this weekend because they’ve got something to prove, since we beat them previously. We’re again playing at their home, so it’s something for us to prove, in that we can go back there and beat them again.

“It’s always good to keep a clean sheet and as a goalkeeper, that’s the best you can do. It’s just like strikers scoring their goals; we’ve got to keep a clean sheet to give us a chance of winning the game. We’re expecting to go back there and get a similar result, if not an even better one.

The Welsh international concluded: “The team spirit is terrific, especially after the last game because beating teams like Abergavenny was something that we needed to prove to everyone else in the league that we could do and doing that has lifted the team spirit completely.”

Catch-Up: Extended highlights of the match will be available to subscribers of Cardiff City TV.

Social: Live updates will come via our official Women’s Twitter account, @CardiffCityFCW!