Adran Premier Preview | Aberystwyth Town vs. Cardiff City

Cardiff City FC Women travel to Aberystwyth Town’s Park Avenue in the Adran Premier on Sunday afternoon (22/01), 2pm KO.  

The Bluebirds head into the fixture on the back of booking a place in the Semi-Finals of the Adran Trophy, with an impressive 10-0 victory over Llandudno Ladies.

Striker Phoebie Poole netted a brilliant hat-trick, while captain Siobhan Walsh and playmaker Lily Billingham scored braces, along with further goals from midfielder Danielle Broadhurst and wing-backs Danielle Green and Ffion Price.

Returning to league action this weekend, City have made a remarkable start to the Adran Premier campaign, currently sit at the top of the table with ten wins from the opening 12 fixtures.

Before the festive break, the Bluebirds finished 2022 with a dramatic 1-0 victory over Barry Town United, in which striker Megan Saunders scored a crucial late winner.

This weekend’s opponents are sixth in the table, having recorded 11 points from as many fixtures this campaign.

The Seasiders also booked a place in the Adran Trophy Semi-Finals last weekend, claiming a 2-0 win over Wrexham.

In the reverse fixture between the two sides at Cardiff International Sports Campus, City recorded a narrow 1-0 victory, with attacker Rhianne Oakley on the scoresheet for the Bluebirds.

“The weekend’s result was due to the girls wanting to play,” Began Iain Darbyshire. “They hadn’t played in a while so you could see from the performance how ready they were and how focused we are for the second half of the season. This weekend is going to be a difficult test; Aberystwyth have had some good results, they don’t concede many, and they’re going to be hard to beat.

“They’ve got a fantastic coach and a great setup. There’s a lot of emotion around the club at the moment and we’ll be respectful of that. Myself and everyone at the club send our condolences to the Jenkins family and everyone associated with the club.”

Striker Oakley added: “Aberystwyth know how to stop us and how to play around us, so we’ve just got to play our game as well as we can and show how good we can be.

"It’s probably our biggest two games of the season coming up. We don’t want to drop any points and let ourselves down, so it’s important to just carry on how we’re going and set ourselves up for the second half of the season.”