City Women continued a winning start to the Adran Premier campaign with a 2-0 victory over The New Saints at Cardiff City Stadium.
Second half goals from Lisa Owen and Laura Curnock secured all three points.
Head coach Iain Darbyshire made two changes to the side that defeated Cardiff Met last time out, with Nieve Jenkins and Molly Kehoe coming into the starting XI.
The Bluebirds started brightly and had an early chance to take the lead, as Eliza Collie won the ball from goalkeeper Rebecca Elliot, but fired just wide of the post. In another chance, wing-back Ffion Price raced through, only to be denied by the Saints shot-stopper.
There was another opportunity for City before the break, as a brilliant run from Fiona Barry saw our no.8 drive into the box and square to Collie, who couldn’t quite find the target.
City made a brilliant start to the second half, taking the lead in the 50th minute, as Molly Kehoe played in Owen, who drove forward and fired home. The Bluebirds almost doubled the advantage with 72 minutes on the clock, with Lily Billingham crossing for Collie, whose close-range header was saved.
Darbyshire’s side weren’t denied a second goal however, coming in the 87th minute. Substitute Curnock came on and made a great impact, turning well and firing a brilliant strike into the top corner for her first goal for City.
The Bluebirds’ next fixture will be on Sunday, October 6th against Swansea City at the Swansea.com Stadium.
FINAL SCORE: CARDIFF CITY 2–0 THE NEW SAINTS
Cardiff City: Chamberlain, Owen, Jenkins, Bowen ©, S Evans, Price, Walklett, Billingham, Kehoe, Barry (Curnock 58’), Collie. Subs not used: Phelps, G Evans, Bull, Thomas, Curnock.
The New Saints: Elliott, Francis-Jones, Dunkerley, Webb, Teare, Lexi Jones (Ridge 88’), Lockley (Kendrick-Jones 74’), Evans, Phillips, Lewis, Havard (Chapman 58’). Subs not used: Lois Jones, Chapman, Edge.
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE
After the full-time whistle, Iain Darbyshire told Cardiff City TV: "I’m happy with the three points. I thought performance-wise, there’s still a lot of room to grow. Out of possession, I thought we were really good, but in possession, we can be a lot better and we know that. Credit to TNS, they came here, they matched us up with their shape and caused us some problems at times. They’ve got some quality players and you can tell they’re a well-coached team, so it’s a game today where we had to rely on moments and thankfully, they came for us.
"It's a sign of a good team that you can win even when you're not playing great. We've got that winning mentality instilled in the players and the staff. Every week, we demand standards and there's no letting up on that."
REACTION | LAURA CURNOCK
Striker Laura Curnock, after getting her first City goal, added: "I’m buzzing. It was an unreal experience playing in a stadium like this. I’m definitely not used to it, so it’s a moment to remember.
"I can’t say I aimed top bins, but I’m going to have to claim it aren’t I? Credit to Kerry [Walklett] who found me on the edge of the box, I just turned and hit it. It just flew off into the top bins, I’ll take it.
"I know I need to be a little bit more clinical, so hopefully now that I've got my first goal, I can build on that."