City Women recorded a huge three points at Park Hall as they beat The New Saints 3-4 in a breathtaking game.
Goals from Fiona Barry, Laura Curnock and a brace from Mikayla Cook secured a thrilling win to increase the gap at the top of the table.
City made three changes to the team that defeated Barry in midweek, with Shannon Evans, Nieve Jenkins and Curnock coming into the starting XI.
The hosts took an early lead when Chantelle Teare fired in from distance. The Bluebirds responded quickly, as Barry took advantage of a poor clearance by a defender and calmly slotted home to draw City level.
Not long later, Lia Lewis put the Saints back in front, converting from the spot. However, Iain Darbyshire's side kept pushing forwards and found an equaliser through Cook, who lobbed the keeper from a tight angle.
The action showed no signs of slowing down as TNS re-took the lead late on in the first half courtesy of Grace Dunkerley.
Following the interval, the Bluebirds came out fighting, Curnock headed home Ffion Price’s corner to draw back level.
Looking for a winner, City continued to cause trouble for the TNS defence. In the 67th minute, Cook scored her second goal of the game, which proved to be the difference and secured all three points for the Bluebirds.
FINAL SCORE: THE NEW SAINTS 3-4 CARDIFF CITY
Cardiff City: Chamberlain, Owen, Bowen, S. Evans, Price, Jenkins, Walklett (Long 46’), Billingham (Kehoe 62’), Barry, Curnock (Collie 82’), Cook (Smith 82’). Subs not used: Phelps.
The New Saints: Elliot, Francis-Jones (Buckland 85’), Dunkerley, Webb, Teare, Jones, Chapman (Ridge 62’), Evans, Phillips, Lewis. Subs not used: Jones, Baker, Havard.
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE AND MIKAYLA COOK
After the full-time whistle, head coach Iain Darbyshire said: “What a game of football. That’s what everybody wants to see, I think that’s a great advert for the league and that’s what the league needs to be.
“I thought TNS were fantastic, they’ve done really well this year, and they deserve a lot of credit, and they really are pushing us. Our players showed if you keep pushing us and keep asking us to dig deep, we’ll do it, and I thought we were fantastic today.
“Second half I thought we were phenomenal, and I thought we controlled the game in and out of possession really well.”
Cook, who netted a fine brace, added: “It’s amazing, we really dug deep in that game, half time we came in and knew we would have to dig deep. It was a top of the league battle, we all came out, showed our determination, went for it and ended up winning the game.
“It is a very important win. It means everything to us that we won the league twice in a row, now were pushing for the third and that was a stepping stone towards doing that.”