Bute Energy Welsh Cup Report | Cardiff City 2-1 Cascade
City Women scored a stoppage time winner to beat Cascade 2-1 and progress to the last eight of the Bute Energy Welsh Cup.
The Bluebirds trailed at half time via a Megan Waite goal on the half hour mark, but an equaliser by Nieve Jenkins and a 94th minute goal from Molly Kehoe decided the game.
Lisa Owen almost got the side off to a perfect start, picking up the ball inside her own half and driving through a series of players before being denied by Cascade keeper Bethan Connolly.
Fiona Barry made a surging run of her own shortly after, skipping past three defenders before cutting the ball back to Mikayla Cook, whose effort went wide of the post.
City keeper Anna Phelps was called into action, first denying Katie Davies from range and making a smart stop at the near post to keep the match goalless. However, Cascade's Waite struck home the opener after 30 minutes to take the lead.
Cook came closest to equalising shortly before half time, but her free kick went too high and landed on the roof of the net.
Barry continued City’s attempt for an equaliser minutes after the break, forcing a strong save from Connelly at her near post.
Chances continued to fall for both sides, Phelps again making a vital save to deny Ellis Lunn’s header from a corner, and Seren Thomas almost diverting the ball into the Cascade net following a City corner.
It was another set-piece where the hosts found the opening goal, Kehoe sent the ball into the box where Jenkins bundled the ball over the line to tie things up. Owen was inches away from putting her side in the lead with minutes to go, as Kehoe played the through ball, Owen’s effort was unable to find the target.
However, there was one more chance left in the game, as Kehoe stepped up to win the game with seconds to go to send the Bluebirds through to the quarter finals of the competition.
FINAL SCORE: CARDIFF CITY 2-1 CASCADE
Cardiff City: Phelps, Owen ©, Jenkins, H. Jones (Bull 45’), G. Evans, Kehoe, Thomas, Parsons (Malin 45’), Barry, Collie, Cook. Subs Not Used: Kenzy-Aylett, I. Jones, Ashun
Cascade: Connolly, Carpanini, Thomas, Daley, Parry, Davies ©, Lunn (Ware 90’), Lewis, Waite (Townsend 74’), Hughes (Beddows 68’), Moreton. Subs Not Used: Kidley
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE
After the final whistle, Iain Darbyshire said: “I thought we lacked a lot of intensity and energy today. That being said, we have shown good character to come back and win it at the end and showed real resilience, not for the first time this season. It was good for a lot of the youngsters to get minutes, but we know we need to be better. Credit to Cascade, they set up really well and, on another day, could have won the game.
"I'm really pleased to get through to the next round of this competition and the Adran Trophy in recent weeks. We’ve given youngsters exposure and minutes that they haven’t had before which is great.
"We’ll be back in on Tuesday and I can guarantee the intensity and the energy will be higher and we'll bring back players that have had a rest this weekend and they’ll be ready for Cardiff Met next weekend."