Cardiff City Women defeated The New Saints 1-0 to book their place in the final of the Bute Energy Welsh Cup.
A stunning strike from Fiona Barry in the 63rd minute proved to be the difference between the two sides. The Bluebirds will now face Wrexham in a repeat of last year's final.
Playing at Park Avenue in Aberystwyth, neither side generated a shot at goal in the opening 15 minutes. Ceryn Chamberlain was equal to the game’s first effort, denying Molly Havard’s free-kick from just outside the area.
Shortly before the half-hour mark, City had their first clear-cut chance of the game. Eliza Collie brought the ball down on the half-way line, looked to drive at the TNS defence and played in Barry on the left wing. From a tight angle, she got her shot away, but it sailed into the side netting.
Chamberlain was again called into action, as Lexi Jones found space in the area and poked an effort towards goal, but the City keeper used her feet to send the ball behind for a corner. Barry came close again two minutes after the half time break, again driving down the left wing, she made space to get an effort away but it crashed against the crossbar.
Just after the hour mark, Barry was involved again as she won the ball back in midfield, cut inside on her left foot and took aim from outside the box and her shot sailed over the keeper’s head and into the back of the net. With their tails up, City looked to double their lead as both Mackenzie Olden and Ffion Price came close with efforts, who both saw their shots narrowly go over the roof of the net.
Lily Billingham had an opportunity in stoppage time to put the game to bed, as the ball broke to her, but was denied by a great stop by the Saints goalkeeper. The Bluebirds held on to victory in a tightly fought contest, ensuring they are finalists in the competition for the fourth consecutive season.
FINAL SCORE: THE NEW SAINTS 0-1 CARDIFF CITY
Cardiff City: Chamberlain, Long, S Evans, Jenkins, Price, Walklett ©, Billingham, Thomas (Olden 63’), Kehoe, Barry (Bowen 86’), Collie (Curnock 63’).
The New Saints: Bowen, Francis-Jones (Thomas 80’), Dunkerley, Davies, Webb, Baker, Teare, Jones, Evans, Lewis, Havard (Chapman 70’).
REACTION | IAIN DARBYSHIRE
After the full-time whistle, head coach Iain Darbyshire said: “I’m very proud of the group. It was a tightly fought game, semi-finals often are, and we said it would be before the game. With two of the better teams this season, it was always going to be tight so we knew first half we had to control things and we spoke at half time we needed a bit more control than what we had. Second half I thought we were fantastic, we knew there would be more spaces open up to us so I’m really pleased with how we’ve performed and with the result.
“The pressure of being in a semi-final affects both teams but I’m delighted with how we handled it. We’ve now won quite a lot of games consecutively since Christmas which has put us in a really good position and full of confidence, it’s down to us now to carry this on for the remainder of the season.
“We needed a bit of magic and that’s what Fiona provides. We speak to her all the time about driving at her player, keep going into spaces and making opportunities. We've emphasised that and she's done exactly that today."