City Women U19s win Hugh James SWFA Women's Cup
Cardiff City Women’s u19 team won the Hugh James SWFA Women's Cup in dramatic fashion on Sunday afternoon. After coming back from 2-0 down, the final finished 2-2, with City going on to win on penalties.
The young Bluebirds started the brighter of the two teams with Demi Parry striking the post from the edge of the box in the third minute. Despite City's early pressure, it was our opponents who opened the scoring in the thirteenth minute. Cascade worked the ball forward and played in Ellis Lunn, who dispatched the ball into the bottom right corner to give her team the lead.
With City being dominant in possession, the opposition’s physical approach proved to be effective, as they doubled their lead in the 32nd minute via a corner kick. Noah Bushby's side found joy in feeding Madison Lloyd, who occupied the channels throughout the half.
After a cagey opening to the second half, City began to take control, with captain Megan Waite pulling the strings in midfield and utilising Lucy Malin on the right wing. In the 65th minute, hope was restored for City, as Cascade’s high line was finally thwarted. Lloyd ran in behind and finished impressively into the bottom right corner to half the deficit.
The Bluebirds continued to push for a vital equaliser and it arrived in the 77th minute, as Lloyd got herself a brace in the Cup Final. Similarly to her first goal, she was slid through and beat the goalkeeper one-on-one.
Despite City’s late surge of pressure, which included a flurry of corners in the final moments, there was no separating the two outfits, and the tie would be decided by penalty kicks. Bushby's side held their nerve to win the shootout 6-5.
We caught up with head coach Bushby after the final whistle:
“The mentality to come from 2-0 down and then go and win on penalties shows great self-belief," Noah began. "I’m so proud, the staff are outstanding, the players are outstanding, everyone buys into what we want to do with the players and play good football.
"We went into this tournament because we wanted to be physical, we wanted to prepare the girls for senior football, to win it is unbelievable."
City's goalscorer, Lloyd, added: “Absolutely buzzing to get back into the game. It felt amazing to score the goals, I always want to get the ball in the back of the net. It was amazing to win it on penalties, a rollercoaster."