Cardiff City FC Women travel to Aberystwyth Town’s Park Avenue in their final game of the Adran Premier season on Sunday afternoon (17/04), 2pm KO.
The Bluebirds will be looking to finish a positive league campaign on a high, with the Club making visible progress this year, amassing five more points than last season’s total.
City head into the contest after a fine performance at Cardiff City Stadium last time out, posing a constant threat in a 2-2 draw against Cardiff Metropolitan University.
In the entertaining draw with the Archers, Zoe Atkins netted a clinical brace to take her tally up 12 in all competitions.
Opponents Aberystwyth Town have also enjoyed a season of progress, securing a place in the Championship Conference on the final day of Phase One. With the Seasiders showing significant improvement, the battles between the two sides this season have been competitive, but the Bluebirds have stepped up to record four victories over Sunday’s hosts in all competitions.
“This weekend’s going to be a really good opportunity for us,” head coach Iain Darbyshire began. “It gives us a chance to give some of our players some minutes and we’ll give chances to some of our U19s, so hopefully, that gives them a platform for next season. That’s what we’re aiming to do.
“It’s massively important that we go into the cup final with momentum. We want to win silverware this season and we know we have to go into next week in good form, so it’s important that the players who are going to be given minutes and the U19s players step up.”
Left-back Emily Bayliss, who impressed in the draw with Cardiff Metropolitan University last time out, added: “It would be great for us to end a really fantastic league season with three points. We’ve all worked so hard to take points from every game this year and although Sunday’s result won’t change our finishing league position, it’s another opportunity to play a competitive game against a great side and finish our league campaign on a high.
“This weekend is massively important as it will set the mood and momentum going into cup final week. Our main aim for the season was to win a piece of silverware and although Aberystwyth never make winning an easy task, three points for us this weekend would set us in good stead for the final next week.”