Llanyrafon Ladies 0 Cardiff City Ladies 5 (From Free Press Series)

Llanyrafon Ladies 0 Cardiff City Ladies 5

5:04pm Wednesday 13th March 2013 in Sport

LLANYRAFON Ladies held their heads up high as they got knocked out of the FAW U16s Cup.

Before the whistle, you could see and feel the nerves of a couple of the young Llanyrafon players as they stepped out in to their first ever FAW Cup semi final.

Cup favourites Cardiff found the first 15 minutes difficult and couldn’t break the deadlock until a run down the right was crossed over for a tap in.

This seemed to spur Cardiff on and they put constant pressure on the Llanyrafon midfield and back four.

Cardiff’s striker broke through finding herself one on one with the goalkeeper.

She tried to take it wide around the keeper and contact was made, leading to a penalty.

Llanyrafon goal keeper Bethan Percival redeemed herself with a great save.

Cardiff kept the pressure on and scored two more goals, making it 4-0 at half time.

The half time team talk lifted the girls’ spirits and Llanyrafon came out and upped their game. They played some good football, creating most of the chances, only to come away with no reward.

Amy Sims had two hard challenges on her and had to be carried off. This led to Llanyrafon swapping a couple of players around only to be outdone by another goal against the run of play which made the final score 5 - 0.

Coach and parents were extremely proud of Llanyrafon Ladies reaching the last four in Wales, especially with such a small young squad. Last year’s winners Cardiff have such a wealth of experience and talent with a couple of the squad playing for Wales U17s and a couple in the Wales U16s.

This cup game has given the young Llanyrafon side the experience and next year Kevin Sims said they will be back being a stronger and more experienced side with all the girls staying together at under 16s except one.

Next weekend, they travel away to Thornhill Cardiff in the quarter final of the SWFA Cup.