By Callum Ellis and Adam Evans
UNIVERSITY of South Wales 1st claimed the bragging rights on Wednesday afternoon as they swept away local rivals Cardiff Met 1st with a convincing 4-0 victory.
Goals from Louis Gerrard, Liam Edwards and a brace from Danny Williams saw USW stretch their unbeaten start to six games.
The first chance of the afternoon fell to the hosts as Edwards went close with an effort he should have done better with. He found space on the edge of the area before firing just wide of Max Manson’s post
Guto Williams also went close to breaking the deadlock as his shot was deflected wide of the post by USW defender Joe Evans.
USW captain Kane Owen, who controlled the game well in the middle of park, was up next to try his luck. His floating effort from range troubled the Met ‘keeper but sailed just over the crossbar.
The visitors’ best chance of the first half fell to Rhys Thomas. After Owen was shown the first yellow of the afternoon following a challenge on Bradley Flay, Met were awarded a free-kick.
Harry Owen stepped up to take the resulting set-piece and found the head of an unchallenged Thomas, who nodded wide of Ashley Morris’ post.
USW enjoyed much of the possession throughout the first half but had to remain patient to open the scoring. The break-through finally came on the stroke of half-time through Williams.
Met goalkeeper Manson failed to pick out a team-mate from a goal-kick and the hosts took full advantage. Williams was played through on goal and he kept his composure to fire USW ahead at the interval.
Half-time: 1-0
Ten minutes into the second half, Met come close to finding the equaliser. A defensive error from Luke Baldwin in his own penalty area resulted in Rhys Thomas firing his close-range effort straight at Ashely Morris. Matt Neale then followed up with a strike from the edge of the box which flew over the USW crossbar.
Soon after, Danny Williams claimed his second goal of the day to double USW’s lead. A sharp move from USW saw Mike George cut the ball back into the path of Williams, who curled the ball beyond Max Manson.
As the match wore on USW began to dominate possession and territory against a visibly tiring Met side who never really looked like getting back into the game.
After 71 minutes, Owen tried his luck from 30 yards out, stinging the palms of Manson who could only parry the ball away for a corner.
And from that set-piece USW capitalised as Gerrard coolly fired a low drilled shot to beat Manson at his near post in what was a classic training ground move.
That sealed the points but Lee Kendall’s men weren’t done and added a fourth 12 minutes from the end.
Once again it came from a corner, with Owen’s measured pass finding Edwards on the edge of the area and his top corner finish was exquisite.
