By Jordan Jones
UNIVERSITY of South Wales manager Steve Savage says his side were unaffected by Cardiff Met’s decision to play an under-strength team.
Harry Owen, Matt Neale, Rhydian Morgan and Rhys Thomas were Met’s only first choice players to feature – and they paid the price by going down to a comprehensive 4-0 defeat.
Archers manager Christian Edwards made five changes from the 2-2 draw at Cyncoed Campus last month, with a number of Welsh Premier League players absent as Savage’s side ran riot.
Savage said: “I’m not too bothered what squads come here. You’ve got to play what’s in front of you.
“I’d be very disappointed if we hadn’t got the result, I thought we deserved the result today.”
USW have since moved into a full-time model, where first-team players have made a big commitment by reporting for early morning training almost every day of the week.
Their transition into a full-time model has shown its benefits. Savage’s men are the only side yet to suffer defeat in the top tier of BUCS Football.
USW are now six games unbeaten, with four victories and two draws. They are also six points clear of BUCS National winners and local rivals Met.
“It’s a hell of a commitment, it’s game by game, we’re mindful of the league table, we want to protect it,” Savage added.
“We want to make sure we perform at home.”
Set-pieces were utilised by USW this afternoon, with two of the goals coming from well-taken corners.
Both Liam Gerrard and Louis Gerrard benefited from practised corners, as they added to Danny Williams’ brace.
It was also a second clean sheet of the season for USW, having conceded in each of their last three games.
Savage continued: “We dominated from start to finish. Our systems worked and it was great to get goals from set-pieces. The confidence to lay the ball back and get the movements was good to see.
“It’s great to get a clean sheet, I’m a big fan of big sheets.”
USW now turn their attention to next week’s fixture against Hartpury who played out a goalless draw at Exeter.