By Callum Scaife and Sam Hart
GOALKEEPER Jordan O’Brien inspired USW to a dramatic comeback in a fiery derby against Cardiff Met to keep the home side top of the league whilst leaving rivals Met in third place.
Redd Pratley and Sion Herman were on the score-sheet for USW whilst Cameron Rowe scored Met’s only goal in a game which included two red cards, major bust-ups and a penalty miss.
Met took the lead in the first half, but USW managed to claw their way back into the game and get two goals in the final quarter of the game.
Met had a few early chances, with goal-scorer Rowe hitting a shot over after being put through.
They had a breakthrough in the 14th minute when following a corner, defender Danny Maguire handled off the line resulting in a penalty and a red card to the USW man. The penalty, however, was wonderfully saved by O’Brien, low to is left.
Met continued to dominate and eventually got their goal. After some sloppy defending, Rowe was one-on-one with O’Brien and calmly slotted into the bottom corner to make it 1-0 to the visitors at the break.
There was little notable action in a slow-starting second half until the 57th minute when No.7 for Cardiff Met committed an awful challenge on USW’s right back.
The breakthrough for the home side came in the 72nd minute after a mistake from the Cardiff Met defence allowed Sion Herman slot home from the edge of the box.
Moments later, while USW were celebrating, two players began arguing on the other side of the pitch.
Before long almost every player from both sides was involved in pushing and shoving.
Five minutes later another mistake from the Cardiff Met defence allowed Partley to rob the defender and place a shot under the keeper for what would prove the winning goal.
Before the final whistle another red card was shown to a Cardiff Met player after a fierce protest towards the referee following a heavy challenge.
It completed a miserable day for the visitors.