By Bobby Jones and Sam MacDonagh
USW clinched their eighth straight win with a superb display against local rivals Cardiff Met – with Beth Jefferies the hero.
Jefferies claimed a brilliant hat-trick to help send USW 10 points clear at the top of the division and put them within one win of promotion.
Cardiff Met started the game well and looked threatening early on, but the home side, who have been in scintillating from this season, were not to be denied.
Jefferies’ first goal saw her collect the ball from deep inside the Met defence, skip past the last defender and rifle her shot past the keeper to hand USW the lead.
It was 2-0 soon after when Jefferies was put clean through on goal and finished cooly with a low driven effort.
Shortly before half-time Jefferies turned creator when she pulled back a cross for Nia Jones who slotted home from eight yards out.
Jefferies completed her hat-trick in the second half, squeezing in a tight finish from the by-line, and then USW held the fort for the remainder of the encounter, never showing any serious signs of conceding a goal.
After the match, Jefferies said: “Obviously individually I was very pleased, but we’ve worked really well over the last few weeks
“We’ve really bonded during our training sessions.
“It is going to be important for us to get promoted from this league, to push the girls performing for us next year.”
The Women’s firsts have now scored 31 goals in eight games, conceding just three.
Such statistics have seen them cement themselves as the team to beat in the Western 3B league.