By Tom Lea
USW Men’s 2nd held on to clinch a nail-biting 3-2 victory against Cardiff Met Men’s 4th.
The hosts raced into a 3-1 lead before the interval with goals from Yousif, Ellis Holland and Markus Holbakken.
But Will Solari hit back for the visitors and Matt Neill added a second at the start of the second half to set up an anxious conclusion to this derby affair.
USW started brightly and took the lead as early as the second minute when Yousif met an in-swinging ball from the right with a firm header dispatched into the bottom corner.
Three minutes later it was 2-0. USW launched an electric counter-attack which ended with Holland rounding Kieran Park in the Met goal and calmly slotting the ball into the back of the net.
This sparked the visitors into life and in the 11th minute, Solari broke onto a long ball over the top and lobbed the on-rushing Ryan Flemming only to see his effort bounce back off the left-hand upright.
Moments later, Met got themselves back into the game with Solari curling a free-kick past the despairing dive of the USW goalkeeper.
The first half action wasn’t finished there though. Corey McCary and Taylor Marsh linked up nicely and, although McCary was denied by a spectacular goal-line block, Holbakken was on hand to hammer the rebound high into the net.
The second-half saw a rejuvenated Met control the game.
Within seconds of the restart, Matt Neill wriggled free of the USW defence, only to see his left-footed effort cannon back off the inside of the post with Flemming well beaten.
Neill got the goal his performance deserved moments later. A lucky break carryied the ball into his path and he maintained his composure to deftly lift the ball over Flemming and narrow the gap to one again.
The duel between Neill and Flemming wasn’t done there, with the hosts’ number one somehow finding a way to tip a free-kick from Neill over the bar.
He also produced another fingertip save in the last minute to repel Zack King’s free header and ensure all three points stayed at the Sport Park.