By Harrison Kidd and Rhys-Jon Lewis
USW Women 1st clinched the league title with a resounding 3-0 win against Cardiff Met 2nd on an afternoon of celebration at the Sport Park.
A brace from midfielder Josie Day and a strike by Rhianna Oakley ensured the silverware and put the seal on a superb overall campaign.
USW came out the blocks quickly, with Oakley making a positive run from the right, dribbling past two Met players and shooting from long range into the top corner to open the scoring.
The home side continued their dominant start and when Josie Day stole an interception in the 15th minute she found herself one against one with the Met ‘keeper before cooly slotting the ball into the bottom corner.
USW should have capitalized further on their superiority before the interval. A great run from Lauren Lyons ended with only a fine save denying her and Oakley again went close as well.
The one-way traffic was almost total with USW’s Annabel Davies squandering a great opportunity and Day firing narrowly wide after a quick-fire counter-attack by the hosts.
Met began the second half more positively as they pushed forward and created chances for the first time in the encounter.
But a solid USW defence, well-marshalled by centre-back Lucia Carpranini, held firm, and after weathering something of a storm USW re-exerted their dominance.
Great build up play yielded a second for Day and as the game wore on Met became increasingly frustrated, committing a succession of fouls and having their coach cautioned on the sideline
Annable Davies almost made it 4-0 and a total rout for the hosts, though her late effort went just wide.
It mattered not, however. The celebrations could begin.