By Hywel Fuller and Connor Green
COREY McKeary grabbed a hat trick as University of South Wales 2nds dispatched Cardiff Metropolitan University 3rds in a seven-goal thriller.
It was USW who started the brightest, with several runs and crosses from Rhyse Hudson putting the pressure on Cardiff Met early on.
The deadlock was broken after eight minutes following another good run from Hudson on the right flank who passed it to McKeary to get his first of the afternoon.
USW nearly added another when Iwan Mooney was through but tried to square it and was intercepted by the Cardiff Met defence.
As the first half went on, Cardiff Met grew into the game and started to knock the ball around well which led to Xavie Clarke having a shot go over the bar.
Toby Kinnerly became a bright spark for Cardiff Met after dribbling through the USW defence and having a shot fly wide and then heading wide from a corner minutes later.
USW midfielder Chris O’Donovan was booked after giving away a free kick and kicking the ball away which led to Cardiff Met captain Tom Carter having his close-range shot saved by Dan Thomas from the resulting free kick.
McKeary got his second goal after a long ball was played on and the striker slotted the ball to Luke Wilson’s left to give USW a comfortable lead going into half time. This led to complaints from Cardiff Met as the linesman gave offside which the referee overruled.
There was no let up from USW in the second half and with the third goal coming in the space of a few seconds courtesy of Hudson breaking down the wing and delivering a good cross into the box for USW number 11 Iwan Mooney to coolly finish off.
With USW now 3-0 to the good, Cardiff Met was pushing to try and get back into the game and had a great chance to do so on the 56th minute mark with their best chance of the whole game, a good cross by Dylan Gifford was failed to be turned in by Cardiff Met’s No 9 Jamie Moss.
That missed opportunity would prove to be fateful as USW broke on the counter and despite Cardiff Met’s goalkeeper Luke Wilson doing well to keep out the original effort, he was unable to prevent Hudson from scoring the rebound.
The situation only got worse for Cardiff Met when in the 63rd minute USW’s McKeary was able to break down the left, cut inside and calmly finish in the top corner with the Cardiff Met goalkeeper Wilson only able to get his fingertips to it.
At 5-0 up USW started to take their foot off the gas, and this let Cardiff Met back into the game. On the 70th minute the away side’s persistence paid off with a great goal from Gifford, who lobbed the goalkeeper after a flurry of chances in front of goal.
With their first goal now giving them more confidence, Cardiff Met managed to grab another consolation goal in the 78th minute through Moss who tapped in from close range after a lovely team move.
Cardiff Met was not able to get any more momentum after that goal and the game became scrappy in the final moments with both sides receiving cards and the game ended in a comfortable 5-2 win for USW.