By Liam Owen
USW men’s 5ths exited the Aldi Mens Western Conference Trophy after a one-sided defeat at home to Cardiff Met 6ths.
Goals from Henry McMahon, Mason Tape, Drew Thomas, Clayton Hayne as well as two USW own goals, were enough to send the visitors into the next round.
Met started very quickly, with their opener coming in the second minute as McMahon fired home from just outside the six-yard box.
They were soon 2-0 ahead when Morgan Stevens’ cross was diverted into his own net by USW right back Tom Deacon.
Met continued to show their ability late on in the first half and were unfortunate not to be given a penalty as USW goalkeeper Friday Mbode seemed to recklessly challenge goalscorer McMahon inside the box, causing the forward to have to be withdrawn before half-time.
USW did apply pressure on the away team with midfielder Dayron Gauthierot missing tan opportunity to reduce the deficit as his one-on-one attempt was saved.
Unfortunately for the hosts this miss proved costly as Met scored moments later .
The unfortunate Toby Hubble-Darkes scored USW’s second own goal of the afternoon as he diverted the ball into his own net from a corner.
It didn’t get much better for USW after half-time as the visitors claimed their fourth goal of the afternoon when a scintillating passing move was finished by Tape.
It went from bad to worse for the hosts in the 66th minute as Met’s Morgan Stevens was brought down in the penalty area by Mbode, resulting in Drew Thomas converting a penalty for the visitors and a sending off for the goalkeeper.
The red card left USW no choice but to put outfield player James Brady in goal for the rest of the afternoon and he was comfortably beaten by Drew Thomas from the penalty spot to put Cardiff Met 5-0 up.
Despite a valiant effort from Brady, Met grabbed their sixth goal through Hayne who netted from the edge of the six-yard box.