By Lee Clow and Geren Scapens
A DOMINANT second-half display from University of South Wales earned them a 4-0 victory over the University of Bristol at the USW Sport Park.
The home side took control of the tie in the opening stages with an array of passing moves, keeping Bristol pinned back towards their own goal.
The closest USW came to taking the lead in the first half was through Zack Cane. After some good passing play, Cane was played in on goal but his effort was smartly tipped over by the goalkeeper.
Despite their superiority, USW could not capitalise on any of their chances with their killer instinct lacking.
Bristol remained strong in defence as they held out for the rest of the half with the scores even.
The second half was when USW became much more clinical with their chances in front of goal.
It took just three minutes for the hosts to open the scoring, courtesy of captain Dominic Roberts’ smart finish.
Just minutes later Roberts doubled his tally as USW looked to kill the game off as quickly as possible. And their aggressive high defence certainly seemed to be paying off.
Throughout the rest of the third quarter USW gave Bristol no room as they kept the visitors pinned in their own half.
The pattern continued during the early stages of the fourth quarter with USW ensuring their defence had next to nothing to do.
With the clock ticking down, Roberts completed his hat-trick to give USW a commanding 3-0 lead.
Yet the home performance didn’t slacken in the closing minutes, with Cane again leading the charge with some excellent tackles high up the pitch.
The day only got better for Roberts and the rest of his team as with a minute to go he completed the scoring, netting his and USW’s fourth of the game to complete a resounding win.