UNIVERSITY of South Wales Women’s 1st cruised to a 3-0 victory over Bournemouth University after a dominant display.
Goals from Monet Legall, Rhianne Oakley and Ffion Llewellyn topped off a comfortable afternoon at the Sport Park.
The game started brightly with USW looking sharp in the early exchanges.
USW were soon rewarded when they opened the scoring through Legall. After some good build up play down the right, the ball was fired low across the box for her to simply tap home.After the goal, USW continued to dominate as they pushed for a crucial second.
Bournemouth goalkeeper, Eve Pearsall, made a good low save from a pile drive in midfield after 26 minutes, keeping her side in the game.
The remainder of the first half saw USW attack down both wings with Bournemouth continually being pulled from side to side. This was certainly a tactical move set by the manager, Kath Morgan, before the game and it proved to be a successful one.
As the teams went into half time, the home side were clearly the stronger team having had the majority of possession and the greater chances. If it wasn’t for poor finishing, USW could have easily had two or three goals and putting the game to bed.
In the second half, Bournemouth came out of the traps quickly and almost found themselves level only two minutes in. A free kick was won on the edge of the area and Libbie Allinson stepped up before smashing the ball onto the post, letting USW off the hook.
The home side then responded to the visitors’ chance and broke down the left channel. After receiving the ball, Legall burst through on goal and looked certain to score when she bent her effort towards the far corner. She was denied by Pearsell who got down well and produced a stunning save before her defence scrambled the ball to safety.
On 65 minutes, Bournemouth came even closer to equalising but were once again denied by the woodwork. Alessia Mangiapane found herself free in the box with the whole goal to aim at but she dragged her shot wide onto the outside of the post, keeping USW’s lead intact.
Following this, Morgan’s side regained control and began creating chance after chance as they threw more players forward, but they still could not find that important second goal.It finally came when Rhianne Oakley produced a moment of magic. An attack down the right-hand channel was led by Oakley who cut inside and buried her shot into the top left corner, giving the keeper no chance.
As the minutes ticked down, the home side pushed even further as they looked for more goals. Legall could have had a second after getting on the end of a beautiful cross down the right, but her header sailed over, keeping the score at 2-0.
On 88 minutes, USW got their third when Ffion Llewellyn struck from the edge of the box and saw her shot go through Pearsall in the back of the net. The goalkeeping mistake summed up Bournemouth’s day having lacked any real quality throughout.
Kath Morgan’s side comfortably held out for victory until the final whistle, topping off their three goals with a clean sheet.
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