Bragging rights for Cardiff in IMG football

Cardiff……….2

Swansea…….0

Second-half goals from Josh Walker and Dave Vincent ensured that Cardiff retained the IMG Football bragging rights after a scrappy victory over Swansea.

On a testing playing surface, the football was fragmented and lacked cohesion as both sides struggled to assert authority in possession, especially in a dour first half.

Cardiff emerged much improved after the break and were clinical when their chances came as they won the Welsh Varsity contest for the second successive year.

The first chance fell to Swansea’s Karim Craig Rohbani-Eivazi as he raced clear only to curl the ball straight at James Kelly in the Cardiff goal.

The game was temporarily overshadowed when police moved in to deal with a brawl on the touchline, although it hardly detracted from a turgid affair.

Back on the field, the visitors were edging the possession and territory statistics, but they seldom offered a meaningful threat. Striker Lewys Thomas clipped a shot over the bar before Kelly thwarted his tame effort as the match mercifully drifted into half time.

Cardiff switched to one up front just before the break, and it proved a smart decision as they began to see more of the ball.

Dan Walsh missed their first clear chance when he headed Alex Davies’ superb left-wing cross over from close-range, but the breakthrough was not far away.

From a corner, imposing left-back Tom Day nodded the ball back into the danger area and found Walker completely unmarked at the far post to tap in from six yards.

The home side, buoyed by the goal, poured forward in search of a second and Swansea goalkeeper Guy Drabble had to be alert to deny Josh Asquith.

While they couldn’t find another way through, the visitors were surprisingly timid as a Rohbani-Eivazi shot into the side-netting represented their only chance of any note.

Cardiff’s lead, although slender, was more than comfortable as the game entered its closing stages, but Vincent’s last-minute strike made the result certain.

Asquith gathered the ball on the right-hand side and cut in on to his left before driving into the penalty area.

An outstretched Swansea leg felled the midfielder, with the referee duly awarding a penalty that Vincent coolly slid past Drabble’s┬á flailing left hand.

Ross Martinovic