This Sunday the Reds head to Richmond Park Carmarthen to face Aberystwyth Town in the Semi-final of the FAW Welsh Women’s Cup.
The last time the side reached the Welsh Cup semi’s was in 2019 in a losing effort to Cardiff Met. Lucy Powell and Laura Braithwaite with the goals for the Reds on that day. Lucy Powell will likely be in the staring line up on Sunday while Laura Braithwaite will be in the dugout as Physio.
Aberystwyth will be looking to shake off the disappointment of losing in the Adran Trophy last week. Aber missed out on a place in the final after a 3-1 defeat to Cardiff Met at Cyncoed Campus. Losing 2-0 at the break, Met added a third early in the second half but the visitors were able to pull one back quickly thanks to Amy Jenkins. The Seasiders however couldn’t find a way back into the game.
The Adran Premier outfit will provide tough opponents for the Reds despite their disappointing league position. Aber sit in sixth place at the end of phase one without a league win in five matches.
Manager Rhys James shared his feelings ahead of the game.
“The players and staff are really excited for this upcoming game against Aberystwyth.
“As a club we want to compete in every competition we are in.
“It’s getting closer to the business end of the season now and being top of the league, along with being in the FAW Welsh Cup final for the first time as a club, is something we certainly would like to achieve.
“This would give the squad a huge boost going into our remaining fixtures.”
Reds captain Lowri Ridings one of the Ferry squad who has played in a cup semi-final for Swansea City in 2014 told FAW. Cymru,
“It will be a good challenge for us to play a club from the league above and see where we are at as a team.
“We played Aberystwyth last season, and it was a close game.
“We are certainly not going to underestimate them, but obviously we want to get through.
“We have been training hard and have had some good results recently so we just need to back ourselves.
“It would be amazing to reach the final and a massive confidence boost as we look to win promotion”.
Aber manager Gavin Allen identified Ferry midfielder Laura-May Walkley as a major threat to his side, as reported by Impetus Football. Walkley was in the Cardiff Met side that made last years final and the Aber manager had this to say,
“They’ve got Laura-May Walkley in midfield who can cause issues. She’s awkward, she’s different as I will call her.
"She played for Cardiff Met last season, so she’s played at a very high level at that Welsh Prem.
"But we’ve got an individual in our middle of the park that makes it difficult for a lot of girls when we do play against the higher teams and I’m sure she’ll be having a specific role on that day to counter basically what she can offer.”
Red’s manager Rhys James added,
“I’ve seen a little bit of Aberystwyth this year and can see the quality they have.
"If our ambitions are top play in the Adran Premier , we must show we can compete with teams like this and I’m sure we will on Sunday.”
The winners of this semi-final will face the winners of the Cardiff Met v Cardiff City game also being played on Sunday.
The match will kick off at 14:00 on Sunday 19th of February at Richmond Park, Carmarthen, SA31 1LR.
