A preseason friendly between the 2nd Men’s team from USW and Cardiff Medics FC gave the opportunity for both teams to build momentum leading into the beginning of a new season. The lion’s share of the match was spent with the attack of both teams aiming to outdo one another. While it may not have been appealing to those who prefer a showcase of masterful defence, it still managed to be an entertaining matchup in which USW came out eventual 3-2 winners.
USW arguably started the brighter of the two sides and that could have been due in part to a well-executed game plan that lasted throughout the half. USW elected to continually try to get their speedy number 11 King Junior behind the Medics backline with repeated through balls. On the 8-minute mark, their tactics paid off as Junior released Frederick along the right wing, he found the near post, beating Medics stopper George Kohler to put USW 1-0 up.
The duo of Frederick and Junior continued to pose problems for the Medics, as Frederick almost doubled his tally ten minutes later with a dangerous turn and shoot effort that just whistled past the near post. USW didn’t need to wait long to establish a two-goal cushion as their talisman, Junior, capitalised on a blocked shot to volley the ball into the back of the net from inside the penalty area.
The visitors’ first clear chance of the half came as Ollie Wright-Powell displayed great ball control on the edge of the area and fired towards goal, however the shot did not have the placement to beat Lloyd Carr at his far post. Cardiff used this boost to half the deficit ten minutes later as Carr spilled what looked to be a routine save into the path of Cardiff number 9, Harry Brebner, who made no mistake and brought Cardiff within striking distance.
The Medics squandered their work to make the game competitive by conceding a penalty 36 minutes into the game, Junior was brought down in the box, Markus Holbakkon stepped up and sent the keeper the wrong way to re-establish USW’s two-goal lead.
Cardiff almost delivered the perfect response a minute later, as a well-placed cross from the left-wing found Brebner once again in the right place, however, the linesman’s flag shot up soon after the ball hit the net, the first half ending 3-1 to USW.
The first half was decidedly less eventful than the first, as Cardiff created almost all of the chances but failed to capitalise on them. The Medics started promisingly when Cai Evans struck the outside of the post on 51 minutes and on the hour mark, Evans brought Cardiff back into the game but perhaps not intentionally, a strike from the right-wing that looked initially like a cross but instead looped over the keepers head to make the score 3-2.
A troubling sight for USW came ten minutes later as Aiden King had to be helped off of the field with an injury, and we are yet to receive word on the severity of the injury or the timeline for his return. The game largely slowed following this stoppage, with the Medics seemingly running out of gas and electing to taking chances on repeated long shots in search of their equaliser and USW managed to hold off any threat and close the game out for a final score of 3-2.
All in all, the match was a competitive and physical affair, largely fought in the midfield where many fouls were given against both sides, yet the referee was still hesitant to present a card, until the 88th minute after a verbal altercation with Holbakkon. After the game, USW 2nd team coach James McIlvenny had high aspirations and praise for his attackers, saying of his front three, ‘They will be the reason we go up this season’.
The Inbound Observer 