Premiership class shows as Healey returns with a goal

The Cardiff City Development Squad showed their class last night as they ran out 5-0 victors over The Nomads at Deeside Stadium.

The game started with a lot of early possession from Cardiff and that was to set the tone for the majority of the night, however it was The Nomads who had the first chance on the sixth minute with Simon Everall heading over the bar from a Ricky Evans cross. A few minutes later and Mike Hayes latched on to a through ball and managed to improvise a flick over the last man inside the box and on the stretch poked the ball under the goalkeeper only to see the ball cleared off the line. Shortly after, the impressive Kadeem Harris started to work his magic down the Cardiff left wing and slid a right footed shot just wide of Terry McCormick's goal on the 15th minute.

Five minutes later and the impressive Cardiff captain Deji Oshilaja headed just over the bar from a corner. Oshilaja put in a fine performance throughout the game showing great strength winning pretty much every header in his area and showing great pace sweeping up at the back for Cardiff.

Rhys Healey's first chance against his former side came on the 30th minute as he headed a Harris cross wide, but the pressure was starting to tell as Etien Velikonja struck a shot wide, but three minutes later and the impressive Kadeem Harris continued to torment The Nomads down the left wing, cut inside of Mike Sharples and hit a stinging right footed strike beyond Terry McCormick. Harris gained some more confidence from his goal na shortly after nearly added to his goal with a nice stepover on the edge of the box before flashing a shot inches over the bar.

On the 42nd minute, The Nomads were awarded a free kick after Simon Everall was wrestled off the ball on the edge of the box. Paul Mooney took the free kick and a 'keeper of lower quality wouldn't have stood a chance as the ball was heading straight to the top corner however, Dave Richards pulled off a fantastic save to push the ball round the post.

Half time drew in and The Nomads trailed 1-0 to a very impressive Cardiff side. Both teams came back out for the second half having made no changes and there was no change to Cardiff's possession of the ball nearly doubling the scoreline after a right wing cross come shot was flashed across the face of The Nomads goal. Mike Hayes went down the other end shortly after and hit a sweet strike which either took a deflection or swerved dramatically as Richards nearly dived past the ball and had to quickly adjust to parry the ball wide. Two minutes later however and an unfortunate clearance from Terry McCormick hit the back of a Cardiff player and it fell to Kadeem Harris who cut in and hit a rasping strike beyond McCormick to make it 2-0 on the 54th minute.

Cardiff continued to have the majority of possession without creating any clear cut chances, and it was Mike Hayes who again broke for The Nomads on the 63rd minute cut in curling a right footed stike off the post. Minutes later and Harris was speeding down the left wing again and just as he looked to pull the trigger to get his hattrick, a last ditch sliding tackle from Mike Sharples denied him, however the third goal would come just a minute later as, inevitably, the returning Rhys Healey tapped in a square ball from inside the six yard box.

The Nomads didn't give in however, and a few minutes later Cardiff keeper Dave Richards made another save that probably wouldn't have been made in the Welsh Premier League as he sprung high to his right to tip a Ricky Evans free kick around the post.

Cardiff's Slovenian striker Etien Velikonja added two goals in the final 15 minutes, firstly ceasing on a lapse in concentration by The Nomads defence and walking the ball in to make it 4-0, and his second goal was a tap in similar to Healey's goal following some more good work down the right wing.

Overall, an impressive performance by a Cardiff side, who kept the ball very well, played lovely football and were very hungry when not in possession of the ball. Rhys Healey seems to have only got better since leaving Deeside Stadium and it was great to see him back at the club. There are a number of players that featured for the Cardiff team who will no doubt be looking to break into the first team in the near future with Kadeem Harris and Deji Oshilaja both performing very impressively.

The Nomads shouldn't feel too down by the result as they played against a team of lasds who are looking to break into a Premiership first team, and but for a few mistakes and a few great saves, the scores could have realistically been a lot closer.

Match report written by Nik Mesney

Match Photos