Nomads conquer Cardiff in away win

The Nomads beat Cardiff Met 2-1 on Sunday afternoon in the Dafabet Welsh Premier League.  Goals from Matty Williams and Les Davies meant The Nomads retained their unbeaten record in the league, despite a late goal from Adam Roscrow.

The game saw The Nomads travel to the capital for their first league meeting with newly promoted Cardiff Met, who had so far endured a tricky start to the season with four losses and one draw.  The Nomads were looking to get back to winning ways after two frustrating draws to Cefn Druids and Bala Town.

The Nomads’ line up omitted Michael Wilde and Lewis Short through injuries, with Sean Smith starting amongst captain Ian Kearney and John Disney.  Cardiff Met started the likes of Adam Roscrow and Charlie Corsby.

The game began and The Nomads took the lead with just six minutes gone, when an aerial ball came into the Cardiff area and fell to Williams, he shot low from around 12 yards to send the ball into the bottom right corner.

The Nomads kept up their pressure and high tempo play after the goal, which made for a first half largely dominated by the away side.  Ian Kearney had the chance to double The Nomads’ lead on nine minutes when he headed a corner from Woolfe just above the Met crossbar.

Controlling the game, the tempo of The Nomads’ play relaxed slightly, but not without good attacking movement from the Nathan Woolfe, Les Davies and Jay Owen.

In the 23rd minute, The Nomads did manage to breakthrough again via an impressive 25 yard effort from Les Davies. Shooting low, his shot hit the left post and bounced onto the right post, before eventually crossing the line and further consolidating The Nomads’ hold on the game.

One of The Nomads' best chances to further their lead came when Nathan Woolfe got into the Cardiff Met area and fought off two defenders to shoot low towards the left corner only for Fuller to push the shot away for a corner which was subsequently cleared.

Towards the end of the half, Cardiff Met showed more of their attacking play, a feature that would be repeated at the end of the game. Corsby latched onto a cross into the Nomads area, sending it above the crossbar to keep The Nomads’ clean sheet intact for the interval.

The Nomads were dealt a blow at the start of the second half, when Ian Kearney went down in great discomfort with a knee injury.  He was able to limp off the pitch, and was replaced by Tom Field.

The next period of the game saw John Danby go unchallenged, the home side having more possession but without creating any real goalscoring opportunities. However, Met’s persistence began to pay off, seen when with 20 minutes to go Roscrow had a shot go wide from 15 yards.

The Nomads then brought Nathan Woolfe off with Nick Rushton his replacement, who went onto to chase a free ball all the way into the Cardiff Met area only to be beaten to it by the keeper. Nomads’ final change saw Wes Baynes go off for Matty Owen.

Inside the last five minutes of the game Nomads’ victory looked to be all but confirmed, but Cardiff Met’s Roscrow reduced the deficit for his side in the 86th minute. Roscrow got inside the Nomads and area and hit the bottom right corner of the net with a controlled low strike.

Boosted by their goal, the home side were further enthused by five minutes of additional time at the end of the game. Pushing for the equaliser, Jay Owen was forced to make an interception in the area before Danby caught a cross heading towards his goal.

A challenge on Danby forced the keeper to receive treatment, bringing the total amount of game time to 98 minutes. Despite this addition, The Nomads held firm to come away from Cardiff with all three points from a controlled, professional performance.

The Nomads now look onto a run of five home games, beginning with a match against Aberystwyth Town on Sunday 18 September for a 3:00pm kick off.

Match Photos

Match Report by Will Catterall