A play-off between the top four is bound to be tough, and we start off against a Swansea side whose terrific win against Cardiff kept the title race alive.
THE WREXHAM ANGLE
Last Sunday's Bute Energy Cup semi-final win over TNS secured our first Welsh Cup final, and underlined the fighting spirit which has helped us achieved so much this season. We didn't hit our usual levels of performance, but forced an error, took the chance, and dug deep to repel TNS' desperate search for an equaliser.
Rosie Hughes scored the decisive goal, and is looking in ominous form: she picked up an injury in January which disrupted her rhythm, and meant she could only make an appearance off the bench when Wrexham travelled to the Cardiff City Stadium, but she has scored four goals in her last three matches, plus another in the friendly aganst Stourbridge a fortnight ago, as the after-effects of her injury dissipate.
The TNS match also saw skipper Keren Allen return from injury, although she has to go off after a series of late challenges on her, while new signing Liv Fuller got another 45 minutes in on her road to recovery and looked terrific at the back.
LAST TIME WE MET
THE VIEW FROM THE OTHER SIDE
You only have to look back to Swansea's last league match to understand what formidable opponents they are. They rounded off the first phase of the season with a magnificent 2-0 win against Cardiff. The champions were overwhelmed by City in the first half, and a spectacular strike by Chloe Chivers, who hit the injury time equaliser from outside the box at The Rock to earn a 3-3 draw in the first game of the season, broke the deadlock. In the 80th minute, Katy Hosford struck to ensure victory, and condemn Cardiff to their first league defeat in 35 games.
That result really put the cat among the pigeons: Cardiff looked to be cruising to another title, but now the margin between them and The Swans has narrowed to 5 points, and the title race is back on.
However, Cardiff gained revenge last weekend with a 3-1 victory in the semi-final of the Bute Energy Cup. Stacey John-Davis equalised swiftly after The Bluebirds took an early lead, and the game remained level until the last 5 minutes, when Cardiff struck to secure a place in the final.
“I’m happy with the performance, the players have come a long way and I can’t be too disheartened with the display,” Chris Church, The Swans' interim coach told their club website.
“They have all taken everything on board, it’s just unfortunate that the game is won by small margins and this game certainly was, and we were on the wrong side of them on this occasion.
“But the players can take confidence from how they played regardless of the result, I can’t take much away from the team, they gave everything for the cause.
“It will definitely serve as motivation, Cardiff are a good team with good players, but I think we have a really good squad as a whole and now it’s about sticking together in these moments and seeing where it takes us.
“The fixtures are coming thick and fast, and it gives them an instant opportunity to respond and put the result behind us.
“Obviously the players will be feeling down and disheartened, that's understandable when you lose a semi-final, but it’s the staff's job to pick them back up as quickly as possible.
“There is still a lot to play for and that is a credit to the players for getting us into these positions.”
TODAY'S OTHER FIXTURES
Cardiff City v Aberystwyth Town
Before Swansea's surprise victory on the last day of Phase One, Aberystwyth were the only side to take points from the Bluebirds, after an early season rearguard action shut them out.
Town secured the point they needed to get into the top four on the last game before the split, but the gulf between them and the top 3 means they have little chance of further improving their league position. In fact, if Cardff beat them and Wrexham beat Swansea, we'd only need one more point to clinch third place.
