Cardiff Met exacted revenge for their defeat at the Essity at the end of August, by running out 4-1 winners at their Cyncoed home in the return fixture. In what had been a finely balanced game, with nothing much to separate the two teams, Flint fell apart in a crazy 5 minute spell towards the end of the game, conceding two goals. Their misery was then compounded in added on time when Matt Chubb hit a wonder strike for the hosts on the counter, as the Silkmen piled forward for a free kick.
Flint had settled into the game quite well, stroking the ball around well, but did look susceptible to the swift counter attacking threat from Met. They were served notice on 6 minutes as Ryan Reynolds threaded a great ball into the path of Sam Jones who was through on goal, but Jack Flint denied him with a good stop with his legs.
Reynolds then took on the responsibility of shooting himself a few minutes later, when he chested the ball down from a pass into him, strode forward and hit a long range shot that was heading into the top corner until Flint flew across his goal and produced a fine one handed save.
Met were certainly carving out the better goal scoring chances in the opening quarter of an hour, despite Flint enjoying plenty of possession, and Jones had another sight of goal, but blasted over from a decent position, his shot just clipping the bar.
Flint’s first effort on goals brought them a reward after 21 minutes. Jake Phillips, on the right, slipped the ball into Jake Canavan on the edge of the box, he showed strength to withstand a challenge, and funnelled the ball into the path of Elliott Reeves, who stroked a sidefooted shot home from 15 yards.
Barely a minute later, Reeves could have doubled both his and his side’s tally, as he beat the offside trap and raced away down the right, before cutting in to hit a near post shot that Met keeper Sam Seagar turned around his post.
Met carved out an equaliser on 31 minutes, when Fumpa Mwandwe picked out Adam Roscrow inside the box, and the veteran striker showed great presence of mind to bring the ball back inside before hitting a low shot that went inside the post.
On the balance of play, it was a fair reflection that both sides should be level pegging at half time.
For much of the second half, Flint carried the greater threat, but the inability to pick the right ball in the final third and a couple of missed opportunities would ultimately cost them dear.
On 53 minutes, a Flint corner was played in before the ball was played back to the taker, Phillips, who initially looked to try and send a cross back over, but as he was being closed down, he cleverly cut back inside on his left foot and hit a shot that Seager touched over his crossbar.
A few minutes later, having won the ball in midfield, Flint attacked again with purpose, and Ben Hughes, who was seeing much more of the ball in the second period delivered a cross that overshot Reeves in the middle but picked out the supporting Mikey Burke on the left edge of the box. He cushioned a nice pass across the face of the box to Ben Wynne, who hit it on the volley, but his connection wasn’t clean, and Seager managed to gather it without too much trouble.
Met were defending their goal aggressively, and they were dominant in the air with their headed clearances, meaning Flint were often struggling to unpick the lock. Phillips was making the most of the room being afforded to him down the right flank, and on 65 minutes he played in a peach of a cross, low across the front of the goal, but the ball eluded the incoming Reeves, and with no other supporting attackers in the mix, the chance went begging.
As the game entered the final 10 minutes, there were worrying signs from a Flint point of view that Met had rediscovered their attacking instants, and they seemed to have a new found impetus.
On 83 minutes, those fears were realised as Cardiff skipper CJ Craven sent in a hanging ball from half way inside the Flint half, that was met by Jones for an unchallenged header that he sent back across the keeper into the far side of the net.
That goal saw the introduction of Lewis Rees off the bench for the home side, who was to have an immediate impact, as Met swiftly made the most of their advantage to close the game out. First of all he struck the post with a shot after breaking clear, before despatching a low free kick from the edge of the box, to make it 3-1 and effectively end any hopes the Silkmen still harboured of taking anything from the game.
Salt was rubbed into the wounds for the away side deep into stoppage time as they conceded a fourth goal. They were awarded a free kick wide on the right near the half way line that Jack Flint came out to take. His delivery was unable to clear the first man , and Chubb took possession and raced away with the ball. With Flint scampering back towards his goal, Chubb saw his opportunity and unleashed a long range effort from just inside the visitor’s half that sailed over the stranded Flint and into the net, to give the scoreline a somewhat lopsided look, given the overall balance of play.
Report by Nigel Sheen
Line Ups :
Cardiff Met – S. Seager, M. Chubb, J. Morris, CJ Craven (c), S. Richards (J. Edwards 58), E. Evans (L. Rees 84), D. Kabango, F. Mwandwe, S. Jones, A. Roscrow (J. Payne 78). Unused Subs – K. Absalom (GK), L. Walsh, H. Matthews, O. Rees
Flint Town United – J. Flint, I. Lee (B. Woollam 86), M. Burke, A. Mudimu, H. Owen (c), J. Thorn, J. Phillips (K. Imariagbe 90), B. Hughes (G. Maire 90), E. Reeves, B. Wynne (Cam. Ferguson 86), J. Canavan (J. Jones 63). Unused Subs – D. Szczepaniak (GK), Cal. Ferguson
Flint MOM – Jake Phillips (was prominent in all of Flint’s best attacking moves)
