Cardiff City manager Iain Darbyshire believes there’s a lot more to come from his side despite sealing a league and cup double this season.
The Bluebirds beat Genero Adran South champions Briton Ferry Llansawel 4-0 at Penydarren Park, securing a domestic double for the 2022/23 season following their Genero Adran Premier title-winning campaign.
Eliza Collie opened the scoring before goals from Catherine Walsh and Ffion Price had the Bluebirds 3-0 up at the interval, while substitute Rhianne Oakley added the fourth in the 90th minute.
The Bluebirds now have the UEFA Women’s Champions League draw to look forward to ahead of the start of next season’s campaign and Darbyshire wants his side to build on what has been an impressive campaign.
The cup final was the Bluebirds’ final match before they discover their opponents for the UEFA Women’s Champions League and Darbyshire has backed his side to kick on next term.
“Believe me when I tell you, we’re nowhere near where I want us to be,” said Darbyshire, whose side went unbeaten throughout the league season.
“We have a clear plan in our heads of where to go and how to do it. We want to be bigger, better and be the one everyone looks at and goes, ‘wow, I want to play for that team’. That’s all the way through the age groups.
“We’ll take a little break, but we’ll be bigger, better and a different animal next year and I think everyone should look out.’’
It was the third time Cardiff City have lifted the FAW Women’s Cup and this season saw them defend the trophy, having won last year’s final 2-0 against Cardiff Met.
“We just tried to focus on ourselves. We knew it would be difficult and we knew we had the quality to win the game and win the game well.
“We had to execute it on the day, and I think Briton Ferry made it difficult for us .They defended well and we missed a few chances.
“If it was a league game, I’d be a little bit more critical because we demand more and expect more and the group know that.’’
One of the goalscorers in the final Ffion Price, who netted the third after catching out Briton Ferry’s goalkeeper with a corner at her near post, is a lifelong Bluebirds fan and has played a key part in the double-winning campaign.
“There’s going to be absolutely everybody asking, ‘is it a cross or is it a shot?'”, said Price.
“When I hit it, I could see it curling in and I was delighted it hit the back of the net, but I’m going to say it was a shot.
“For me personally, playing for the club I support and love is on another level. The girls were fantastic and I thought we thoroughly deserved the win. We set our targets early on this season, all agreed on them and wanted to work hard for them.
“They [Genero Adran Premier and FAW Women’s Cup] were definitely targets of ours and we’re absolutely delighted to tick them off our list.’’
