Swansea was sensational: same again please!

The Wrexham Angle

Even in a remarkably goal-laden Adran Premier, we are the goal queens. Thirty-three strikes in six matches means we’re averaging five and a half goals per match, and have scored seven or more goals three times, setting our record win for the top division, equalling it and exceeding it in the space of three weeks! That TNS match already feels like it was a long time ago. doesn’t it?

Walloping Swansea City on their own pitch last weekend wasn’t just a tonic: it also reminded us of how remarkably strong this team is and showed their resilience too. Losing at home was a shock, but the last thing this side was going to do in such circumstances was shrivel up and feel sorry for themselves. Two more hat tricks were added to the pile, with Katie Barker already two-thirds of the way to the total which made her the Adran Premier’s golden boot last season.

There’s plenty of depth in the squad for Jenny Sugarman to consider when selecting her team. Millie Davies illustrated as much with an impressive first start at Garden Village, while Mikayle Wildgoose continued her return from injury with her first Wrexham goal last weekend: a memorable moment even in this highlight-strewn year.

Lucy Farrell And Natasha Thomas are back from international duty, but we hardly looked understrength in goal or up front last Sunday! Thomas will be keen to return, not least because she has a club record to extend: in her last match she became the first Wrexham player to score in each of her first five league games. She didn’t appear in the first of Jamaica’s friendly double-header in Mexico, and played 24 minutes off the bench on Wednesday, so the only issue would be tiredness after travelling back across the Atlantic.

Known injuries: Liv Fuller, Josie Smith

Possible debuts: –

Last Season

The View From The Other Side

An impressive promotion campaign saw a dominant force of Welsh women’s football return to the elite after a one-year absence. They won the league five times between 2012 and 2019, and enjoyed three victories in the Champions League, coming close to progressing to the next round in 2019-20, but declined soon afterwards. A grim 2024-25 campaign saw them relegated but they bounced back superbly last season, Eleven wins out of fourteen games allowed them to win the Adran South by an 8-point margin from our Bute Energy Cup quarter-final foes Carmarthen Town, and they then won the promotion play-off in dramatic fashion. Having trailed Connah’s Quay Nomads for 70 minutes, Faith Mulenga scored a last minute equaliser to send the game into a penalty shoot-out, which Met won 4-2 despite missing their first attempt.

They lost star player Anna Houghton to Cardiff City in the summer, but the university team have swiftly banished memories of Pontypridd’s unhappy gap year in the top division. Any notions that they would be another newly-promoted side unable to cope with the demands of the Adran Premier were dispelled by their first couple of matches: they held TNS until the 69th minute before late goals condemned them to a 2-0 loss, and followed that up with a battling draw at Briton Ferry. Their match against Aberystwyth Town three weeks ago offered them an opportunity to double down on that impression: Aber are suffering a nightmarish start to the season, offering Met the opportunity to put distance between them and the sole relegation spot. Despite going behind in the fourth minute, Cardiff were not about to let the chance slip through their fingers, coming back to win 2-1. They are currently five points ahead of Town.

Since then, they have suffered a pair of disappointing results. Admittedly, losing 7-1 to Cardiff City was put into context by the Bluebirds’ double-figure haul last weekend, and Met did open the scoring, but last Sunday’s home game against Barry Town United was a missed opportunity to put the relegation scrap firmly in the rear view mirror. Like Aberystwyth, Barry Town United were pointless going into the game, but an unexpectedly dramatic afternoon was in store. Against the odds, Barry were 2-0 up after 21 minutes, and the game stayed that way until Gracie Howard’s remarkable 14-minute cameo. She came on for Cardiff after an hour, scored two minutes later and was then sent off to leave Met back in the game but down to ten players. There would be one final twist though: just when it looked like Barry had held on for the win, Mulenga maintained her appetite for late interventions when she equalised from the penalty spot with the last kick of the game.

Known injuries: –

Suspension: Gracie Howard

Possible debuts: –

LAST TIME

Potential Milestones

If Natasha Thomas scores, she will extend her club record of scoring in her first 5 league games for us.

Ava Suckley needs 3 more goals to become the second player to score 50 goals for Wrexham. Only Rosie Hughes has scored more.

Lili Jones needs two more assists to become the first Wrexham player to make 25 assists for the club.

Wrexham have never been involved in a goalless draw.

Wrexham’s record against Cardiff Met: P13 W9 D0 L4

Biggest win against Cardiff Met: 3-0 2023-24, 2024-25

Biggest loss against Cardiff Met: –

Biggest home win against Cardiff Met: 3-0 2024-25

Biggest home loss against Cardiff Met: –

Biggest attendance for game v Cardiff Met: 637 (h) 2024-25

Smallest attendance for game v Cardiff Met: 369 (h) 2023-24*

*Cardiff Met have never announced an attendance for a home game against Wrexham.