Georgia

Iain Derbyshire’s Cardiff City side had already secured the Genero Adran Premier title going into this weekend but had local rivals Swansea sitting in their way of completing a historic invincible season.

It was the hosts who prevailed in the battle between the league’s top two sides at the Cardiff City Stadium, thereby ensuring they finished the season unbeaten, with a 13-point lead over their opponents.

It was Swansea City’s Katy Hosford who opened the scoring, but the Bluebirds hit back just five minutes later through Lily Billingham.

The game remained level as the hour mark approached, with little to separate the sides. Rhianne Oakley came up with a huge moment to take her chance superbly and put her side ahead.

The Bluebirds looked to press their advantage and produced two further chances for Danielle Green and Lily Billingham. The goal finally came when substitute Zoe Atkins added to the Bluebirds’ lead.

The New Saints capped off a superb year with a stunning 5-4 win over Cardiff Met at Cyncoed. After a disappointing year last season, the transformation in the TNS side has been remarkable over the past few months, as they secured a fourth-placed finish, just three points behind their opponents this weekend.

Wrexham Women secured promotion to the Genero Adran Premier with a tight 1-0 win against Briton Ferry Llansawel in their playoff final at Latham Park on Sunday. A 74th-minute winner from Rebecca Pritchard was all that separated the sides in a hotly contested encounter.

The victory for the North Walian side guarantees semi-professional status for the team after gaining promotion to the top tier of women’s football in Wales.

Swansea City made it five wins from five in the Championship with a dominant 1-0 win against a struggling Huddersfield side at the Swansea.com stadium. It was the unlikely source of Ryan Manning who broke the deadlock 69 minutes into the game, with his deflected strike beating the helpless Tomas Vaclik in the Terriers’ goal.

Cardiff City’s struggles continued as they fell to a disappointing 4-1 loss against high-flying Sheffield United.

Sory Kaba had given City the lead from the penalty spot, after Jack Simpson was caught by Max Lowe. The visitors searched for a second but Manchester City loanee James McAtee leveled things with a fine solo effort.

Cardiff had their chances as the game opened up but failed to take them before the break. They were punished ten minutes into the second half when Jack Robinson headed in from close range.

Further goals from Iliman Ndiaye and Ciaran Clarke made sure of the win for the hosts as the Bluebirds fell to their third defeat in four.

Newport County’s head coach, Graham Coughlan, got the reaction he was hoping for as his side eased to a 2-0 win against Hartlepool United. Goals from Omar Bogle and Mickey Demetriou before halftime were enough for County to secure the win, going 11 points clear of the relegation zone.

Wrexham held on to a 0-0 draw against Barnet after Callum McFadzean saw red for a dangerous challenge on Barnet’s Laurie Walker 51 minutes into the game. The draw means that the Reds need six points from their remaining three games to secure automatic promotion to League 2.

Rivals Swansea City and Cardiff City don’t normally go out of their way to do favours for the other, but the Swans will be aiming to give a big lift to the Bluebirds this weekend.

That’s because Swansea host Huddersfield Town on Saturday, with the visitors battling against Cardiff to try and avoid relegation.

A victory for the Swans – over a Huddersfield team now managed by former Cardiff manager Neil Warnock – would be very welcome in the capital. Just a single point separates Cardiff in 21st place from Huddersfield above them in 19th.

Swansea head coach Russell Martin has his own reasons to want to do well in order to maintain his team’s momentum after three wins and a draw in their last four games.

Martin says: “Neil Warnock has done an incredible job at Huddersfield, so we know this will be a very tough game. They’re fighting for everything they’ve got.

“But we know we can impact a lot for many different clubs in the next few games.”

Theoretically, Swansea can still make the promotion play-offs but that would require them to win all five of their remaining matches and hope for a number of spectacular collapses among the clubs above them.

For Cardiff, a helping hand from the Swans against Warnock’s men would be huge. The Bluebirds have six games to save themselves from relegation and Huddersfield have hit form recently with 10 points taken from their last four games.

Cardiff have a very difficult looking fixture themselves on Saturday – an away trip to second-place Sheffield United, who are still chasing points to keep themselves clear of Luton Town.

Bluebirds manager Sabri Lamouchi believes at least five teams are still vulnerable to being relegated, including his own.

“It’s a difficult time for many people in different ways. But everything is in our hands. It depends on us,” says Frenchman Lamouchi.

While Cardiff struggle, Wrexham are still riding the wave of euphoria at the top of the National League after their thrilling 3-2 victory last week over Notts County.

The scenario now for the club sprinkled with Hollywood stardust is that they need just seven more points to clinch automatic promotion back to the Football League, starting with Saturday’s trip to Barnet.

The records keep coming for Wrexham. They have already surpassed the record of most National League victories in a season, their win over County last week was their 32nd.

Another win at Barnet will take them to 106 points, one more than Crawley’s current best mark of 105.

In League Two, Newport County host Hartlepool United with County manager Graham Coughlan still angry about his team’s 4-0 defeat at Stockport.

“I’ve had conversations with all players,” said Coughaln. “They know where they stand so far as contract situations and their futures.

“They can play themselves in or they can play themselves out over the last six games. Plain, simple and easy.

In what was widely billed as the biggest game in the history of non-League football, the Dragons overcame Notts County, 3-2, in a thrilling contest on Bank Holiday Monday – one dramatic enough to be turned into a mini-series, which is exactly where it will end up.

Wrexham’s Hollywood owners Ryan Reynolds and Rob McElhenney were both at The Racecourse Ground to see their club move three points clear of County at the top of the National League.

They now need only seven points from their last four games to clinch the title and return to the Football League next season after a 15-year absence.

Should they slip up, then Wrexham would need to go through another play-off match, a situation which American actor and filmmaker Reynolds finds bizarre.

“It’s just insane to me in this league that only one goes up automatically,” Reynolds told BT Sport.

“If it were different – and I think it should be – both of these clubs would be celebrating together right now because what they’ve done is not only created drama unlike anything you’d ever see in a movie, but something that I think people will be talking about for ages.

“The fact that this much attention has come upon the National League in this way is incredibly special and immensely worthy of the talents of not only Wrexham, but Notts County as well.”

While Wrexham appear to be going up, it was a mixed weekend for Cardiff City, who have a lot of work to do to avoid going down.

The Bluebirds won 3-1 at Blackpool on Good Friday, but then lost, 1-0, at home to Sunderland on Monday – a setback which has put them right back in relegation danger as other results over the holiday weekend did not go in their favour.

Dennis Cirkin scored the goal that has left Cardiff just one point above the relegation zone. Manager Sabri Lamouchi’s team do have a game in hand, but four of their six remaining matches are away from home.

Lamouchi took two of his players off after only 36 minutes  – Jaden Philogene and Sheyi Ojo – and revealed afterwards his only regret was that he didn’t hook them earlier!

It all looks increasingly likely that the crucial match for Cardiff will be their penultimate game at home to Huddersfield on April 30 and a worrying old flame date with their former manager Neil Warnock.

Swansea City continued their recent revival by winning 2-0 at Wigan on Monday, three days after they had drawn against Coventry City.

Two Joel Piroe goals did the trick against the Latics and the Swans have now taken 10 points from the last available 12.

It’s too late for any push for the play-offs, but it is giving head coach Russell Martin reasons to stick around next season after his troubles earlier in the campaign.

In League Two, Newport County had a mixed weekend  – winning 3-0 at home to Northampton on Friday, but then folding to a 4-0 defeat at Stockport County on Monday.

The results dropped County one place to 18^th in the table, but they should have enough in the bag to avoid getting dragged into the relegation scrap beneath them.

A fourth successive victory in the derby for the Swans – something neither club had managed before in their history – and it was a “double double”, the second successive season where one clubs has won both fixtures home and away.

In the last nine matches between the clubs, the Swans have won seven, drawn one and lost just once.

It’s a dominance that must irk Bluebirds fans, especially since the decisive blow was delivered as late as the ninth minute of injury time, when Ben Cabango scored the winner.

Putting aside the painful fact that Cabango is a Cardiff boy – raised in Llandaff North – Cardiff’s defeat means they are now only above the relegation zone on goal difference.

Swansea, meanwhile, have earned back-to-back league wins and are heading back up the Championship table towards midway.

A good weekend, for Swansea, then, but a merciless bloody Sunday for two of their former coaches, Brendan Rodgers and Graham Potter, who were sacked by Leicester City and Chelsea, respectively.

No fears of the sack for Wrexham’s Phil Parkinson, whose team reached the 100 points landmark with a 5-1 thrashing of Oldham Athletic that took the Dragons back to the top of the National League.

Paul Mullin grabbed a hat-trick to take him to a very impressive 34 league goals for the season so far – six more than Manchester City’s Erling Haaland.

Wrexham now have a three-point lead over chasers Notts County, plus a game in hand, with five matches left for County and six for Parkinson’s side.

Not that the boss is getting excited yet. Low key as ever, he said: “It was a good all round day, but it’s just another game along the road to where we need to get to.”

Also passing the 100-mark were The New Saints – this time the century mark for goals this season.

The Saints, already Cymru Premier champions, crushed Newtown 5-0 at Latham Park to take their goals scored tally to 101.

Connah’s Quay Nomads now look likely to clinch the runner-up spot after Nathan Burke put through his own goal for the Nomads’ 2-1 win at Bala Town.

Like TNS, Cardiff City Women had already sewn up the title in the Genero Adran Premier, but they stitched up Cardiff Met, too, with a 2-0 away win in their local derby.

Brennan Johnson scored for Nottingham Forest in their 1-1 Premier League draw with Wolves, which may have raised an eyebrow or two on the forehead of Rob Page.

The Wales manager had to do without Johnson for the Euro qualifiers last week after Forest said he was not fit.

In League Two, Newport County drew 0-0 at Colchester United in what County manager Graham Coughlin called, “a dead, damp squib of a game.”

We’ve all seen those.

The Welsh football derby between Cardiff City and Swansea City will dominate the thoughts of most fans this weekend – with Bluebirds supporters likely to feel the more stressed.

After all, when the Swans arrive in the capital on Saturday afternoon, they will be seeking their fourth successive victory over their major rivals.

That would be hard to stomach for the blue half of South Wales, particularly as they are still deep in a relegation battle at the bottom end of the Championship, only three points above the relegation zone.

Swansea might have been closer to danger themselves but their recent victory over Bristol City means they will arrive in the capital with a bit more wriggle-room.

Delve a bit deeper into the recent results in this fixture and it’s easy to see why Cardiff fans might be rather anxious.

Not only have Swansea won three derbies in succession, but last season’s victories were the first time in history that either club had managed the “double” against the other.

Not only that, but in those three games, the aggregate scoreline between the two clubs stands at Swansea City 9, Cardiff City 0.

Zoom out a bit further and the pattern of white-themed dominance is even more apparent. In the last eight derby matches, Swansea have won six, drawn one and lost just once.

The aggregate score across those eight games is a whopping 15-1.

No wonder Cardiff City manager Sabri Lamouchi admitted: “We need to be smart, clever, compact and united – all those things if we are going to do well.

“It is really important for us to get the points because of our league situation. Our job has not been done.”

The other fact hard to ignore is that this is arguably the most low key derby between the clubs for years, with neither having any prospect of making the promotion play-offs.

For that reason, the live TV cameras have gone elsewhere and the derby is a normal non-televised 3.00pm Saturday kick-off.

But Swans head coach Russell Martin insists: “It may not have as much riding on it as some games, but I’ve realised just how much this matters to both sets of supporters. It will either ruin or make their weekends.”

Down the road from Cardiff, at Newport County, the concerns are less about relegation from League Two and more around uncertainty off the field.

County visit Colchester United, for the first game since Newport chairman Gavin Foxall stood down due to ill health.

Newport are 11 points clear of the relegation zone, but Colchester are desperate for points with only a five-point buffer.

Perhaps the Welsh club with most to play for this weekend are Wrexham.

They were knocked off the top spot – the only one that guarantees promotion – in the National League by Notts County winning in midweek.

But, crucially, the Dragons have two matches in hand, one of which is at home to Oldham on Saturday.

Win that – while Notts County are without a fixture – and Hollywood-fuelled Wrexham will return to the top of the table spotlight.