Cardiff win a thriller as the other three go winless: Welsh football weekend round-up
Cardiff won a seven-goal thriller against Doncaster, with left-back Joel Bagan netting in the 99th minute to win a topsy-turvy clash.
Elsewhere in the EFL, Swansea’s min-revival under Vitor Matos suffered a setback, losing 2-1 at a strong Stoke City side. Ollie Rathbone’s late equaliser stole a point for Wrexham against Watford, and Newport’s barren run continued at home to Fleetwood.
Let’s get into the action.
Academy boy Ashford drives Cardiff to victory
Joel Bagan scored a dramatic winning goal in the ninth minute of added time as Cardiff City edged out Doncaster Rovers in a chaotic and captivating seven-goal thriller.
While Bagan won the game, it was another of Brian Barry-Murphy’s project players who shone for Cardiff: Cian Ashford.
The 20-year-old scored Cardiff’s second and struck the shot that led to Joel Bagan’s dramatic winning goal in the ninth minute of added time on Saturday.
The Bluebirds academy product has been in fine form lately, exemplified by his first-half goal, which he scored after a determined, 30-yard run past opposition defenders.
“When we looked as if we lost our composure and we were frantic in the way we played the game, Cian Ashford showed the type of composure that we want, and had the real quality action,” said Barry-Murphy.
“I thought Cian carried us at times today where we were in need of real quality and when the game wasn’t perfect he was the one who had real quality.
“So I’m very pleased with him and all those players who can contribute have to because it’s important that we don’t rely on one or two players too much.”
Cardiff’s fifth successive win maintained their four-point advantage at the top of League One.
Rathbone equaliser typical of Wrexham’s player of the season
Until the 92nd minute of added time, the Cae Ras faithful feared that their side were failing to a second straight defeat in the Championship, following eight games unbeaten.
Their 2024/25 player of the season had other ideas, though. Rathbone was excellent last term but has endured a difficult time of it this season.
The midfielder suffered an ankle injury during Wrexham’s pre-season tour and his sole appearance this season prior to his last-gasp strike against Watford was against Cardiff City in the fourth round of the League Cup.
“I’m so pleased for him,” Parkinson said.
“Those of you here last year know what a key player he was, player of the year with some inspirational moments throughout the season.
“He got injured in pre-season, he’s had to wait patiently for his chance, but he typifies everything we want here at Wrexham. He trains so hard every day, his attitude is fantastic and he deserved that moment today.”
Swansea perform well despite defeat at Stoke
Vitor Matos can feel aggrieved that his Swansea team did not get more from their 2-1 defeat to Stoke City on the weekend.
The visitors managed 14 shots to Stoke’s eight, while the visitors’ xG of 1.14 was almost double that of the home side.
The Swans had more possession (59.5 %), too, as they pushed Robins’ promotion-chasing team right up until the final whistle. So there were some encouraging signs for Matos.
Swansea played with more attacking intent than they have on many occasions this season, and appeared to have a little more belief on the back of successive home wins over Oxford and Portsmouth.
“Like I said in the beginning, there are going to be ups and downs, especially in terms of results,” said Swansea head coach Matos.
“What we get today is performance. Of course it’s frustrating because of the result.
“What we need to take from the game is that we need to start becoming this team that from the beginning wants to grab the game for us.
“We need to become this team that wants to compete against everyone.”
Fuchs must wrestle Newport out of their malaise – and fast
Christian Fuchs has seen enough. After a winless start to life at Rodney Parade, the former Premier League has called for new signings in January if he is to lift Newport out from danger.
After a 2-0 home defeat to Fleetwood on Saturday, County find themselves four points adrift at the bottom of League Two.
Fuchs will hope the club are in a stronger position in the table by the time the transfer window opens on 1 January, allowing him to bolster the squad before the 2 February deadline..
“We are looking at certain positions where we definitely want to bring some new players in, also players that we want to keep,” said the 2016 Premier League winner.
“It’s early stages. There have been some conversations, but nothing more than that.”
Fuchs said that talks have started about extending the stays of Leicester loanees Sammy Braybrooke and Nathan Opoku, while he has been looking at footage of potential signings.
“We need to move fairly fast because we want to bring them in as soon as possible so that they can train with us and be amongst the team, then push forward starting from January,” he said.
Sportin Wales’s coverage of Wales’s World Cup qualifying campaign is proudly sponsored by S4C. You can watch all of Wales’s matches this year for free on S4C and S4C Clic.
If you want to read more pieces from Sportin Wales, why not read to our monthly magazine here or subscribe to the magazine and newsletter at https://sportin.wales/subscribe/.
Our podcast is back for the new season and our co-founder Alex Cuthbert is in charge! You can find all the episodes here or the video versions on our YouTube channel.
You can also keep track of our pieces and videos on our socials at @Sportin_Wales on X or Sportin Wales on Instagram and Facebook.
