Our April Football Roundup
It has been an exciting few months for Welsh football. Both the men’s and women’s national teams continue their success on the world stage, while Welsh football clubs continue pushing as the season draws to an end.
The Welsh men’s side picked up four points from their first two games in their European Qualification campaign, sealing a dramatic draw in Split against Croatia before beating Latvia 1-0 at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Wales men’s under 17s secured a historic qualification for the European Championships, where they will face Poland, Hungary and the Republic of Ireland in May. Meanwhile, Wales women’s under 19s also secured league A promotion with a 4-0 win over Estonia.
The Wales women’s senior side picked up an excellent 4-1 win at home against Northern Ireland before drawing 1-1 against Portugal in their two recent friendly matches.
Cardiff City have seen an upturn in form since the arrival of Sabri Lamouchi at the end of January, after the sackings of both Steve Morrison and Mark Hudson earlier in the year, but the Bluebirds still have plenty of work to do to avoid going down.
Cardiff won 3-1 at Blackpool on Good Friday, but then lost 1-0 at home to Sunderland on Monday – but a crucial 3-1 win against Watford will have come as welcome relief for the Bluebirds, who will now look to further distance themselves from the drop zone.
It looks increasingly likely that the crucial match for Cardiff will be their penultimate game at home to Huddersfield.
Swansea secured a fourth successive victory in the South Wales Derby against Cardiff – something neither club had managed before in their history – and it was a “double double,” the second successive season where one club 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.
Swansea have bucked their run of poor results to ease off any relegation fears. Despite a difficult run of results, Russell Martin and his team secured a morale-boosting 2-0 win over Bristol City to take them into the international break 10 points clear of the relegation zone.
It came on the back of a sequence of 10 defeats in 16 games that had seen the Swans drop out of play-off contention, not helped by a difficult January transfer window.
Swansea City continued their recent revival by winning 2-0 at Wigan, having drawn against Coventry City a few days before. It’s too late for any push for the playoffs, 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 continue to push hard in the league this year, and they should have enough in the bag to avoid getting dragged into the relegation scrap beneath them.
Wrexham continue to impress at the top the table in the National League, but any potential promotion will have to be hard-earned as Notts County continue to push the Reds all the way ahead of the final run-in. Wrexham’s Phil Parkinson, whose team reached the 100-point landmark currently hold the advantage, but County continue to push the Reds all the way.
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.
If the Reds are able to clinch the title, it will mean a return to the Football League next season after a 15-year absence.
In the Cymru Premiership, The New Saints secured their 15th Welsh title with a 0-0 draw against second placed Connah’s Quay Nomads back in March and have continued their impressive form losing just one game all season.
The latter, now looking likely to clinch the runner-up spot.
It has been another exciting season in the Genero Adran League this year. Like TNS, Cardiff City Women had already sewn up the title in the Genero Adran Premier.
The Bluebirds remain unbeaten, having produced a superb season to seal their first Adran league title in a decade.
City’s title win ended Swansea City’s monopoly over the league, as Cardiff City held off their rivals towards the end of the season.