Wales Women left themselves with a deficit to overturn after losing 2-1 in Slovakia on Friday night. Stunning goals from Martina Surnovska and Maria Mikolajova gave Slovakia a 2-0 lead before substitute Ffion Morgan rescued her side with a curled consolation.

With the second leg in Cardiff on Tuesday, Wales will not have the advantage of their away goal so will need to win by two goals or rely on the lottery of penalties to progress through to the final round of EURO 2025 qualification play-offs.

With talisman Jess Fishlock only fit enough for the bench, Wales struggled to impose themselves on the game. Surnovska’s 20-yard strike stunned the visitors before Mikolajova’s wonderful freekick stuck the knife in a second time.

With half an hour to go, Morgan and Fishlock were introduced and caused problems, eventually leading to the former scoring from the latter’s perfectly weighted through ball.

Wales will have to be better if they are to register a victory and get through to the next round of qualification for EURO 2025.

Swansea End Miserable October With Defeat

A 0-1 home defeat to Millwall has capped off a miserable month for Swansea City, as they fail to score a goal in five league games.

While they are not conceding many – results this month read 1-0, 0-0, 1-0, 0-0, 0-1 – the Swans’ struggles in front of goal are a huge concern for manager Luke Williams.

With the club now only a point ahead of great rivals Cardiff City and zero wins in their last six games, pressure has started to mount on the side.

“There’s a lot of noise around football and Championship level is a big level,” Williams said.

“If that affects the players, I’m sorry but you have to get on with it because there isn’t a single striker on the planet who isn’t under pressure and doesn’t feel some pressure to score a goal.

“We have to overcome that, for sure.”

Williams’ team have now played 525 minutes of football since their last goal, which came against Bristol City on 29 September.

Cardiff Continue Unbeaten Run With Draw

Cardiff earnt a good point away at West Bromwich Albion, taking their unbeaten run to five games under Omer Riza.

In the latest audition for the permanent role, Riza’s side showed a grit and defensive steel that has eluded the South Wales club this season.

Callum Chambers and Dimitrios Goutas were excellent at defending their box, while the only blip will be the impending suspension for Perry Ng, who picked up a fifth yellow card.

Riza has made it clear he wants the job permanently but, despite regular telephone conversations with owner Vincent Tan, Riza has had no steer either way from the Cardiff board.

“It’s not something for me to answer anymore. It’s down to the board,” Riza said.

“They’ll answer any questions regarding it. I’m just happy to be doing my job and hopefully doing it well and us showing what we can achieve. I think we’ve kickstarted that.”

Asked if he expects to be in charge when Cardiff host Norwich City next Saturday, Riza added: “I’d like to think I would be but I don’t know.”

Wrexham Frustrated By Charlton

Wrexham drew for a second game in a row as they were twice pegged back by Charlton.

Phil Parkinson’s side opened the scoring after 16 minutes when Tom O’Connor’s freekick was deflected in for an own goal by Conor Coventry before Macaulay Gillesphey’s header levelled the game at halftime.

Elliot Lee hit the crossbar and Ollie Rathbone went close as Wrexham pushed hard for a winning goal. With 20 minutes to go, Andy Cannon looked to have won the game for Wrexham but Charlton were given an excellent chance to equalise when they were awarded a penalty in added time.

Max Cleworth was penalised for a handball and Matt Godden converted from the spot with 97 minutes on the clock. With this result, Wrexham fall out of the automatic play-off places into third, and below Wycombe Wanderers.

Newport Draw First Game of the Season

Newport County drew their first league game of the season as they were held to a goalless draw at Rodney Parade against Fleetwood Town.

The Exiles will feel that this was two points lost rather than one gained as Bryn Morris’ penalty was saved by Fleetwood goalkeeper David Harrington after he brought down Aaron Wildig in the first half.

Town hit the post and the crossbar before the break when both side tightened up considerably and the game petered out into a draw.

“I think it was a fair result, a point is a point and it helps us to go in the right direction,” said County head coach Nelson Jardim.

“I know we missed a penalty but taking into account the game and the chances we created, they created as well, I think at the end of the game a point is good for both teams.

“But this game could have gone either way, so I’m happy… this game deserved goals – at least two per team.”

TNS Put Recent Struggles Behind Them

TNS, off the back of their stunning European exploits, won their third straight Cyrmu Premier match with a 4-2 victory at Aberystwyth Town on Sunday.

This latest victory moves them into third in the table, with three games in hand on Penybont and Haverfordwest at the top.

With both sides drawing at home to Bala Town (1-1) and Caernarfon Town (0-0) respectively, TNS have moved into the box seat in the league, despite having games in hand.

Elsewhere there were wins for Connah’s Quay Nomads over Briton Ferry (2-1) and Barry Town at Flint Town (1-2)

Results:

Friday

Slovakia 2-1 Wales

Saturday

West Brom 0-0 Cardiff City

Swansea City 0-1 Millwall

Charlton 2-2 Wrexham

Newport County 0-0 Fleetwood Town

Flint Town United 1-2 Barry Town United

Penybont 1-1 Bala Town

Haverfordwest County 0-0 Caenarfon Town

Sunday

Aberystwyth Town 2-4 The New Saints

Connah’s Quay Nomads 2-1 Briton Ferry Llansawel

Wrexham 3-0 Cardiff Met

The New Saints 1-1 Barry Town United

Aberystwyth Town 2-4 Cardiff City

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