With one trophy already in the bag, Cardiff City are eyeing to add more to their expanding cabinet, starting with the Genero Adran Trophy when they meet Swansea City in the final on Sunday.
In front of their adoring fans at Cardiff City Stadium last weekend, the Bluebirds were able to lift the Genero Adran Premier title for the second consecutive season in style, having beaten Wrexham 5-1.
Of course, the celebrations that followed were glorious and right, but minds quickly turned to Sunday, and the Genero Adran Trophy final in Penybont.
For manager Iain Darbyshire, Sunday certainly doesn’t signal the end of their season, and he and the rest of his team are ready for the two remaining challenges in front of them, with the Bute Energy Welsh Cup final taking place in a couple of weeks’ time.
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“We want to win everything that is available to us. The Adran Trophy is the one trophy that has kind of eluded us. Over the last few years, we’ve been in two of those cup finals and we haven’t performed in them, and we will be looking to put that right next week.
“We won’t be taking anything lightly at all, Swansea are going to be fighting for a trophy themselves, and it will be a difficult test, but we’ll be ready.”
For all the success City have had over the last year and the half, the Genero Adran Trophy has evaded their grasp for two seasons in a row.
In the very first final at Dragon Park, a late penalty miss by Phoebie Poole caused plenty of heartbreak.
Fast forward to last year, and the Bluebirds were swept aside by Cardiff Met, despite being favourites heading into the clash. The devastation amongst the players and staff was clear for all to see, but Darbyshire believes last season’s defeat motivated his side to reach new levels of performance and attitude.
“Last year’s final woke us up. We played Met the week after in the Adran Premier and we managed to beat them 9-0. We were too comfortable, we got a bit cocky, but we learned from that and that’s what we’re doing this year. We know we need to be on our game to beat Swansea; it’s not just a cup final, it’s a South Wales Derby. We’ll look forward to it, we’re confident, but we won’t take our eye off the ball.”
Now in their third straight Adran Trophy final, Darbyshire faces off against a familiar foe in South Wales rivals Swansea City.
The Bluebirds and the Swans have faced each other a remarkable five times already this season, with Cardiff winning three of those ties. However, it was Swansea who ended City’s almost two-year unbeaten league run with a win on the final day of Phase One in Leckwith.
Darbyshire admits factors went against them in the two defeats, but believes his side have learned from them, and are ready to make amends at the SDM Glass Stadium on Sunday.
“As well as the two league games we’ve played them in the Welsh Cup semi-final and got a win in that, and every game we’ve played against them this season has been different. The loss we had at the end of phase one, we had eleven players out injured. When we played them two weeks ago, it came after we won the league against them.
“For sure we can learn from those defeats, but we will also focus on what we did to win the games we did. The games we won, we were excellent against them, and that will be our focus going into Sunday.”
For now, everything is set for what is sure to be a final to remember. But be left in no doubt that City want to finally get their hands on this trophy, and that will be part of Darbyshire’s final message to the players before they take to the field.
“You’re representing Cardiff City. You want to win everything; win every ball, win every tackle, win every challenge and battle throughout the game, and come back with that trophy.”
