All eyes will be on Llandarcy on Sunday evening, as Swansea City and Wrexham battle it out for the final spot in the Championship Conference in this season’s Genero Adran Premier (KO 17:10).
With Cardiff City, Briton Ferry Llansawel and The New Saints already confirmed to compete in the top half in Phase Two, Swansea currently occupy fourth place, two points ahead of fifth-place Wrexham. It means that a win or a draw for Jamie Sherwood’s side will be enough to secure their spot, but Wrexham would leapfrog them with an away victory.
It has been a tricky fortnight for the Swans. After defeat to The New Saints in the Genero Adran Trophy final they were thumped 5-0 by Wrexham in last weekend’s Bute Energy Welsh Cup quarter-finals.
Midfielder Sophie Brisland-Hancocks admits the team is in a difficult spot but insists they will come out the other side of it better.
“Sometimes, it’s just football, and as cliché as it sounds, sometimes football teams just go through rough patches. Unfortunately, we’re going through one right now, whether that be the bounce of the ball not going our way or something else.
“Of course, there’s things we can do tactically that we can tighten up on, but nobody can question our work ethic in these games. We’re going to take what’s happened over the last few weeks and learn from it. If we remain tight as a group, we’re only going to come out of this stronger.”
Swansea City v Wrexham
Sunday 23 February, 17:10
Meanwhile, after a slow start to the campaign, Wrexham are now one of the in-form sides in the division. Prior to last Sunday’s emphatic cup win, Steve Dale’s side won back-to-back league games as they thrashed Aberystwyth Town 7-1 and handed TNS only their third defeat of the season with a 1-0 victory at The Rock.
Goalkeeper Liz Craven always thought the team put in solid performances but is delighted to see them now picking up points on a regular basis.
“Our attitude and work rate throughout the season has been pretty consistent. We’ve all been working hard on and off the pitch to try and get results. At the start of the season, we were putting some good performances in, but we weren’t getting the results that those performances warranted.
“We knew that, if we kept up this level of performance, the results would come. The fact we’ve stuck together through the difficult moments has been really important, and a big reason why we’re getting better results now.”
Last weekend’s game at The Rock will certainly be in the minds of every player that takes to the pitch on Sunday evening.
Craven and her Wrexham teammates were delighted with how the last game went but know full well there will be a reaction from Swansea this time around.
“Last weekend was great and rewarding seeing our good performance turn into a good result. We were dominant throughout in every area of the pitch, and it does give us a lot of confidence going into Sunday.
“We also know that we can’t rest on our laurels when it comes to this weekend. We know it’ll be a hard game and a very different one to last weekend. We still have to be switched on, tactically aware, and know Swansea are going to be well up for it.”
For the Swans, it’s certainly a result they want to get out of their system, but Brisland-Hancocks says the team have to learn from the game, and that it will make them a lot stronger heading into Sunday’s showdown.
“What happened last week will certainly be in the back of our minds because of the scoreline, but I don’t think it will overshadow us. We’ve got a good track record against Wrexham. We’ve had some really close games against them, like the Adran Trophy semi-final we had against them.
“I don’t think last week will overshadow what we do on Sunday or cause major concerns. We will go over what happened, learn from it, and make sure it never happens again. If anything, we will go into Sunday more prepared than ever before.”
Both teams had top four aspirations at the start of the season, and while Craven admits her Wrexham side have internal pressure, she believes there is more pressure on their opponents.
“The pedigree and experience of Swansea will put pressure on them to get the result that they need. Top four is minimum expectation for them, but we want to be in there too. As a team, we believe we’re good enough to be in that top four, and in that sense, there is pressure on us. We want to live up to our own expectations, but it’s important to focus on ourselves and our own game.”
Brisland-Hancocks agrees there is enormous pressure on her Swansea team, but that is something they will relish.
“There is pressure on us. We carry the badge and the history that comes with it, and there’s an element of us living up to that. But I would also say that, as a group of girls, we thrive more off having a lot of pressure on us. Sunday will be a prime example of that.
“For players who have been here a while to new players and new staff, everyone understands what comes with being a Swansea City player or member of staff. The only thing we can do is play off that pressure and that’s where we thrive.”
