{"id":12711,"date":"2026-01-10T14:57:58","date_gmt":"2026-01-10T14:57:58","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/?p=12711"},"modified":"2026-01-10T16:59:36","modified_gmt":"2026-01-10T16:59:36","slug":"katie-barker-aims-to-help-wrexham-reach-the-genero-adran-trophy-final-for-the-first-time","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/news\/katie-barker-aims-to-help-wrexham-reach-the-genero-adran-trophy-final-for-the-first-time\/","title":{"rendered":"Katie Barker aims to help Wrexham reach the Genero Adran Trophy final for the first time"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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Wrexham will be looking to reach the Genero Adran Trophy final for the first time on Sunday, with Briton Ferry Llansawel making the trip to The Rock in the semi-finals (KO 14:00). <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Genero Adran Premier league leaders will be looking to bounce back from defeat against Cardiff City last week, but also take a big step towards their first major piece of silverware. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Part of their summer recruitment was the signing of Newcastle United legend Katie Barker, who moved across from the WSL 2 alongside Jodie Bartle. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cSince coming to the club, wanting to progress further is what we\u2019ve been striving for,\u201d Barker explains. \u201cIt (making the final) would be a massive statement as to where we\u2019re going.\u00a0<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be able to win something early on if possible is a massive confidence boost for what\u2019s to come as well. We\u2019ve not been shy on saying how much we want to compete on every front this season, so to put something in your pocket this early would be a massive boost.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Semi-Final preview<\/a>

Genero Adran Trophy<\/h2>
Semi-Final preview<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Jenny Sugarman’s side defeated Llandudno in the Round of 16 stage before a dramatic penalty shootout win over Aberystwyth Town in the quarter-finals at The Rock saw Wrexham narrowly book their spot in the last four, in a game where the Seasiders gave the home side a scare. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barker said on the earlier rounds: \u201cWe take every game the same. You can\u2019t anybody for granted, and every game is going to pose different problems and we\u2019re going to have to come across them in different ways. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cNine out of ten times this season we\u2019ve shown we can do that, and that we can find a way to win. Having those sorts of challenges this early on in the season is only helping to better us for the latter stages of the season.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

On Sunday they face a Briton Ferry side who are in form, having won their last four games in all competitions, with clean sheets in all those games. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Wrexham had to come from two goals down to beat Ferry in the opening game of the season, in what was Barker\u2019s first experience of Welsh football. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barker scored on her Wrexham debut against Briton Ferry on the opening day of the season<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

“We expect it to be a very physical game,” she says. “The way that the game went in the first game of the season in the league, it was a tough game, and it was a good opener for what I was expecting from Welsh football, and it turned out to be a brilliant day for us and we\u2019re hoping for similar. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s not something we\u2019ll take for granted and we know it\u2019s going to be a bit of a battle.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

Barker\u2019s move to the Genero Adran Premier was her first time playing football outside the North East of England. An earlier spell with Sunderland was followed by a memorable five-year journey with Newcastle United, the club she supported growing up. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A change in surroundings, but she has quickly found form in Wrexham colours. Barker already has 14 goals in 15 games in all competitions for her new club. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s been a big change in my life moving away and it\u2019s the first time I\u2019ve had to do so,\u201d she explains. \u201cOff the pitch it\u2019s been a really big change, but on the pitch it\u2019s been really good and helped bring back my old self and the way I used to play.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m really happy to be contributing with goals. The work I\u2019ve been doing on the training ground I think has really helped, and we\u2019re starting to see a bit more of the better things from me, and it\u2019s just about making that last the rest of the season and helping the team progress. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barker has scored 14 goals in 15 appearances in all competitions this season<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThere\u2019s a lot of differences. The competitions in terms of money and what\u2019s at stake in the Championship (now WSL 2) is absolutely huge in terms of being able to progress to the WSL, but the competitiveness, it\u2019s equal [to the Genero Adran Premier]. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cThis league is such a competitive league and the difference between teams is not that much. In terms of the National League (FAWNL), we\u2019ve recently played a team who is a very well-established tier three team in a friendly and we beat them. The gaps are closing very quickly and it\u2019s good to see that in Wales.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

A summer of key recruitment on the pitch followed a change in management, with former West Bromwich Albion boss Jenny Sugarman joining the club as Head Coach. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Speaking about the impact of Sugarman, Barker said: \u201cThe tactical side from Jen is massive. People will have noticed this season that we\u2019ve played numerous formations, numerous systems and thanks to Jen we\u2019re able to change in game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cTo be able to have that knowledge and for the team to be as fluid as possible is only going to help us be able to progress and achieve things. She\u2019s an absolute pleasure to work with and I\u2019ve learnt quite a bit since coming here.\u201d <\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Barker says she has ‘learnt quite a bit’ from Wrexham boss Jenny Sugarman<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

The Genero Adran Trophy presents the first opportunity of the season for a club to win silverware, something which Wrexham have aims to start doing regularly.  <\/p>\n\n\n\n

But for Barker, while trophies are vital to Wrexham\u2019s ambition, improving on recent history is equally important to their success. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe want to keep breaking the records that we haven\u2019t already broke,\u201d she says. \u201cFor example reaching the final. That is success, however it might not be the success that we ultimately want, but it is we\u2019re breaking records, and every single step we\u2019re pushing new boundaries and doing things that we\u2019ve not done before. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve just got to keep doing that and then eventually off the back of that, silverware will follow.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

Wrexham will be looking to reach the Genero Adran Trophy final for the first time on Sunday, with Briton Ferry making the trip to The Rock.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":12714,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ftr_img_focal":{"x":0.47,"y":0.33},"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"class_list":["post-12711","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-genero-adran-trophy"],"acf":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/263"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=12711"}],"version-history":[{"count":4,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":12717,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/12711\/revisions\/12717"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/12714"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=12711"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=12711"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}