{"id":13150,"date":"2026-02-22T21:13:00","date_gmt":"2026-02-22T21:13:00","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/?p=13150"},"modified":"2026-03-21T17:43:27","modified_gmt":"2026-03-21T17:43:27","slug":"immense-pride-for-wrexham-after-historic-genero-adran-trophy-victory","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/news\/immense-pride-for-wrexham-after-historic-genero-adran-trophy-victory\/","title":{"rendered":"‘Immense pride’ for Wrexham after historic Genero Adran Trophy victory"},"content":{"rendered":"\n
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There was unconfined joy from Wrexham following their historic Genero Adran Trophy Final win<\/a> over Cardiff at Bangor City Stadium. <\/strong><\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Red Dragons twice trailed in an enthralling contest, but battled back to take the tie to penalties where Liz Craven saved two spot-kicks and Faye Knox slotted in the winner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

It is a first major trophy for Wrexham since they reformed in 2018 and their first victory over Cardiff this season. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019ve got an immense amount of pride,\u201d captain Jodie Bartle said. \u201cI am so, so proud of this group. Going a goal down, twice, and coming back in the manner that we did. It\u2019s all gone to my head, I\u2019m just so excited!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Read the match report<\/a>

Wrexham 2-2 Cardiff City (4-2 on penalties)<\/h2>
Read the match report<\/div><\/div><\/div>
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Head coach Jenny Sugarman came into the role last summer and has transformed the team as they continue to take bold new steps to progress the women\u2019s game. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cI\u2019m absolutely delighted,\u201d Sugarman said. \u201cThis group of players, this group of staff, these supporters, it\u2019s for every single one of them. The club has put so much faith and belief in us, we\u2019re just happy to repay them.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

One of the stars of the final was Maria Francis-Jones, who lifted the trophy with The New Saints last season but completed a move to Wrexham earlier this month in what was the first ever transfer fee paid for a player in women\u2019s domestic football in Wales. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

Francis-Jones scored the Red Dragons\u2019 equaliser in the 80th<\/sup> minute which ultimately sent the tie to penalties, unleashing a stunning first time strike from the edge of the box into the top corner. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe had a little chat in the gym this week,\u201d Sugarman said. \u201cThere\u2019s pressure, she\u2019s made a history in being the first player [in the Genero Adran Premier] that a fee has been paid for. We said what a way it would be to make your mark, to score or assist in a cup final. She\u2019s done that and what a goal by the way!\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Maria Francis-Jones scored a stunning strike on her Wrexham debut<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

\u201cIt\u2019s my left foot as well, they don\u2019t come around often!\u201d Francis-Jones added. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWhen I signed for the club, I knew I wanted to play every game with pride as it\u2019s such a big club. Hopefully I\u2019ve shown that I want to be here and that I am ready to fight for this shirt. I\u2019ve gone and done that today, I\u2019m really happy with all the girls and how much they\u2019ve welcomed me in.”<\/p>\n\n\n\n

1,374 fans were in attendance at Bangor City Stadium and the Wrexham faithful \u2013 of which they were the majority \u2013 were rewarded with witnessing their team\u2019s first ever major trophy win. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019re so grateful,\u201d Sugarman said of the support. \u201cLook at the numbers they\u2019ve come in. Hopefully they want to keep coming back after what they\u2019ve seen today because it was a fantastic game.\u201d<\/p>\n\n\n\n

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Jenny Sugarman has secured Wrexham’s first major trophy in her first season as head coach<\/em><\/figcaption><\/figure>\n\n\n\n

A quirk of the fixture calendar means that the Final was the first of three consecutive meetings between Wrexham and Cardiff, as they will do battle twice more over the next fortnight. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

The Cardiff City Stadium hosts a crunch clash in the Genero Adran Premier title race next Saturday, before the two rivals meet in the Bute Energy Welsh Cup semi-final in Aberystwyth the following Sunday. <\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got Cardiff again for two weeks on the bounce and it\u2019s going to be a tough ask but this was the first game that we needed to focus on,\u201d Bartle said.<\/p>\n\n\n\n

\u201cWe\u2019ve got the first piece of silverware for the club, a huge, huge moment. We will look forward, we will build on this, but we\u2019re just going to enjoy today.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

There was unconfined joy from Wrexham following their historic Genero Adran Trophy Final win over Cardiff at Bangor City Stadium.\u00a0<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":263,"featured_media":13152,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"inline_featured_image":false,"ftr_img_focal":{"x":0.48,"y":0.43},"footnotes":""},"categories":[178],"class_list":["post-13150","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\/13150","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=13150"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":13157,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/13150\/revisions\/13157"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/13152"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=13150"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/faw.cymru\/adran-leagues\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=13150"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}