Yzzy Taylor | We couldn't have asked for more from the players

Swansea City Women head coach Yzzy Taylor praised her side’s performance and resilience after they opened their Genero Adran Premier campaign with a 3-1 south Wales derby victory over Cardiff City.

The Swans made the perfect start to the new league season in their first competitive fixture at the ThermaGlaze Ground, with Chloe Chivers, Emily Richards and a Shannon Evans own goal securing all three points.

Chivers opened the scoring in spectacular fashion, firing a 25-yard free-kick in off the crossbar before an Evans own goal doubled Swansea’s advantage just minutes later.

Richards added a third seven minutes after the interval, with Gillian Keenan pulling one back for the visitors, but Taylor was delighted with the way her side executed the game plan and dealt with the challenges posed by their south Wales rivals.

“We couldn’t have asked for more." Taylor said.

If you’d said at the start that we were going to win this game 3-1, we would have snapped your hand off.

“For us today, the performance was great, and the application of what we asked the girls to do throughout the week all came to fruition. To get this moment at the end is great.

“We know what Chivers is capable of and it was a great strike. For us to then maintain that pressure and get a second goal to put ourselves in that commanding position was great, but we also showed the resilience we needed to go into half-time with that clean sheet.

“Amelia [Forkings] made two huge saves and our backline was robust and physical when we needed them to be.

“What is most pleasing is how we went about the game and didn’t let the occasion get on top of us.”

Swansea refused to rest on their advantage after the interval, with Richards adding a third shortly after the restart as Taylor’s side continued to put the visitors under pressure.

And, while Keenan’s goal denied the Swans a sixth consecutive clean sheet following five shutouts during pre-season, Taylor was pleased with the character her side showed to see out the victory.

“We didn’t want to rest on our laurels in the second half. I think it was important to continue putting pressure on them in terms of the game plan.

“We knew Cardiff would press higher and start being more aggressive, but in terms of our shape, the girls executed what we wanted them to do today.

“The resilience and character are massive in this squad. We’ve built that over time, and I think over the last eight weeks we’ve been able to challenge ourselves, and that showed today.

“We can always take learnings. It was a scrappy goal to concede and one we’ll go back and look at. Cardiff did cause us problems today, but we’ll always take that as a learning curve and keep moving forward.”

Richards’ goal capped an impressive afternoon for the Swansea midfielder, who earned a place in the starting line-up following a strong pre-season campaign.

The Swansea-born midfielder struck five minutes into the second half to open her account for the campaign, and Taylor was delighted to see her hard work rewarded.

“I’m chuffed for her. She has worked really hard in terms of her physicality and what she brings to the game.

“Her and Sammy Wynne in midfield were both superb. We know the quality that Lily Billingham has, but they did a great job in dealing with that today.”

The victory also marked a memorable first competitive fixture at the ThermaGlaze Ground, with a strong crowd in attendance to watch the Swans begin the new campaign with a derby victory.

And Taylor hopes the support can continue as her side settle into their new home over the course of the season.

“It was a great environment. I don’t think we could have asked for a better turnout for our first game here, and we hope that continues throughout the course of the season in the games we have to come here.

“It was great to get three points in our first game here too.”