Cardiff Hibernian 8-2 CSKA Sophia Gardens

CSKA Sophia Gardens suffered a second defeat in a row to start their Cardiff Combination League Stage 1 Group B by going down 8-2 to Cardiff Hibernian in a 6:15pm BST kick-off on Tuesday night.

Preparations were once again thrown into disarray for CSKA with poor availability due to work and family commitments as well as the continuing registration issues. This was summed up with the team having just 9 players moments before kick-off.

As if the build-up to the game wasn't unsettling enough, CSKA soon found themselves 1-0 down after just 3 minutes as a disjointed back-line was caught out by a Cardiff Hibernian ball over the top that saw Matthew Furnish released by Kai Bateman to open the scoring.

Cardiff Hibernian were in no mood for giving CSKA any sympathy as they doubled their lead within minutes. This time it was Bateman who grabbed the goal after being set up by former Barry Town player TJ Nagi.

CSKA then appeared to start to settle after the whirlwind opening exchanges that saw them 2-0 down. Some nice play down the left almost saw them get a goal back with Dec O'Neill carving out an opportunity down the wing but the chance wasn't converted.

Mercy wasn't shown by Cardiff Hibernian as they then made it 3-0 after 23 minutes. This time, Nagi was the scorer after being assisted by full back Matthew Andrew. The game was slipping away from CSKA had an uncontrollable pace.

As the first half progressed, CSKA began to get a foothold in the game and after striker James Joyce had a chaotic effort scrambled off the line the away side finally got the goal their sudden pressure deserved. A lovely worked move down the left side saw full back Huw Williams link up well with a series of passing exchanges with O'Neill. O'Neill managed to work his way to the by-line before cutting it back for an underlapping Williams to finish past the Hibernian keeper to make it 3-1. Was the comeback on?

Seemingly not. CSKA briefly looked in the ascendancy again but then a suckerpunch on the counter attack saw Cardiff Hibernian make it 4-1 just before half-time. Andrew was once again the provider from full back as he set up captain James Cotterill.

There was worse to come. In injury-time of the first half, Hibernian made it 5-1 when Kai Lock scored from a Furnish assist. If there was even a shred of doubt that the game was all but over before, that had almost certainly been extinguished now.

The second half appeared to start a lot more positively for CSKA who played with a much more urgent tempo. So it was astonishing when Hibernian once again delivered a gut-wrenching blow out of nothing to make it 6-1 thanks to a second goal from Nagi with the assist compliments of Cotterill.

If CSKA weren't playing with a more urgent tempo before then that goal pushed things up another level. A combination of Hibernian undoubtedly taking their foot off the accelerator but also appearing to see their energy levels drop and CSKA stepping up through the gears saw CSKA begin to take a grip of the game.

This control of play brought CSKA's second goal. A barrage of shots on the Hibernian goal were kept out but the waves of attack finally told when Tom Frowen finished a rebound well from a saved Joyce effort.

As the game swung back and forth, it continued to look like CSKA would be the team to score the next goal. Some resilient defending and wasted possession prevented that third goal from coming.

Eventually, CSKA were made to rue their missed chances. Hibernian increased the score-line to 7-2 when an impressive solo effort from Bateman was capped off by a tidy finish with less than 10 minutes to go.

CSKA's misery was then compounded with just a couple of minutes remaining when Nagi grabbed his hat-trick after being assisted by youngster Makenzie Cotter to complete the scoring at 8-2.

CSKA Sophia Gardens Manager Steve Day said "Last week was a game we felt we should have won but lost. This week, we can't have any complaints about the score-line. We were caught on the hop by an experienced side boasting quality players who showed total ruthlessness against our slow start. We are gravely disappointed with the majority of the goals we conceded in this game and it's a huge wake up call that if we don't enter games with the correct mental state then teams in this league will eat us up and crap us out.

Day added "Once again, I want to show my appreciation to the lads who were able to attend this game. The early kick-off was a tall order and their commitment to put other obligations aside to play were welcomed. I was also pleased with our second half performance. If our first half display had matched it then we wouldn't be looking at such a heavy defeat. Still, more lessons were learned. I felt in our first game we made more mistakes in the opposition third but this week the majority of our errors seemed to come in our defensive third. We'll keep working hard in training though. Our disrupted pre-season means we're treating this opening phase as our pre-season and we'll take what we can from these games we look to get the remaining unregistered players eligible in the coming week or so. It's not been a great start results wise but there's been enough glimpses of the potential of this squad in our two performances that is giving me reason to be very optimistic for this coming season."

CSKA Starting Line-Up

GK: Dan Clayton

DR: Max Lapit

DL: Huw Williams

DC: Ed Lewis (c)

DC: Owen Lewis

MR: Cai Mckenzie

ML: Dec O'Neill

MC: Tom Frowen

MC: Chris Lusted

AM: Rich Hamlett

FC: James Joyce

Sub: Frazer Richards

Goals: Huw Williams and Tom Frowen

Assists: Dec O'Neill and James Joyce

Three Stars: Chris Lusted, James Joyce, and Tom Frowen