Watford Ladies were defeated 1-0 by Cardiff City Ladies in a close game at the CCB Centre for Sporting Excellence.

A Cori Williams penalty after 20 minutes divided the sides at the break and a red card for Georgie Edwards midway through the second half made the task even more difficult.

The Golden Girls made two changes to the side that beat Middlesbrough with Laura Baker coming in at left back in place of Kat Huggins, while Leanne Bell replaced Andrea Carid.

Watford had started the game on the front foot, but in the 19th minute, the hosts were awarded a penalty when Edwards brought down Grace Horrell.

Williams slotted the ball to Weronika Baranowska's right, putting Cardiff ahead.

The Bluebirds then almost doubled their lead, but Horrell failed to find the target from a decent goalscoring position.

It was then Watford's turn to be wasteful when they created their best chance of the half, after Katie O’Leary linked up with Helen Ward.

The former produced a strike with plenty of venom, but Laura O’Sullivan pulled off a fine save to ensure the hosts took their advantage in at half time.

The Hornets were immediately on the back foot in the second half and some heroics from Baranowska kept the score as it was.

Williams was unmarked inside the six-yard box and got good contact on her header, but the Watford keeper denied her at point-blank range.

In the 67th minute of the game, Edwards was shown her second yellow card of the half as she tried to deny Kylie Nolan a goalscoring opportunity.

She mistimed her challenge, leaving the referee with little choice but to brandish the cards.

The ten remaining Watford players almost salvaged a draw when a near post cross from Ward looked to have picked out Adekite Fatuga-Dada, however O’Sullivan pounced to prevent the chance and Cardiff held on to the points.