Post 9 - Carling Cup round 2 - Peterborough United v Cardiff City

Cardiff City were brought back down to earth with a thud as they were dumped out of the Carling Cup by first division Peterborough.*

After the 4-0 thumping of Doncaster and triumphant homecoming for Craig Bellamy at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday it was back to the road for the bluebirds as they made the trip to Peterborough, followed by a 300 strong away crowd, not bad at all for a Tuesday night league cup match 3 1/2 hours away at £20 a pop.

London Road hasn’t been the kindest of places for the Bluebirds over recent years, their most recent visit resulting in an unforgettable 4 all draw. Ok it’s one that City fans probably would rather forget, having been 4 nil up at half time, but it’s imbedded in our memories, however, this was a great chance to exorcise those ghosts.

For the first half hour Cardiff were firmly on top and it looked as though they would finally put those demons to rest and when Bothroyd headed in a Koumas cross after 31 minutes for his 5th of the season you would expect a team as confident as Cardiff are at the moment to go on and kill the game.  But they didn't, in fact as soon a they took the lead the Posh started to get themselves back into the game, a game which they should have been well out of by now.

It was no surprise that the moment Cardiff began to lose their way coincided with them losing Seyi with an eye infection just after the goal.  Although only starting his third game for the bluebirds he has already become an integral part to the side.  He was replaced by Stephen McPhail, who although a quality player in his own right doesn't quite possess the same presence as Seyi, plus he hasn't played a game for 3 months.  Cardiff went into the break ahead, probably thinking they should have been more than just the one goal clear after a glut of decent chances.  

Peterborough came out for the second half in similar fashion to the aforementioned league game last December, putting Cardiff on the back foot straight away and it looked inevitable that the equaliser would come.  The equaliser eventually came in the 74th minute and the only surprise was that it didn't come earlier and but for a string of decent saves from Heaton it would've done.  I couldn't see what happened really, because for the 10th time in a row at that ground the goal was scored about 120 yards away, but I will presume there was a defensive cock up somewhere.  Names need not be mentioned. 

By now, the Cardiff fans had continued their love/hate relationship from last season with Posh keeper Joe Lewis, the lad took some stick last night and to be fair to him he took it really well, just like his mother does (according to one or two city fans).  I know very well that 200 odd fans teaming up on one defenceless goalkeeper is quite a cowardice thing to do, but most of it was good natured anyway and he had the last laugh again anyway, see, easily justified. 

Boyd got the winner in the 88th minute with a cracking strike from outside the city area leaving City hardly any time to get back into the game and not even the late introduction of Paul Quinn (all paid for) could force extra time.  Peterborough were good money for the win and if they can sort out a leaky defence must be one of the favourites to go straight back up to the Championship.

As for Cardiff, not a great night, but it needs to be quickly forgotten about as more important fixtures lie ahead, starting with a trip to Portsmouth on Saturday.  It's never good to see your team lose, but I've had worse experiences at that ground and the 'banter' with Lewis sort of made up for it, not big, not clever, not even witty, but funny all the same.

Result - Peterborough United 2 Cardiff City 1

Scorers - City: Bothroyd (31) Posh: Mackail-Smith (74), Boyd (88)

Attendance - 3,806

Man of the match - No-one really stood out for city, Seyi was probably our best player when he was on, but I can't really give the MOTM award to someone who only played half an hour can I?  Actually stuff it, my blog, my report, my rules.  Well done Seyi if your reading.

Villain of the day - Peterborough chairman Darragh MacAnthony.  £20 for a standing ticket and £25 for seated ticket on a Tuesday night in the league cup second round?  Probably something to do with the Bellamy factor, which left me feeling slightly smug when I found out he wouldn't feature.

* I’ve since read the BBC news report and notice my first paragraph is, purely by coincidence, practically the same, but I’m keeping it, thud is a better word than bump anyway.yway.

Post 8 - Championship match day 3, Cardiff City v Doncaster Rovers

Craig Bellamy scored a sensational 30 yard free kick to top off a memorable debut for the Welsh and now Cardiff City captain.

On the day the Cardiff City faithful welcomed a new hero, the club said their goodbyes to a hero of yesteryear.  Brian Clark, who sadly passed away 2 weeks ago was remembered before the match with a minutes round of applause.  As I've mentioned previously on this blog I much prefer a minutes silence but nonetheless it was a fantastic send off for him and wonderful to hear 'There's only one Brian Clark' being echoed around the stadium.  The current players were joined on the pitch by past Cardiff City legends Gary Bell, Steve Derrett, Don Murray and Bobby Woodruff who had earlier shared their memories of 'Clarky' with the rest of the supporters, it was a nice touch for who so many people have described as the perfect gentleman.

Cardiff started the game in nervous fashion.  It took about 2 minutes for the ball to get to Bellamy and when it finally did it was greeted with huge cheers, however his first touch in a Cardiff shirt was slightly anti-climatic as he over hit a long pass somewhere in the direction of Jay Bothroyd.  The Cardiff players tried to get the ball to Bellamy as much as possible - arguably a little too much - in the opening 20 minutes and he gave the fans an early taste of his blistering pace that will give many a defence no end of problems in the season to come.

Doncaster weren't over-awed by this and started the game brightly, having as much of the early possession as Cardiff in the opening half an hour, but it was Cardiff who nearly had the perfect start when a Chopra chip was expertly saved by Donny keeper Neil Sullivan after 15 minutes.

The home side were forced to make 2 early substitutions in the first half with McNaughton pulling up with what looked like a torn hamstring in the 17th minute and striker Chopra going off after 32 minutes, having struggled for 10 minutes after a nasty looking challenge by a Doncaster defender, which seemed to go unseen by the referee and his official. 

McNaughton was replacement by the 2nd City debutant of the day Lee Naylor before Burke replaced Chopra, and as personnel changed so did the formation.  Cardiff had started their usual 4-4-2 with Bellamy playing wide left, Whittingham on the right and Bothroyd and Chopra filling the usual striker spots.  But when Chopra came off they changed to 4-5-1 with Burke and Bellamy supporting Bothroyd from wide positions and Whittingham joining Drinkwater and Seyi in the centre, into a playmaker role he has thrived on so far this season.

It took just four minutes of the new formation for Cardiff to break the deadlock.  Bellamy passed to Bothroyd, who, after miss controlling the ball somehow found himself one on one with the keeper, before calmly finishing with his left foot for the opener.  The goal came just after some fans around me had started to get a bit frustrated.  I honestly don't know what they expect, did they expect a hat-trick from Bellamy in the first half hour? for Doncaster to roll over and die and let us have our party? The said thing is the answer is probably yes.  How little some people know.

The second half did see Cardiff start to take control of the game with the midfield 3 keeping possession well and Bellamy and Burke starting to run the Doncaster full backs ragged.  Burke will have felt hard done by to be dropped and he looked like a man who had a point to prove and in the 62nd minute it was he who crossed for Bothroyd to head home his second of the match and 4th of the season.  Six minutes later the lead was increased furthermore when Bellamy played a long ball from deep inside his own half for Burke.  He still had a lot to do and shrugged off the challenge of two defenders before scoring his second of the season.

By now Cardiff were playing as well as I had ever seen them play with the midfield and forwards seemingly interchanging positions and playing keep ball.  I don't want to use the term 'total football' but, well I have now, but that's what is was like, sort of.  It's a way I've never seen us play before and as Dave Jones explained in his post match interview he's never previously had the players to play this way and it will be interesting how he starts the next league cgame.

With six minutes left on the clock Bellamy put the finishing touches to a fantastic day with his sublime free kick.  He left the pitch minutes later to a standing ovation and another roar went up as it was announced his replacement was another hero Jason Koumas.  Koumas, although only on for a cameo showed the fans some lovely touches, showing he will play an important part this season himself.

So, a perfect day for all involved (Donny fans excluded) and an anti-climax it wasn't.  It was a fine performance against a decent Doncaster side, who will probably be in the top half of the league come May.  Cardiff were simply awesome today and will face much weaker teams than Doncaster in the season to come, there is still room for improvement and as they gel together I'm sure they will just get better, and that's the scary part. 

Result - Cardiff City 4 Doncaster Rovers 0

Scorers - City: Bothroyd (36, 62) Burke (68) Bellamy (84)

Attendance - 24,027

Fans man of the match - Jay Bothroyd 

My man of the match - Jay Bothroyd.  Like the Derby game last week any number of players could have won  this.  Bellamy capped a fine debut with a stunning free kick, Burke set up one and scored another and the midfield 3 bossed the second half.  But Jay Bothroyd was superb today, leading the line and scoring 2 and with a bit more luck could've got a hat trick.

Villain of the day - Villain? On a day like this? No chance.  Ok then we'll say Craig Bellamy for getting needlessly booked for throwing the ball away, pure Premier League petulance, tut tut.

Post 7 - Home is the hero, Craig Bellamy signs

So, Craig Bellamy has signed for Cardiff then, he’s actually signed for Cardiff City, ok it’s a loan deal so he’s not actually ours, but still, he will be playing for Cardiff City for the rest of the season.  Wow.

It seems as though everyone has had something to say about the controversial Bellamy signing and I’m struggling to think of any other loan signing in the history of the game to have prompted such media attention.  Cardiff as a club has taken a hammering from a large section of the media over the last week or so, I’d write a response but ‘Cardiff City Mad’ main man Mike Morris (enough Ms?) has spoken for every bluebird fan in his much lauded, perfectly written and soon to become legendary (at least on the message board) ‘People in stone houses’ defence of our club.  If you haven’t already read it please click on the link at the bottom of the blog, it’s well worth the read.

As I’m typing this, three days after it was confirmed, the signing still sounds too good to be true and I will concede that in the days leading up to the signing I was a bit sceptical about it all.  I didn’t want to look foolish in case he didn’t sign, in fear of being mocked for thinking such a player would dream of playing for us, but now he has put pen to paper (and the football league have verified it's validity) I can admit I’m absolutely thrilled, excited even, and why not?

Ok so there are plenty of reasons as to why this may not turn out to be the fairytale it looks, none more so than his history of causing un-rest at nearly every club he has been to (and there have been a few), but it is a gamble that is certainly worth taking, one that could help take an already recently strengthened squad to the promised land that is the Premier League.  The other reason is that this is Cardiff City we are talking about, not Manchester United, or Chelsea, but Cardiff City, so don’t worry Swansea, Bristol (City and Rovers) and every other club who dislikes (or hates) us, I’m sure it will go tits up soon.

How will Bellamy fit into the team then?  Obviously he will start, it’s a no brainer, but in what position remains to be seen.  The likelihood is that he will play either wide left or right, meaning either Whittingham or Burke will lose their place (probably the latter) or up front, meaning Chopra will be demoted to the subs bench.  It’s a problem that Dave Jones will have to deal with, but nonetheless a problem most managers in the Premier League would like to have, let alone the Championship.

Regardless of who is dropped, they will still have a massive part to play in Cardiff’s promotion campaign, no matter who you have in the first 11, strength in depth is imperative, no team has ever won anything without a strong squad (please note this is probably untrue, it’s just the kind of thing ‘they’ say, whoever ‘they’ are).  So whoever does make way for Bellamy and Koumas (let us not forger Koumas), it is important they are kept happy, because they will no doubt have a big part to play this season.  Is there any defence in the Championship who won’t shudder at the sight of Burke warming up with 30 minutes to go after spending an hour running after Bellamy, Chopra and Bothroyd? I think not.

Anyway, back to Bellamy and what us Cardiff fans can expect to see from him this season.  Well for a start devastating pace and 100% effort, something which - love or hate him - he always gives.  Something else we will hope to see is some of the sublime finishing he produced for Man City when playing their red rivals last season.  Anyone who watched the game at the City of Manchester Stadium can probably recall him curling in from 20 yards before skinning Rio Ferdinand and finishing from an acute angle for his second.  Bellamy was on the losing side that day, but he showed what a class act he is and consequently became a fan favourite with the Citizen faithful.

Bellamy makes his debut for Cardiff at home to Doncaster Rovers tomorrow and I, as well as approximatley 26000 other Cardiff fans simply can’t wait for it.  The atmosphere promises to be electric and everyone (apart from a few hundred Doncaster fan) will be hoping for a home win to complete what could be a special day.  But anti-climaxes have been a regular occurrence for Cardiff City fans of late, the FA cup final, play off final and the last ever game at Ninian Park to name but a few and no-one would be surprised if the day went oh so familiarly wrong.  So, who’s got their money on 1-0 Donny then?

‘People in stone houses’

http://www.ccmb.co.uk/fudforum/index.php?t=msg&goto=2061574&rid=0&S=b582b25e5a955c901d9e9996908a3cdf&srch=glass+houses#msg_2061574

Post 6 - Championship match day 2, Derby County v Cardiff City

After their first ever match match against Burton Albion in the Rumbelows Cup first round on Wednesday night, it was back to normality today as the Bluebirds travelled to Derby County for their first away game of the season.


If Burton Albion were encountering unchartered territory midweek it was the complete opposite today, with Cardiff being anything but strangers to Pride Park.  We were last there as recent as May, when the Rams defeated a much weakened Cardiff side 2-0 on the final day of the 2010/11 season.  With 4th place virtually guaranteed Cardiff had rested the majority of the first team squad for the impending play offs and were easily defeated, the match though will probably be remembered most as the game that Josh Magennis got confused (http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c0GGnd1ufss). Bless him.

This was, however, the first time I had visited Derby.  It's always nice to go to a ground you haven't been to before, different surroundings and atmosphere, and of course there are no bad memories to recall.  The journey itself took just over two and a half hours and apart from a slight traffic jam, was smooth enough. Albums from Elbow and Ash - chosen by Jon, driving this week - helped eased boredom, along with naming people in work I would gun down given the opportunity (all purely hypothetical).  The 3rd bluebird in the car today, Rob, sat in the back with a bag of salmon sandwiches, a far cry from the bottle of Jack Daniels he took to the trip to Leicester in the play offs last season.

The stadium itself is very impressive from both the outside and inside, with a capacity of over 33,500 and although it wasn't anywhere near full today it is an arena for the city to be proud of.  The pitch looked immaculate, as you would expect this time of the year.

Before the game a minutes silence was observed by all inside the ground in memory of ex Exeter striker Adam Stansfield, who tragically passed away last week, a much used cliché I know, but the death of such a young man really does put things into perspective.  Last week was a sad one for football as it also saw the passing away of Cardiff legend Brian Clark and Southampton chairman Markus Liebherr.

The game started slowly with neither side getting a stranglehold on the game, City's latest loan signing Seyi Olofinjana showed some neat touches and Chopra looked lively up front, meanwhile, Derby captain and ex Welsh international Robbie Savage was predictably being booed with every touch by the City fans.  Savage seems to be hated everywhere he goes these days, but to be fair, he does bring it on himself.  The pony tailed one was soon in the thick of the action, exchanging slide tackles with Chopra, which gave the game a bit if bit and got the crowd involved.

The deadlock was broken after 15 minutes when the excellent Burke made a surging run into the opposition half, before passing the ball to Chopra, who took the ball past two Derby defenders and slotted home neatly with his right shot from 10 yards for his 2nd goal of the season.

For the second time of the week Cardiff were unable to keep hold of a lead and although holding it for longer than Wednesday night, slack defending allowed Cywka to equalise on the 25th minute.  Both Blake and Hudson blamed each other, but the truth is the defence just aren't working as a unit at the moment, there is a worrying lack of communication with needs to be sorted out as soon as possible.


After 38 minutes, having suffered a clash of heads a few minutes earlier, Kevin McNaughton was again involved in a collision, although this time it looked a lot more serious.  It's never a good sign to see players hurrying on the physio and although not as serious as it first looked (Kev was able to travel home with the team laster that evening) after 10 minutes he was stretchered off to a good round of applause by both set of fans.


The second half saw Cardiff dominate and they looked the more likely side to score again.  Drinkwater and Seyi shone and controlled the game, it's a long time since Cardiff have been able to say that about a central midfield partnership, but these two were a delight to watch and seemed to click straight away.  They were cheered on well by the travelling support, down on recent opening away fixtures, but vocal nonetheless.  '(Oo ah) barmy army' seldom seemed  to ease, with the 'oo ah' bit aimed directly into my left ear, which started ringing on the hour mark, thanks for that.


Cardiff took a well deserved lead in the 75th minute  A low left footed drive by Whittingham resulted in a mix up between ex Bluebird reserve goalkeeper Bywater and ex Welsh International Gareth Roberts, the ball somehow fell to Burke who tapped in from 6 yards


The Rams pressed for an equaliser but Cardiff held firm, something they weren't always able to do last season.  Marshall saved and Drinkwater blocked and the final whistle was finally blown.  Cardiff had won their first league game of the season and do you know what, we looked good.

Result - Derby County 1 Cardiff City 2

Scorers - City: Chopra (15), Burke (78) Derby: Cywka (25)
Attendance - 25,103

My man of the match - To be honest there were a number of city players who were in with a shout with todays MOTM.  Burke was a constant threat, setting up one and scoring the winner, up until his injury Kev was having a stormer, Chopra worked tirelessly and Drinkwater had his best game in a City shirt.  Like I say any number of player could have won the accolade but I'm going to give it to debutant Seyi, who had as good a Cardiff debut as I can remember and I know he is a keen reader of this blog.  If he stays fit he is sure to be a key part to our promotion aspirations and will no doubt become a fan favourite.

Villain of the day - No-one is really deserving of this today for either team, it was a keenly fought contest and generally played in good spirit, but I'm going to give it to Robbie Savage, just because, well, it's Robbie Savage, fair enough isn't it?

Post 5 - Carling Cup round 1, Cardiff City v Burton Albion

Well that was awful, I mean really bad, if you didn’t see the game please don’t let the score line deceive you, actually all you have to do is see the letters AET after the score to get a better picture.


I'll be honest, I didn't expect to see extra time tonight, I wasn't expecting it before the game and certainly not after Cardiff took the lead on the 17th minute when Whittingham set up Bothroyd for a tap in, his second goal in as many games. Up until that point Cardiff were playing well enough and after taking an early lead Albion fans could probably forgive me (and many others) for expecting to see a comfortable win for the Bluebirds. My pre match bet of Chopra to sore first and Cardiff to win 4-0 was off, but the 4-0 part of it looked a strong possibility.


But a comfortable win it wasn't, at least not until a Ross McCormack brace and Michael Chopra strike in the second half of extra time ensured the Bluebirds blushes were spared and a place in the second round of the cup was secured. From the moment Shaun Harrad equalised for the visiting team, finishing neatly after a miss judged pass back by Anthony Gerrard, just 2 minutes after Cardiff had taken the lead, the home side seemed to lose their way and the well organised Burton sensed a shock could be on the cards.


At half time Cardiff's latest loan signing Seyi Olofinjana was introduced to the crowd, the Nigerian international wasn’t in the squad for tonight’s game, but is likely to feature in the squad for the away match against Derby this Saturday afternoon, possibly in place of the dreadful Rae. Seyi seemed happy to team back up with Dave Jones, who first brought him to this country when manager of Wolves in 2004.


The second half saw the injured Bothroyd make way for McCormack and not for the first time Cardiff decided to continue playing the same tactics without Bothroyd as they would with him. It’s been tried before and it doesn’t work, particularly when both his replacement and Chopra are under 5 foot 9. Still, at least Etuhu wasn’t playing.


As the game went on and edged towards extra time Burton Albion looked as likely to get a winner as the Blubirds and it was the league 2 side who had a golden chance with the penultimate kick of the game when Brewers striker Greg Pearson turned and somehow blasted over from just 2 yards, he should have scored and if he did there wouldn’t have been any time left for Cardiff to get back in the game.


Apart from that chance there is very little to write about in-between the equaliser and Cardiff’s second apart from the introduction of Jason Koumas, who got a heroes welcome from the home support. Although not 100% match fit Koumas, as you would expect, showed his class and eventually provided the key to unlock the visitors defence setting up McCormack’s and Chopra’s first of the season, with the former scoring a fine individual goal in-between, a goal which could well be his last in a Cardiff shirt.


So we are through to the 2nd round of the cup, it wasn’t pretty, but I suppose it doesn’t really matter, the draw has already been made and we will play Peterborough away, bad memories of that place, bad bad memories.


Result - Cardiff City 4 Burton Albion 1 (AET)
Scorers - City: J.Bothroyd (17), R.McCormack (107, 110) M.Chopra (118) Albion: S.Harrad (19)
Attendance - 6,080


Fans man of the match - Danny Drinkwater (after 90 minutes) - Another decent performance from the loan signing and I can see why he would've been voted man of the match, he was neat and tidy and kept possession better than others in the team (see below for an example).


My man of the match - Chris Burke. Although his final ball was sometimes poor of, Burke gave their left back a torrid time, given Burke's pace and quality on the ball this isn't a great surprise, but he didn't stop running and I feel he just about edged Drinkwater for the man of the match in the 90 minutes.


Villain of the day - Gavin Rae.  There's no way around it, Gavin Rae was awful tonight and it was a surprise he stayed on as long as he did.  He was partly at fault for the Albion equaliser with a miss placed pass to Gerrard and generally looked off the pace. He has been a decent player for the three seasons he has been here but will soon be 33 and it looks as though his best days are well behind him.


Strangest part of the night – The introduction of city debutant Martin John, no-one seemed to have heard of him before. He did ok, particularly as he had apparently been limping since the 70th minute, although admittedly I only noticed it in extra time, probably because I was too busy working out the length of the pitch in yards and then trying to convert to metres etc, it honestly was that dull at times.

Post 4 - A tribute to Brian Clark

Today is a sad day for Cardiff City as Brian Clark passed away aged 67.  Clark, born in Bristol, played 240 games for the Bluebirds in two spells scoring 91 goals.  Of the 91 goals he scored his most famous was undoubtedly the winner in a 1-0 victory against Spanish giants Real Madrid in the first leg of their 1971 cup winners cup quarter final encounter.  City lost the return leg in Spain 2-0, but the home leg lived on in the memories of all who were there with Clark's header ensuring he himself would go down in folklore.

I can't claim to have ever seen Brian Clark play as he had long hung up his boots before I was born, or even thought of (if I ever was) but over the years I've often heard my dad and uncle - city regulars since the 60s - speak highly of him, as did their dad before them, Clark was, as my dad put it 'a real legend.'

Clark started his career in the city he was born, plying his trade for Bristol City where he scored 89 goals in 215 appearances.  Although he played for Severnside rivals Cardiff in the future, Clark remained a hero in the city of his birth as well as at Cardiff, a feat which has rarely, if ever, has been matched before or since, which is a testament to him not only as a player, but as a person.

Clark is sure to get the tribute he deserves at our Carling cup match tomorrow against Burton and next home league match against Doncaster Saturday week.  From what I've heard he was a thoroughly nice gentleman as well as a fantastic footballer and personally feel a traditional minutes silence is more poignant than the sometimes favoured minute of applause

In the coming years Clark is sure to get a more fixed tribute at the Cardiff City Stadium and of the many ideas I've heard from various city fans over the last 12 hours I think the gesture of naming the family stand after him would be the most fitting.  The Brian Clark Family Stand certainly has a ring to it, I think you will agree.

Brian Clark - 1943-2010.

Post 3 - Championship match day 1, Cardiff City v Sheffield United

Not the worst start to a season then - off the mark, a confidence boosting goal for one of our centre forwards and a decent debut for loan signing Danny Drinkwater. The performance in general though was rusty and lacked any real impetus until the hour mark, by when the blades had already been down to 10 men for the best part of 25 minutes.


I didn't get into the ground early enough to savour any pre match atmosphere because I was in CostCo stuffing my face with the biggest pizza slice in the world, followed by a massive cup of ice cream, as nice as it was it did made me feel slightly ill, I won't be doing that again, well not until a week next Saturday anyway, quite the hedonist I know.  I arrived in time to see the teams coming out to 'I'll be there', a charity single by celebrity city fans/musicians, aimed at raising money for a statue of Bluebirds legend and 1927 captain Fred Keenor (http://thelonegunmanblog.blogspot.com), couldn't really tell if it was any good, but it's for a good cause nonetheless. 


From the off there was a noticeable change from last season, if only a slight one, it was great not to see us doing our tedious pass the ball back to the centre back who smashes it up to Jay Bothroyd routine, however it didn't take long for the ball to get to Jay, who was on the deck by the 11th second (yes, I did check), not that much has changed over the last couple of months then.


Sheffield United looked the sharper of the two sides during the opening stages and although City had the ball in the back of the net first - disallowed due to an unnecessary foul by Chopra - it was the away team who took the lead, with none other than Welsh international Ched Evans breaking the deadlock after 24 minutes. It was shoddy defending and reminiscent of the awful defending in the play off's against Leicester and Blackpool, Jones really does need to sort it out as soon as possible, but I'm confident he will, sort of.


The complexion of the game changed completely on the 34th minute when Sheffield United defender Matthew Lowton got sent off for a reckless challenge on McNaughton.  It looked late at the time and having seen it again on television replays it certainly deserved the red card, it was a potential leg-breaker, but luckily Kev survived unscathed.


The first ten minutes of the 2nd half progressed without incident, changes needed to be made and Jones did just that.  One of Jones main criticisms over the years has been his perceived passivity, his refusal to make tactical changes until it is often too late, but ten minutes after the break the ineffectual Rae was brought off for McCormack.  Whittingham moved into the centre dropping deep to collect the ball and started controlling the game straight away, it's a role that suits Whittingham in those circumstances,  may not work against a 'busy' midfield with 11 men but when we are in control like today he proved what good vision he has.


Soon after the substitution was made City equalised, it was Whittingham who put Chopra through, who took the ball around the stranded Sheff Utd keeper Simonsen and crossed for Bothroyd to expertly volley home, I've seen it described as a tap in, but he still had work to do with 2 defenders on the line.  City pressed but were unable to find a winner as Simonsen redeemed himself for an earlier mistake with a string of impressive saves. It does feel like we have dropped 2 points today, but I think we would've taken a 1-1 draw with 30 minutes gone. 


Next up Burton Albion in the Milk cup followed by a trip to Derby next Saturday, look out Savage, we're coming to get you.


Result - Cardiff City 1 Sheffield United 1
Scorers - Sheff Utd: C.Evans (24) City: J.Bothroyd (62)
Attendance - 20,573
Fans man of the match - Kevin McNaughton


My man of the match - Kevin McNaughton.  After a frustrating year he seemed back to his old self, tirelessly bombed up and down the left wing all day, let's hope he stays fit for the majority of the season, because when he is he is a class act.


Villain of the day - Jamie Ward (no.18).  The lad was an annoying little prick, I'd love to be able to word it differently, but there isn't any other way to describe him, or at least the way he acted today.  He somehow took 2 minutes to get back into his own half after they scored, got booked for time wasting and went down with cramp, which summed up his lack of professionalism.  With regards to the booking I've never seen a referee look so pleased to book anyone in my life.

Post 2 - Morning of the first game

It's time for the talk to stop and the action to begin as the new season finally starts, it started two days ago in Norwich actually, but for Cardiff City the journey begins today, with a visit from Sheffield United.  A Sunday start feels strange, I can't recall us ever playing our opening game on a Sunday before, but that could well be because of my poor memory, strange for a young person I know, but I do have problems remembering matches even as recent as last season.  I'll never forget the Maidstone game though (http://www.soccerbase.com/results3.sd?gameid=232132), that match will live with me forever.


Although the season finished mid May it doesn't feel as if football has left our consciousness at all this summer as 2010 saw the first football world cup to be held in Africa  This was to be a momentous occasion, to be celebrated not just by the hosts South Africa, but by the continent on the whole, it was their chance to prove they could stage the most viewed sporting competition on the planet.  I didn't go to the world cup so I can't possibly comment on the atmosphere over there, but from an armchair spectators point of view the football never seemed to get going.  I don't know if it was because of the ball, the altitude, the negative tactics, Mark Lawrenson, player fatigue from a long domestic season or because defences were too well organised, but apart from the odd moment it never seemed to excite.  Sorry, I've just remembered, it was the Vuvuzela's fault, that B flat (FACT) drone ruined everything, sorry Lawro if you're reading.


As great as a world cup is (in theory anyway), for most football fans club football is what really matters, the bread and butter if you like, this may seem obvious coming from a Welsh point of view considering our lack of any sort of success over the last 50 years, but I do get the same impression from English football fans too.


No-one really knows what to expect from Cardiff this season, the bookies included.  Odds currently vary from 14-1 to 22-1 for us to win the league.  22-1 seems long for a club who finished 4th last season in a league which was a lot stronger than it is this time around, but the general consensus from pundits and 'experts' outside the club is that we will struggle due to us losing our 'star player' Joe Ledley.  I don't want to appear bitter at losing Ledley (for next to nothing) because I'm not, but I genuinely feel he is over-rated by the wider football watching public, a good player? yes, but a world beater he certainly isn't,other players at the club such as Jay Bothroyd, Stephen McPhail, Michael Chopra, Peter Whittingam and others are blessed with much better football ability.


So, back to today's game against Sheffield United.  It won't be the most important game of the season but it would be nice to get off to a winning start with a solid performance, a clean sheet oh and 4 goals, basically what I'm saying is that I want a repeat of the opening game last season.  I'm pretty sure we won't win 4-0 today but I have woken up in a reasonably confident mood.  Defeats for the Jacks, Bristol City and the lovely Leeds yesterday has already made me feel good about the new season and whatever happens today, we can't do much worse than them, can we?

Post 1 - A gentle introduction

So, here we are then, a full 78 days (come Sunday) after that playoff defeat, sorry, THAT playoff defeat and we find ourselves ready to go through it all over again.  Why do we continually do this to ourselves? Well the answer to that is simply because we are hooked, we are addicted, it’s part of all of our lives, it’s in our blood and we love it.

If you are reading this you will probably fall into 1 of 3 categories, either a) you are a Cardiff fan b) you are friend or family or c) you are a total stranger and have accidentally stumbled across it.  Well whatever category you fall into you got here you are 2 paragraphs in and still reading, so you may as well keep reading eh?

Silly season has been and nearly gone and as usual the summer has seen many rumours flying around, there was talks of Craig Bellamy signing, Peter Whittingham and Michael Chopra leaving (which is still a distinct possibility), there were even talks of our manager Dave Jones taking up the vacated managerial role at Fulham. 

One player who has left the club is Joe Ledley, who has finally got what he wanted and gone to the Premier League, although I’m pretty sure when he said he wanted to play in the Premier League he meant the English one rather than the Scottish one.  Cardiff ended up getting nothing (bar a pending small tribunal fee) for a home grown player, who, after 9 years at the club, found himself out of contract, it’s ridiculous really, particularly as we were reported to have turned down a £6mil bid from Stoke just 2 years ago! Ah well that’s football for you and I suppose the club only have themselves to blame.  Good luck to Joe, but I can’t help but feel he’s going to spend the best years of his career in a league, which is generally a poorer standard than the Championship.

Another player to leave is full back Mark Kennedy, although not everyone's favourite player on the pitch over the last couple of seasons (myself included), he always gave his all and he seems like a genuinely decent bloke.   The playoff semi final against Leicester instantly springs to mind.  Straight after he scored the winning penalty, instead of rushing to celebrate with his team mates the first thing he did was console Martyn Waghorn, who missed Leicesters final penalty, it had echoes of Flintoff and Lee at Edgbaston in the 2005 ashes series and showed true sportsmanship, I wish him all the best at Ipswich and hope he gets a decent reception when he returns to the Cardiff City Stadium later in the season in an Ipswich shirt.

Koumas is coming.  We’ve heard those words said on numerous occasions every summer since he finished his first loan spell with us after the 2005/2006 season, but this time it has happened, Jason Koumas is coming, the messiah has returned, the only question is, will he be as good as last time?  I, personally, don’t see any reason why he can’t be, at 30 he is hardly ancient and he is proven at this level to be about 3 steps ahead of everyone else.  He really is one of the best players I’ve ever seen down the city (yes, this includes Josh Low), Koumas has under hugely achieved everywhere else he has been, so let’s hope Jones can bring out the best in him again.

Other signings we’ve made this season are goalkeeper and Tom Heaton (who had a loan spell with us a couple of seasons back) and Danny Drinkwater (season loan) both coming from Manchester United, so not much of a drop then.  Let’s just hope the embargo is lifted in time for them to play on Sunday and who knows, maybe we can make a few more additions.

Ah the embargo, it had to be mentioned sooner or later didn’t it?  Due to our continued well documented financial difficulties (slight under statement) we haven’t been able to register any new players, although it is thought that it will soon be uplifted, it better be , because if it isn’t, we are in some trouble (stop the press: embargo uplifted).

Ah the financial difficulties, it had to be mentioned sooner...The business element isn’t something I want to go into too much, mainly because it confuses me, but we all know what is happening, well sort of, and there’s nothing we can do about it, but the Riddler has gone and the Malaysians are here and I’m sure Dato and co will do a good job and sort out the mess our previous chairmen have left us in.  Anyway, that’s my introduction done, here’s hoping for a successful campaign, stay tuned and join me for the ride...