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.
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