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.
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