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.
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