City still had no Ledley, no Hudson, no Gerrard, no McNaughton and, for two games including this, no Bothroyd the talisman either as he started a 2 match ban.
The makeshift defence of Quinn-Blake-Gyepes-Capaldi therefore continued and up front, a surprise as Kelvin Etuhu after injury for his first appearance since the 4-4 Xmas calamity at Peterborough - City needed the height with Gyepes and Quinn being the only other tall players in the side. A surprise alongside him too as Chopra was preferred tom McCormack even though the latter had done well in his previous two outings.
Cardiff made the perfect start. First corner of the match was hit low by Whittingham, McPhail back-hell flicked the ball into the danger zone and GYEPES was first to react, superbly placing the ball home low and in off a post. His third Cardiff goal but first of the season.
After that, rather than storm the Palace, their front guard reacted and took the game to Cardiff. With a telling and visible lack of height, Palace hit the penalty area early and often with high balls sent in from every direction. The Eagles flew higher than The Bluebirds in the air and it was a case of hanging on. Goalmouth scrambles, Marshall having to punch away, a succession of corner kicks, Gyepes and Blake battling gamely at the heart of defence and City not giving themselves much relief as breaks too easily broke down.
Palace came closest as Hills looped header came off the bar with Marshall beaten, Darren Ambrose denied by the reactions of Marshall to push away his low shot, last gasp challenges and some luck.
However City showed more quality and really should have doubled their lead before the interval as Chops' flick sent Etuhu clear but he took a touch too much and his shot was smothered by Speroni.
Back after the break, Palace continued their aerial assault but not before Chris Burke was desperately unlucky to see his dipping 25 yarder drop just a couple of inches over the bar. Pressure was less intense but still constant as City stayed well organised although Etuhu - surely this season's Eddie Johnson? - fluffed another clear opening as he leant back and blazed over after strong build up play.
Palace had a strong penalty claim as Capaldi bundled over Stern John but the post-match hysteria seemed to overlook City won a free-kick for Calvin Andrew impeding David Marshall getting to the corner kick.
A few minutes later and Andrew did it again but City's marking was slack and HILL met a corner kick unchallenged at the near post and headed home. I still don't know who should have been marking him.
That was no more than Palace deserved and you started to fear the worst for City but this side possess quality up front and are always capable of conjuring something. A harsh free kick was awards 40 yards out midway through the 2nd half, Whitts lifted it to the box, Quinn nodded back and the rest was CHRIS BURKE magic as he chested the ball wide of a defender and fired home on his right foot across goal leaving Speroni with no chance.
This time, there was no way back for the home side who, thanks to 10 points lost in administration, find themselves stuck in the bottom three instead of mid-table and looking likely to drop a division.
For City, the result lifted them to 4th and Swansea and Leicester's failure to win later in the day kept them there. More importantly, City maintained their 5 point gap over play-off chasers and have a home game in hand with just 7 matches to go. The next three matches are telling - the game in hand at home to 6th placed Leicester on Tuesday, the South Wales battle with 5th placed Swansea on Tuesday and away at 3rd placed Nottingham Forest on Easter Monday. A massive week ahead then.
The makeshift defence of Quinn-Blake-Gyepes-Capaldi therefore continued and up front, a surprise as Kelvin Etuhu after injury for his first appearance since the 4-4 Xmas calamity at Peterborough - City needed the height with Gyepes and Quinn being the only other tall players in the side. A surprise alongside him too as Chopra was preferred tom McCormack even though the latter had done well in his previous two outings.
Cardiff made the perfect start. First corner of the match was hit low by Whittingham, McPhail back-hell flicked the ball into the danger zone and GYEPES was first to react, superbly placing the ball home low and in off a post. His third Cardiff goal but first of the season.
After that, rather than storm the Palace, their front guard reacted and took the game to Cardiff. With a telling and visible lack of height, Palace hit the penalty area early and often with high balls sent in from every direction. The Eagles flew higher than The Bluebirds in the air and it was a case of hanging on. Goalmouth scrambles, Marshall having to punch away, a succession of corner kicks, Gyepes and Blake battling gamely at the heart of defence and City not giving themselves much relief as breaks too easily broke down.
Palace came closest as Hills looped header came off the bar with Marshall beaten, Darren Ambrose denied by the reactions of Marshall to push away his low shot, last gasp challenges and some luck.
However City showed more quality and really should have doubled their lead before the interval as Chops' flick sent Etuhu clear but he took a touch too much and his shot was smothered by Speroni.
Back after the break, Palace continued their aerial assault but not before Chris Burke was desperately unlucky to see his dipping 25 yarder drop just a couple of inches over the bar. Pressure was less intense but still constant as City stayed well organised although Etuhu - surely this season's Eddie Johnson? - fluffed another clear opening as he leant back and blazed over after strong build up play.
Palace had a strong penalty claim as Capaldi bundled over Stern John but the post-match hysteria seemed to overlook City won a free-kick for Calvin Andrew impeding David Marshall getting to the corner kick.
A few minutes later and Andrew did it again but City's marking was slack and HILL met a corner kick unchallenged at the near post and headed home. I still don't know who should have been marking him.
That was no more than Palace deserved and you started to fear the worst for City but this side possess quality up front and are always capable of conjuring something. A harsh free kick was awards 40 yards out midway through the 2nd half, Whitts lifted it to the box, Quinn nodded back and the rest was CHRIS BURKE magic as he chested the ball wide of a defender and fired home on his right foot across goal leaving Speroni with no chance.
This time, there was no way back for the home side who, thanks to 10 points lost in administration, find themselves stuck in the bottom three instead of mid-table and looking likely to drop a division.
For City, the result lifted them to 4th and Swansea and Leicester's failure to win later in the day kept them there. More importantly, City maintained their 5 point gap over play-off chasers and have a home game in hand with just 7 matches to go. The next three matches are telling - the game in hand at home to 6th placed Leicester on Tuesday, the South Wales battle with 5th placed Swansea on Tuesday and away at 3rd placed Nottingham Forest on Easter Monday. A massive week ahead then.
No comments:
Post a Comment