OH WHEN THE SAINTS
GO MARCHING IN
IT'LL BE AFTER
A CITY WIN

CARDIFF CITY (2) 2
Ledley 6, Jerome 9

SOUTHAMPTON (1) 1
Blackstock 25

Attendance: 13,377
Soton support: 1,200 approx.
Weather: Grey, dull, some drizzle
Atmosphere:
City - We were quiet today. Not sure why.....saving ourselves for Auld Lyne Syne tonight???
Soton - Very good but ultimately subdued.


It may have been an unproductive Christmas but Cardiff City signed off 2005 in fine style with a hard-earned but deserved 2-1 victory over Southampton in a lunchtime Ninian Park New Year's Eve clash.

It was a match of three noteworthy shots which produced three goals. Excellent build up work and finishes by Ledley and Jerome had City two ahead inside 9 minutes, defensive hesitancy gave Southampton a lifeline through Dexter's goal on 25 but City harried and pressed, Southampton never threatened again, quality was far from great but Cardiff toughed it out and got the three welcome points they needed.

After back-to-back defeats and no goals in well over 5 hours of football, Dave Jones needed to sign off the year with an improved performance and result. It was no surprise that he immediately dispensed with what many felt was an unnecessary and negative 4-5-1 system deployed at QPR.

Reverting to 4-4-2 with Michael Ricketts, making what could be his final loan appearance, back alongside Cameron Jerome in attack. Midfield saw Paul Parry start ahead of Kevin Cooper whilst, in defence, Neil Cox continued to deputise at centre-half and captain with Darren Purse serving out suspension and Rhys Weston was still injured so Neil Ardley again deputised at right back. City therefore went with Alexander, Ardley-Loovens-Cox-Barker, Koumas-Whitley-Ledley-Parry, Ricketts-Jerome. The bench was warmed by Margetson-Cooper-Darlington-Ferretti-Lee.

Southampton make City's problems in 2005 appear trivial. Relegated from the Premiership, struggling to make any impact in the Championship, ex-egg chaser Clive Woodward as Director of Football, vision awareness experts and a Brazilian street soccer importer hired and fired, an owner spending as much time in the courtroom as the boardroom.

Fun in the dugout too with Harry Redknapp, taken on from arch-enemies Portsmouth last season walking out on the Saints and going back to Pompey, temporary managers Harry Bassett and Denis Wise thrown out after a couple of games meaning Wisey was lost as a regular player too. George Burley is now the man hoping to bring about stability but this defeat means he has lost each of his first three games with the club. Not funny for them but hilarious to onlookers as football seems secondary to the continuing St. Mary's panto.

On the football front, what a strange season they've having. They arrived in 14th place but only 1st, 2nd and 4th had lost fewer games than them yet today was their 4th consecutive defeat after losing only 3 of their first 22 Championship games. Despite relatively few defeats, only the bottom 7 have won fewer games as The Saints have incredibly recorded 13 draws, half their games, including an impressive 8 continuous league draws in the autumn.

Freefall and self-implosion apart, their cause is not currently helped by a horrendous injury list which has crippled them defensively as regulars and back-up defenders alike seem to be absent leaving them turning to kids. Unavailable to Burley were the likes of Darren Powell, Matt Oakley, Danny Higginbotham and Mattias Svennson amongst others.

Six changes were made to the team who lost 1-0 at home to Sheffield United two days earlier as Southampton went with Niemi, Crainie-Mills-Kenton-Baird, McCann-Prutton-Delap-Blackstock, Walcott-Jones. Anton Niemi returned from injury between the posts. The back four featured two teenagers in Crainie and Mills but they were considerably older than new kid on the block Theo Walcott already earning rave notices at just 16 years old and scoring 4 Championship goals. Dexter Blackstock was playing for the second time against City at Ninian in a fortnight having just returned from a loan to Derby.

One of my recent criticisms of City are that they have started slower, not scored early and not scored first, it was a pleasing habit of theirs until a few weeks ago. That habit returned as, with 9 minutes on the clock (not the jumbotron one, that packed up for the day!), it was City 2 Southampton 0.

Cardiff started fast and with passion and determination, they were biting into tackles and making sure they won the ball, both goals came from exactly that. Jerome was marginally offside as he threatened to burst through, then his first sight of goal was blocked for a corner but on 6 minutes, City forged ahead.

Michael Ricketts fed Koumas wide, he tangled with a defender and then threw himself into a challenge to win a ball that he had little right to win but he came away, sent a ball to the far post, Parry hooked it back across goal and JOE LEDLEY it home from a couple of yards. Great stuff.

Southampton tried to hit back but Jones' header flew straight to Alexander and then it was 2-0 as, this time, Glenn Loovens threw himself into a challenge, won the ball, fed Ledley who threaded a superb pass dissecting the defence and sending CAMERON JEROME clear, he slotted the ball wide of Niemi for his 12th league goal of the season but his first in 8 games. City players celebrated wildly in front of the Grange side Lower Grandstand, fans were ballistic, The Saints were shell-shocked and the City-supporting (due to her husband)
Southampton fan (due to her family and birth place) who sits in front of me didn't know whether to laugh or cry but we did all the laughing for her!

After such a lightning start, the game inevitably settled. Delap sent a scuffed low shot along the floor to Alexander, Loovens and Ricketts gave Niemi similar routine work to do. The good habits that City started with and their intensity had waned and it cost them as they let Southampton back into things on 25. Niemi belted a long ball down field, a wide man sent a looped header towards the penalty spot where Barker, Loovens and Alexander all appeared to hesitate and leave it for each other, BLACKSTOCK nipped in and steered past Alexander into an empty goal, a terrible one to concede.

After that, City needed half-time far more than the visitors who threatened and moved the ball better, backed by some terrific vocal support - why were we so quiet today? - had us hanging on at times and we certainly didn't look pretty or composed. The nearest City came was when a Koumas inswinging corner which Niemi stretched to push out as it almost creeped under his crossbar at the far post and then Jerome almost nipped in again but Niemi smothered. City had anxious moments and a couple of scrambled clearances under pressure but they somehow denied Southampton any attempt at goal so they deserve some credit for doing that.

Half-time: CITY 2 SOUTHAMPTON 1

Half-time entertainment was humourous with some shocking attempts, the best being a 9 year old kid. Ely Valley Blue scuffed his effort about 15 yards, a very large visiting Southampton fan managed to send his boot twice as far as the ball which amused everyone. Next home game has the Dirty Sanchez boys providing the half-time entertainment, that should be something completely different.

There's not a great deal to say about the second half, it wasn't terrific (and I'm in a rush to get out for my New Year's Eve party!) but there genuinely wasn't a serious attempt at goal by either side. Southampton were well contained and generally frustrated by City, they seemed to run out of steam and ideas as we strangled the life out of them. There were times Southampton threatened, a few times, but their end product was either severely lacking or Cardiff's defence and work by the midfielders denied them and won crucial tackles.

City got forward, won a few corners and threatened occasionally but never showed the decisiveness that we saw in those early minutes. They were however winning applause for some big tackles and occasional breaks.

Brett Ormerod came on the the final 25 minutes for Jones, City introduced Alan Lee for Michael Ricketts, surely that's the last we've seen of Ricketts in a City shirt? We have to look elsewhere. Overall, Ricketts flattered to deceive. He looked useful but never got better and often looked lazy and uncommitted. There's nothing to suggest City can make him any better than we've seen and what we've seen just isn't good enough. He got a good reception as he departed, some through sheer relief that he was going going gone!.

With four minutes added on, City were being well backed, Southampton fans had given up hope and the afternoon should have been crowned as City broke on the left, Jerome squared the ball sending Koumas clear on goal but as he entered the area, he was brought down from behind. Could only be a penalty, should be a red card, the ref unbelievably awarded neither and gave "play on" - that was a criminal decision but moments later, the final whistle blew. Just as well City had won rather than drawing or trailing by a goal.

Nobody truly shone today but I though Neil Cox did a marvellous job standing in at the back, he was clear and decisive, put his body on the line and won several key challenges. Likewise, Jeff Whitley's work-rate and ability to pop up everywhere to win a tackle was excellent. Joe Ledley has looked tired recently but he scored one and made the other, that ultimately won the day. Paul Parry, second half, showed glimpses of the player he used to be and Cameron Jerome had his best game for a while rounded off with his goal.

Other results on the day saw City climb three places and finish 2005 in 8th spot with 38 points off 27 games - just 12 points more needed to stay up and let's face it, those were our thoughts in August. To be where we are is a fantastic achievement, Dave Jones and his players deserve plaudits and recognition for the job done to date. It hasn't always been pretty but, as we know deep down, this is a results business and we're doing that pretty well.

And so another year over and, as it always seems to be with CCFC, it was dramatic and traumatic. It had laughs, it had tears. It had us defending our club, it had us attacking our club. We were together, we were in-fighting. We had the best fans and hard-working staff but, according to Mr. Hammam in one of his tirades, we had termites at the club and b*stards supporting them (he soon removed the latter part from his official website statement). It had a few highs, it had many lows, some being the lowest we have felt for many a year. A club that was Bigger Than Barcelona were reportedly a whisker away from administration and becoming Smaller Than Barry as the best paid players got no money at all as a "clerical error" became a full-blown crisis.

Much loved, still loved heroes left but new heroes arrived, the best ones still belong to other clubs at present. Some players we love but criticise, some we just love to criticise. The stadium is closer to reality ... or is it as far away as ever? ... or further away than ever? It's supposed to already be built and we should be playing there now, shouldn't we? Hell, what's another year?

Lennie Lawrence's time, well overdue, was finally up. Few will argue that Dave Jones is shaping up to be our best manager for many years and, by a country mile, the best one Sam has ever chosen. The backroom has changed but still has some old faces and it's the same with the board. Finances are under control we're told but we can't really afford to build the squad or buy anyone and there's the small matter of £30+M of debt. Prices go up, crowds go down, 40% of season ticket holders give up. Home form is patchy and often not greatly entertaining, away performances are better many will justifiably contend, results are better at home despite the struggles.

It could only be Cardiff City, couldn't it? Yet, in a perverse way, isn't this why we love and hang onto the coattails of our club so much? Good or bad, brilliant or awful, there's always a story, always something to discuss or argue about. The amazing thing is, through all trials, tribulations and turmoil, 2005 was actually a greatly improved football calendar year for the team than 2004, we have somehow progressed. It's perhaps easy to forget that Lennie Lawrence's team actually performed pretty well in the 2nd half of last season starting in January 2005 (better in fact that Dave Jones has performed with different personnel so far this term - yet another contradiction!). Compare the Championship calendar year performance;

2004 = Played: 46 Won: 13 Drawn: 15 Lost: 18 Points: 54
2005 = Played: 46 Won: 18 Drawn: 14 Lost: 14 Points: 68

If we can continue that improvement in 2006, we can look forward to Premiership football by 2007/2008. Ah well, if you can't have dreams going into a New Year, what's the point?

Happy New Year everyone and here's to continuing improvements and success in the next 12 months.


THE COST OF BEING A CITY FAN:
Tickets (3): £32 - took the kids today
Programme: £3
Food/Drink: £20
Travel: £3
Total for game: £58

Total for season-to-date: £1,802