An incredible night, a heroic performance and an amazing result as Cardiff City minus Bothroyd and Ledley or a recgonised midfield for the 2nd half yet triumphed 2-0 against 2nd place West Brom, the runaway leading scorers of the Championship and propelled themselves into 3rd spot. Simply fantastic!
City took the game to the hosts 1st half, edged it in play and lead 1-0 as Chris Burke, in red hot form, fired home another amazing goal. West Brom were out of sorts but give City all the credit for strangling the life out of them. Cardiff hung on for nearly all the 2nd half but were rarely in trouble when the game took an unbelieveable twist as Baggies ex-England keeper Scott Carson head-butted Michael Chopra full in the face with the ball on halfway. Not only was he red carded but City were awarded a penalty which, in a fuirther twist, was initially saved by sub replacement keeper Dean Kiely but Peter Whittingham atoned for that by smothering the bound and lashing it home.
Get in there!! Oh what a night and, make no mistake, victory was fully merited. The stats record that this was City's first league win at The Hawthorns in almost 53 years ... only the small print will mention we've only been there 8 times oveer that period!
1,200 City fans travelled to the West Midlands, West Brom's safety officer deciding to cut 800 tickets off the allowance despite refusing to give any valid reason and trying, unsuccessfully, to blame others. In protest, City fans met pre-game and conducted a friendly protest at the ludicrous decision outside the local Sandwell police station.
At the ground, City's cause was severely hampered by Jay Bothroyd being suspended for 1 game while Joe Ledley was absent too having had a scan on his troublesome hip and groin earlier in the day. Riccy Scimeca and Gavin Rae were, arguably, the only choice midfielders available. Kevin McNaughton was available however and so was Anthony Gerrard who looked like Pudsey Bear with a bandaged head after getting several stitches from a collison in the weekend Preston game and the bench contained three first year pros as City used what were the only resources they had available.
Dave Jones, stubborn to the end, stuck to his rigid 4-4-2 system when everyone thought we only had the personnel for 4-5-1 as he gambled with Etuhu and Chopra in attack.
CARDIFF CITY: Marshall, Quinn-Hudson-Gerrard-McNaughton; Burke-Scimeca-Rae-Whittingham; Chopra-Etuhu. Subs: Enckleman-Kennedy-Matthews-Wildig-Magennis-Taiwo-McCormack.
West Brom went into the game unbeaten in 6 since losing at home to Swansea (they must really hate the Welsh sides) and having scored 17 goals in their last 5 outings. They could not have been more confident despite not having the services of pacy, exciting forwards Luke Moore and Jerome Thomas was was a huge relief to Cardiff.
West Brom: Carson; Cech-Zuiverloon-Olson-Mulumbu; Meite-Dorrans-Jara-Brunt; Bednar-Cox.
The crowd was 20,742 and most expected to see City under the cosh from the off which appeared to be confirmed as David Marshall had to make a big save inside the first 2 minutes.
However The Bluebirds were soon returning fire with interest as Rae fired just over then forced Carson to make a great save tipping over his vicious rising volley before a breakthrough on 21 minutes with a superb individual CHRIS BURKE goal.
Getting the ball on halfway, he ran staright at the heart of the Baggies defence, the lively Etuhu peeled away taking defenders with him, defenders held back so Burke ubnleashed a 20 yarder which flew low and true, beating Carson comprehensively.
The remainder of the half was lively with the home side trying to exert pressure but looking vulnerable to the counter-attack as Cardiff held onto what they had for the interval. The home side were very fortunate to go in with 11 men still on the pitch after Jara gave Gavin Rae a blatant elbow but ref Paul Taylor opted for a yellow card only, a decision which drew protests.
Half-time: WBA 0 CCFC 1
A hard task for City was made even harder as Riccy Scimeca playing his 2nd game in 4 days after no league start for 16 months was exhausted by his efforts and the pace of the game so on came 17 year old Aaron Wildig for his league debut.
Pressure from WBA was now relentless, City's forward could not get hold of the ball and Cardiff could not get near halfway, let alone over it. Etuhu was taken off too, similarly knackered after a long injury absence, so Rioss McCormack came one.
Cardiff's defending was quite magnificent with every man standing up and being counted, led by the maligned skipper Mark Hudson who is in current strong form. However Albion missed chances with Dorrans and Bednar twice screwing efforts wide.
It was a case of counting down the minutes and that clock was moving far too slowly until that late drama unfolded, the Chopra/Carson incident coming moments after Chops almost connected with a cross on a rare break.
Once it was 2-0 with an extra man, there was no way back for the home side leaving City fans to start the Xmas tune of "Jingle balls, jingle bells, jingle all the way, oh what fun it is to see City win away". What an outstanding performance.
No comments:
Post a Comment