After the grit and glory, tonight was shit and gory. Cardiff City, following that outstanding hard fought victory over Middlesbrough, collapsed badly again on the road as they started a run of 3 games in 8 days with, on paper, the "easiest" game of the trio but they crashed 2-0 at relegation threatened Ipswich Town.
David Marshall was probably City's man of the match making a string of saves as City were battered and outplayed from start to finish. At the other end, Michael Chopra missed a trio of varying chances but all of the type that would havw flown in when he had form, that now seems a long time ago. As it was, he earned his 10th yellow card of the season, another niggly unecessary one, and earned himself a two game ban ... exactly what we don't need.
The club travelled to Suffolk in good spirits with the same injured players missing but, thankfully, nobody else added to the absentees so named the same side that beat Boro and the same bench with 4 players apparently injured and making up the numbers and no real options with those who were left. It is quite farcical to talk up play-off expectations and Premiership hopes when if feels anything but that.
Ipswich had drawn half of their 34 games this season and most Bluebirdas, inluding the 250 travelling fans who endured a miserable night, would have settled for that especially as Roy Keane's Tractor Boys were unbeaten in 12 at Portman Road but Cardiff were truly dreadful, this was as bad and inept as any display all season.
You just get the feeling with The Bluiebirds in their current crisis that games depend more than ever on the first goal. If City go ahead, they have the spirit and mentality to tough it out as they did last weekend but if it is the other way around, then we just have not got the numbers or personnel to fight back - not that Dave Jones' sides are renowned for that anyway.
So when tonight's game started with persistent one way traffic towards Dave Marshall's goal with City unable to get out of their of their half or put two passes together, I feared the worst. Mars made a brillaint early save to keep out Murphy but just as it seemed City had weathered the storm and had their first chance as Chops narrowly bicycle kicked over the bar, they feel behind on 18 minutes.
The impressive Colbeck found MURPHY with a simple ball in the box and his scuffed effort from close range gave Marshall no chance. By the interval, Ipswich's corner count was almost in double figures while Cardiff hadn't had one, Marshall was required to make more stops but City should still have gone in level when, in added time, McNaughton's cross was nodded down by Bothroyd, Chops chested on but with the goal gaping, he fired wide off balance.
Straight after the restart, Chops had another good chance as City came back better but it was all over on 58 minutes when McCormack miskicked the ball to Gravan, Marshall madwe a supervb save but MURPHY was there to snap up the rebound.
Thankfully, it was so bad, I fell asleep at this point while many other City fans turned their radios off. It was dreadful beyond belief. What I missed was Marshall making sevral more saves and City having no more chances but a game generally petering out to its inevitable conclusion.
It left assistant boss Terry Burton to give a brutal honest assessment, "Ipswich were by far the better team. They played better on the night and 2-0 flattered us. We never got going, though. We were second best in every area and there was so much wrong that Dave Jones could be talking to the players until midnight."
We had something about us on the road and still only West Brom have won more away than us this season but we're now offering very little on our trips and that's 4 successive awayday thumpings that read;
5-1
4-1
3-0
2-0
At least we're bringing it down by 1 each time!
Amazingly, Cardiff remain in the play-offs with points, games and goals in hand over the chasers but we are the most vulnerable Top 6 side. However with two tougher aways at Leicester and Coventry in the next week and a winding up order tomorrow, the worries are major.
David Marshall was probably City's man of the match making a string of saves as City were battered and outplayed from start to finish. At the other end, Michael Chopra missed a trio of varying chances but all of the type that would havw flown in when he had form, that now seems a long time ago. As it was, he earned his 10th yellow card of the season, another niggly unecessary one, and earned himself a two game ban ... exactly what we don't need.
The club travelled to Suffolk in good spirits with the same injured players missing but, thankfully, nobody else added to the absentees so named the same side that beat Boro and the same bench with 4 players apparently injured and making up the numbers and no real options with those who were left. It is quite farcical to talk up play-off expectations and Premiership hopes when if feels anything but that.
Ipswich had drawn half of their 34 games this season and most Bluebirdas, inluding the 250 travelling fans who endured a miserable night, would have settled for that especially as Roy Keane's Tractor Boys were unbeaten in 12 at Portman Road but Cardiff were truly dreadful, this was as bad and inept as any display all season.
You just get the feeling with The Bluiebirds in their current crisis that games depend more than ever on the first goal. If City go ahead, they have the spirit and mentality to tough it out as they did last weekend but if it is the other way around, then we just have not got the numbers or personnel to fight back - not that Dave Jones' sides are renowned for that anyway.
So when tonight's game started with persistent one way traffic towards Dave Marshall's goal with City unable to get out of their of their half or put two passes together, I feared the worst. Mars made a brillaint early save to keep out Murphy but just as it seemed City had weathered the storm and had their first chance as Chops narrowly bicycle kicked over the bar, they feel behind on 18 minutes.
The impressive Colbeck found MURPHY with a simple ball in the box and his scuffed effort from close range gave Marshall no chance. By the interval, Ipswich's corner count was almost in double figures while Cardiff hadn't had one, Marshall was required to make more stops but City should still have gone in level when, in added time, McNaughton's cross was nodded down by Bothroyd, Chops chested on but with the goal gaping, he fired wide off balance.
Straight after the restart, Chops had another good chance as City came back better but it was all over on 58 minutes when McCormack miskicked the ball to Gravan, Marshall madwe a supervb save but MURPHY was there to snap up the rebound.
Thankfully, it was so bad, I fell asleep at this point while many other City fans turned their radios off. It was dreadful beyond belief. What I missed was Marshall making sevral more saves and City having no more chances but a game generally petering out to its inevitable conclusion.
It left assistant boss Terry Burton to give a brutal honest assessment, "Ipswich were by far the better team. They played better on the night and 2-0 flattered us. We never got going, though. We were second best in every area and there was so much wrong that Dave Jones could be talking to the players until midnight."
We had something about us on the road and still only West Brom have won more away than us this season but we're now offering very little on our trips and that's 4 successive awayday thumpings that read;
5-1
4-1
3-0
2-0
At least we're bringing it down by 1 each time!
Amazingly, Cardiff remain in the play-offs with points, games and goals in hand over the chasers but we are the most vulnerable Top 6 side. However with two tougher aways at Leicester and Coventry in the next week and a winding up order tomorrow, the worries are major.
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