Championship match report: CARDIFF CITY 0 Crystal Palace 0

BBC Online show 2 minutes highlights of every Championship game, if they manage to scrape out 30 seconds from Cardiff City’s turgid 0-0 with Crystal Palace, it would have to include interviews. This was a shocker. Cardiff disjointed and clueless from first whistle to last managed to test the Palace keeper just once in the entire 90 minutes and had it not been for two inspired second half saves by Tom Heaton as the injury ravaged South Londoners looked the only side capable of finding the net, City would have recorded a shock defeat and have had few complaints.

Positives? Heaton, Hudson, Blake (back at centre half) and McNaughton played well enough and Lee Snail-or went off with a knock. You’ll notice not a single midfielder or forward is named, enough said. The only other positive is City remained 2^nd, kept a clean sheet and collected a point, we had to be grateful for small mercies.

Problems? Every where I feckin’looked. No cohesion, no discernable pattern of play, energy lacking, no creativity or invention … and then there were the really bad aspects!

Too many players were found wanting. Naylor looked poor again in too many moments. Maybe 4 years coasting it in the lesser Scottish wilderness with Celtic has blunted him but Palace became the latest side to create just about everything on his side of the pitch although, in fairness, Wilfried Zaha, up against him looks a very useful prospect. Adam Matthews, lambasted by Jones and bombed from the side after 1 outing at Ipswich, must have his head in his hands watching Naylor getting regular football and no criticism by contrast.

Jason Koumas started and proceeded to show us magic, he looked invisible on the pitch all night. The player still looks short of fitness and, at present, a shadow of the player we loved last time we saw him in a City shirt. I honestly don’t think he made a single telling pass or touch or flick all night.

Seyi Olifinjana was welcomed back but was another who did not look fully fit and showed his frustrations, he could easily have been red carded in the second half for flicking out a boot at a Palace opponent. We all know how he can break up play but on a night where he needed to produce intensity and drive, he appeared to be continually holding up play in City’s midfield.

Peter Whittingham, allowed to take and waste every set piece, was dropped into centre midfield and spent the whole evening trying to dink a ball over the top for Bothroyd. I’ve had more fun in a dentist’s waiting room than watching that.

None of the midfielders got close to the strikers, let alone make a run beyond them and all too often, Cardiff had too few players in and around the box which helped make it easier for Palace on a night when City’s tactics were as suspect as their commitment.

Andy Keogh once again looked shocking. No partnership whatsoever with Jay Bothroyd, I’m assuming he was instructed to play behind Jay and nowhere near him. Either way, take his Millwall winner out of the equation, and he’s really looking a poor signing. I didn’t know whether to laugh or cry when I saw him beaten in a 25 yard sprint against 37 year old Edgar Davids who played well and surprised me by how small and diminutive he was.

With all that on show – you can add in Burke running his nuts off but failing to produce and Jay holding, turning away and circling but getting nowhere – and a sub’s bench offering no real options to the unfolding problems, City actually succeeded following Saturday’s poor display in the win over Millwall with an even worse one.

It looked like a home banker and I was even more confident of a City win at kick-off with news that Gabor Gyepes and Steve McPhail were dropped to the bench, Blake was moved to centre back, Olifinjana was back from injury and Koumas was starting alongside him in a line up that read Heaton; McNaughton-Hudson-Blake-Naylor; Burke-Koumas-Olifinjana-Whittingham; Keogh-Bothroyd.

Cardiff’s injury problems were more than matched by Pal-arse who were missing 8 key players. David Wright, Darren Ambrose, Sean Scannell, Anthony Gardnet and Lee Hills were already on the treatment table but joined by Jon Obika and Adam Barrett who were both injured in the weekend’s 5-0 hammering at Derby, a result affected by an early red card to powerful Everton loan striker James Vaughan who was also absent starting his 3 match ban. Before 20 minutes had elapsed, they had lost another two as well with former Roger Johnson attempted assassinator Claude Davis pulling a hamstring and Neil Danns crocked after jumping for a corner against Tom Heaton.

Palace had lost all 4 previous aways without scoring and conceding 12 and looked limited with two banks of four playing deep and playing very close together yet Cardiff had no idea how to get past, through or around them and once the visitors realised how limited City were, they attacked with invention.

Cardiff started brightly but little did we know that the highlight of that spell - Tom Heaton catching the corner, crocking Danns, punting the ball downfield to see Burke close in on goal and hit a shot that was too close to Speroni who blocked it with ease - would be Cardiff’s only worthwhile attacking moment of the night.

The half was as drab as the dull night and drizzly swirling run, Cardiff becoming more and more laboured producing little for the 22,000 crowd (250 or so from Palace) to sign about.. Many of the crowd near me were taking their entertainment from watching a lone bat flying around the stadium.

Tom Heaton had to save smartly from Own Garvan’s first half header (yep, from a cross after Naylor was left behind) but excelled second half with his stops from Bennett and an incredible save to beat out Counago’s far post header from 3 yards blocking on the line (And, yep, both those headers were from crosses on Naylor’s side as well). A couple of crosses zipped in or across City’s box but Hudson, Blake and McNaughton dealt with them as, yep, they were all from the left.

Dave Jones had 7 subs but none you fancied to change the game – however surely Rae or Wildig should have had a chance at the expense of Koumas or Olifinjana??? - so his only move was to give the otherwise ignored Paul Quinn the final 10 minutes as Naylor limped off.

The frustrated and quiet crowd were remarkably patient and tried to lift City with support but found themselves reduced to pointless appeals for penalties and free-kicks, mostly for Jay falling about and hacked off with a Premier League ref (Steve Tanner) who gave Jay and Burke two harsh yellow cards.

Cardiff have now put together four poor back-to-back performances and if they continue in this vein, no way will they remain in the Top Two positions. They need to regroup and put in a massive, better effort at Barnsley on Saturday ahead of a two week international break.

Right now, I’m pleased with our league position but what I’m watching really is just not good enough.