November
Newsfile

Newsfile Archive

"Well we are halfway through the season.  Here is the Cardiff City half term report

At home our record is P11 W5 D5 L1 F19 A12 Pts 20

We have drawn far too many games at home, and this is what is keeping us away from the top 2 spots on the edge of the playoffs.  Will we be left to rue late equalisers from Tranmere and Colchester, along with the early season 2 goal comeback from Bournemouth?   If we had finished these teams off like we should have, we would be third with home record W8 D2 L1.  Our saviour is that we have only lost once, and do not look like losing at home too often which will be important in the run in.

If we are to go into the playoffs I would say we will need 7 wins from the remaining 12 home games, possibly around 10 for the automatic spots.

Away from home we have been fairly consistent on the whole, even through the early part of the season when we weren't playing so well. 

Away from Ninian, our record is P12 W4 D5 L3 F16 A13 Pts 17

A great win at promotion rivals Reading coupled with comfortable victories at Swindon, Port Vale and Wrexham account for our four away wins so far. What we have lacked is the ability to turn away draws into wins.  We could have (and probably should have) nicked the games at Peterborough, Notts County and Blackpool, while the draws at Bristol City and Stoke were fair reward.

The defeats at Bury and Cambridge were awful, and losing to QPR was nearly as bad as we threw away a 1-0 lead.  We can't afford too many more slip ups like these if this season is to be a success.

We have to start burying the poor teams, so winning at places like Wigan, Northampton, Oldham, Chesterfield and Colchester during the run in will be vital to a city top six place.

5 wins from the remaining 11 away games will be a good enough return to take us to the playoffs.  We will need to win one or two more to cement an automatic place in conjunction with some superb home form.

Overall we are in 6th place (although a win for either Wycombe or Tranmere this weekend will see them overtake us)

P23 W9 D10 L4 F35 A25 Pts 37

Basically we've got to start turning draws into victories, even with our excellent recent form we haven't been finishing the chances that would have given us wins at Blackpool and Stoke.

The return of Peter Thorne will almost certainly aid this, and the snippets we have seen of him in conjuction with Earnshaw is a mouth-watering prospect.  Whether he returns and scores some goals for us will have a major bearing on where we end up, also if we can sign Dean Gordon we will show our intentions loud and clear.
 
2 wins from 3 over Xmas and new year should see us camped in the play-off zone going into 2002 and if we continue playing the way we have I see no reason why we can't push for automatic promotion in the second half of the season.  As Nigel says in his match report, the way we have been playing recently, if transferred into the new year will see us accumulate more points in the next 23 games than in the last - hopefully seeing us score around the 80 mark which will be definite play off material, not far from the top two.

I would say we need 77 points to make the playoffs - last years mark was 75, year before was 80, (which we will achieve with 40 pts from the next 23
games (after 37 from first 23)). 

Last season the top two in the division had 96 and 91 points but I think it will be nearer the 87 point mark this year as it is a lot closer at the top. This would require around 50 points from the next 23, over 2 points a game which might be a yard too far for this year's team as we don't have the points in the bag up to now. 

So in conclusion - for playoffs will need W11 D7 L5 - (tot pts 77), which is more than achievable given our run in and current form, for automatic will need W15 D5 L3 - (tot pts 87) which would be a mammoth effort.  My prediction is that we will fall somewhere between the two on the 82 mark, and come in around 4th.

I for one can't wait to watch us try our utmost for that automatic spot and see division 1 football for the first time in nearly 20 years at Ninian Park."

Matt Gabb..