Report from
NigelBlues.
The Bluebirds are on their way and starting to
fly and, after so many years,
are undoubtedly the Premier Club in Wales again.
CARDIFF CITY came from behind to gain a superb third
successive away league
win in convincing style against a poor Wrexham side in a so-called Welsh
'derby'. The victory which, just like Swindon a fortnight ago, was shown
live on HTV, extended the unbeaten run to 7 games and returned the club to
the Top 10 in Division Two for the first time in 2 months.
More importantly, in the context of challenging for promotion
this season,
City are now within striking distance of the play-offs. They lie just 2
points behind the play-off places with 2 games in hand. With a midweek
visit to bottom of the table Bury, the picture looks far rosier than it has
done for many weeks. This is a poor second division and it's there for the
taking, there is a wonderful opportunity for City.
Calling this a game a "derby" is someone's idea of
a joke. The majority of
our away trips this season will be closer and/or faster journeys. Whichever
route was chosen - Merthyr/Brecon and Mid-Wales (our choice),
Hereford/Shrewsbury or M5/M6/M54, it's a 3 hour journey and you have to
enter into England at some point (boo, hiss).
Naturally, after such a journey, any normal person wants
something to drink
and eat but the reward for the majority of the 1,700 Bluebird followers in
Wrexham was a welcome akin to white powder in an envelope. Pubs in Mid and
North Wales were the last in the UK to open on Sundays but the spirit was
alive and well with all bar a handful shut in Wrexham and the surrounding
area. Those that were open mostly refused entry to anyone from the South.
Fortunately, courtesy of some Wrexham friends, we were directed to a pub a
few minutes walk form the ground but many were not so lucky.
No wonder so many people choose to stay at home and watch it
for free on tv
when the option is paying £50 for your day out and getting this treatment.
Towns that shut down or welcome visiting fans don't deserve to be in the
league - a personal opinion of course!!
The Racecourse is a reasonable Second Division venue. The
away end behind
the goal City defended in the first half is a double tier stand. We were in
the upper, rear portion as always. Wrexham fans have a Grange End style
covered terrace behind the opposite goal except it's twice as big and half
as populated. They have an old stand and terrace on one side and, courtesy
of WRU funding, a modern new umbrella shaped stand on the opposite side.
City were able to name an unchanged side but there were two
alterations on
the bench. Layton Maxwell, impressive during the LDV defeat against
Peterborough on Wednesday, replaced Mark Bonner and, more curiously, James
Collins, who did little to justify his claims in midweek, replaced Josh Low.
The crowd of 5,832 may be regarded as meagre but it was
Wrexham's best of
the season thanks to the Cardiff support and it certainly had the atmosphere
and hostilities of a derby occasion.
Wrexham, lovingly referred to as Scousers by Cardiff fans,
didn't do much to
help their cause by running out to Ricky Tomlinson's Irish/Scouse jig "are
you looking at me?" while Cardiff fans sang "Men of Harlech", Wrexham's run
out song not so long ago.
Cardiff almost scored in the opening couple of minutes as
Earnie broke, beat
the last man, lobbed past his Welsh Under-21 goalkeeping team mate, David
Walsh, but his effort was cleared off the line. Then it all started going
wrong.
Wrexham started attacking City's right flank, apparently
identifying Rhys
Weston as a weakness, and in one of their first attacks, they opened the
scoring on 5 minutes. Weston was beaten, City's defence were all sucked
into the near post but Faulconbridge was easily first to the ball. He
missed his clear header at goal but the ball struck his shoulder, deflected
to the unmarked Carlos Edwards across the area and he shot home low at the
far post from 10 yards. Wrexham fans cheered and got very passionate for a
few minutes, they never did again.
Wrexham were in the ascendancy and putting City under
sustained pressure, it
looked very ominous. The North Walians passed, with a lot more shape and
movement and, worryingly, they looked like they wanted it far more than
Cardiff. City fell into a familiar trap of lying and playing too deeply and
looked too reliant on the likes of Brayson, Bowen and Earnie producing a
moment of magic.
The other element that seemed to be conspiring against City
was a poor
refereering performance. I wish one of these reports didn't contain any
comments or criticism the ref but you couldn't help noticing the ineptitude
of today's official, Mr Mathieson. Last time he refereed City, we were
relegated to Division Three in defeat at Gillingham and he sent off Andy
Legg.
The game was hard, at times it bordered on boiling over, one
Wrexham player
was mad enough to square up to Gavin Gordon at one stage but none of it was
helped by a referee who always struggled to exercise control and consistent
decision making over proceedings.
In the first 15 minutes, he booked Leggy, renewing an old
'friendship', and
Bowen. Mathieson brought a new dimension to the term, "inconsistent". He
was whistle happy one minute, let bad challenges go the next, missed two
players assault Willie Boland but admonished Gavin Gordon for helping his
team mate. In the early stages, we were starting a sweep in the stand over
the first City player to be sent off, Willie Boland was the most fancied.
It looked a certainty that a red card would be brandished, he nearly did it
to one Wrexham player in the second period until he realised he had already
awarded a yellow earlier so bottled it (an alternative expression for
showing compassion).
By the end of the game, Boland was one of the few who wasn't
booked as the
ref yellow carded half of the City side. His late booking of Rhys Weston
will mean for an imminent suspension for the player. What annoyed so many
was that some bookings were for innocuous tackles yet some of the challenges
he let go unpunished were far worse. Twice as many City players were
booked, twice as many free-kicks were awarded against us. At a time when
criticism of Premier refs gets them demoted into the Nationwide league, what
a pity inadequate Nationwide refs cannot be demoted to officiate Sunday
League where this one seemed to belong.
Back came City on a rare breaks. Gavin Gordon showed great
skill to break
clear through the middle but he was caught on the edge of the area and they
should really have done better when a Boland through ball saw Earnie beat
the advancing keeper but go wide as he went around him. With two City
players in the area, Gordon the obvious target, and two Wrexham players
racing back to the line, the ball should have been squared but Earnie
elected to have a blast. His effort was blocked on the line but it was
never likely to go in.
Still under the cosh but creating a little more pressure,
things looked as
if they got worse as Jason Bowen, who has undoubtedly helped to City tick
recently, was replaced by Disco Des Hamilton on the half-hour. Bowen will
inevitably be absent for a couple of weeks but, as far as this game was
concerned, it helped change the course and give City the stability that they
were missing. Hamilton strengthened City on the right, helping out Weston
throughout and in midfield too were we were being overrun in the early
stages. The change wasn't responsible for the equaliser though but 30
seconds later, City were level.
After complaining all season about City gifting goals and
nobody ever lets
us score a soft goal, today was payback time. Another ball was hit forward,
Wrexham's centre half Edwards somehow trod on the ball on the edge of his
area under pressure and Paul Brayson was in. Unlike Earnie earlier, he
spotted Gavin Gordon in the centre, passed to him and GG guided his shot
wide of the lone Wrexham defender on the line and into the right hand
corner. The goal was wildly celebrated by City fans including three who
suddenly appeared jumping out of the Wrexham end, not quite as spectacularly
as the lone City fan who walked the pitch length terrace doing the ayatollah
to all the Wrexham fans in the stand a little earlier.
With a slight touch of irony, Gordon's 6th goal of the season
made him
City's outright leading scorer of the season ... but it was his first ever
league goal for the Bluebirds! He was looking the part but City were
further rocked on 40 minutes when he had to limp off himself. Not sure
what happened but he had been involved in a physical, brutal battle most of
the half. Any thoughts by the Wrexham centre-halves that they would get an
easier time was quickly gone as on came Leo The Nuisance.
The Wrexham crowd and team, as one, seemed to fall apart
after that. The
loss of Bowen for Des seemed to strengthen City as we had been struggling in
midfield and on the right, Des took care of both of those problems
immediately.
City fans had been up all game and outsinging the home team
comprehensively,
even when Wrexham scored but now, just like the game was starting to become,
it was one sided. The chanting and taunting was non-stop. The hits
included "cheer up, Swansea's worse than you" quickly followed by "you're
worse than Swansea City" as we realised Swansea perhaps weren't worse than
them. Lots of Scouse jibes including "sing when you're stealing" and
"you're not very Welsh, you're not very Welsh" and 1,700 high pitched City
fan squealing of "Wrex-ham, Wrex-ham. Wrex-ham" which is the only audible
chant you ever seem to hear at The Racecourse from the home side.
And then, a moment of magic, that will be talked about for
years to come by
City fans and will always make this game remembered. I was there when
Kavanagh scored from 40 yards, son! It will be one of the talked about and
best remembered moments of this season, it may even be goal of the season.
It came from nothing. Alexander took a goal kick, Brayson chested and the
rest was more magical than anything Harry Potter could do.
Kav looked up, saw the keeper out of goal and let fly. The
shot was more
accurate than an American missile as it flew with power over Walsh, dipped,
hit the underside of the bar, bounced on the line and spun into the net,
hitting its roof. The goal was scored at the opposite end to the support
and it took a few moments to register what had happened, I thought it had
gone just over until I saw the players go mental and then the fans did too.
It didn't register immediately as Walsh stood motionless watching it sail by
him and we'd assumed it had missed but then it gave way to City fans doing a
'party hard'. The looks of the faces of the support was amazing, loads
going "did you see that? did you ****ing see that?", holding their heads in
disbelief and phoning home on their mobiles to check how good it looked on
telly.
Chants of "ooh ahh, Graham Kavanagh" were naturally
ringing around the
ground although "Kav-a-nagh from the halfway line" wasn't as loud but
better. Another chant of "who needs Cantona, when we got Kavanagh" took
over from "who needs Georgie Best when we got Fortune-West". Make no
mistake, it was a special moment in this season and, if scored in the
Premiership by Beckham, it would probably have been shown 1,000 times on
television already and be talked about all over the country.
It was a defining moment in the game, just as well really as
Kavanagh didn't
really do that much in the rest of the game, but equally important were two
stunning Neil Alexander saves as Wrexham stormed back at City straight from
kick-off. Both from Trundle, who was quality all match, the second in
particular was outstanding as Alexander was totally unsighted with Trundle's
blast coming through two City defenders yet he got down and parried the ball
behind for a corner. Superb stuff from "Scotland's number 1".
Seconds later, it was half-time. That goal and those saves
were enough to
just about kill off Wrexham. The half-time whistle blew and fans spent the
whole break buzzing over Kav's goal and, to be honest, how we had managed to
go in ahead too.
Wrexham laid on a half-time remembrance service display which
was well
observed but particularly funny were the marching band being drowned by the
City support singing Men of Harlech. They was also great respect and a huge
ovation for the King as the Welsh legend, John Charles, was paraded and he
performed a half-time draw. He was very unsteady on his feet but still got
about quicker on the pitch than Scott McCulloch last Tuesday!
H/T Wrexham 1 City 2
In the opening salvoes of the second half, Wrexham were blown
away
completely and made to look what they currently are - the last but one side
in Division Two and set for a season long battle to stay in Division Two.
They have a complete of classy individuals but, as a team, are nothing too
special. They have been raiding the free transfer/cheap foreigner market
and selling their better players for too long and it finally looks to have
caught up with them. If Ferguson and Trundle play, they will trouble
anyone, stop them and they're in trouble.
City, by comparison, moved up a level and Wrexham had no
answer. From the
restart, Brayson brought a save out of Walsh, Earnie fired over and another
effort sailed into the stand. Then the third came on 54 minutes following a
spell of pressure bringing a couple of corners. A right hand corner from
Kav was scrambled behind giving Leggy the chance from the opposite side.
His far post inswinger was brilliantly nodded back by Spencer
Prior and Leo
showed poaching instincts I never knew he had as he swivelled and hooked the
ball home from close range. It was now a major party in the City end. It
could have been more too as, moments later, Paul Brayson went on a 40 yard
run, beat two defenders, had his first effort saved and with the goal
gaping, put the follow up wide when off balance. He maybe should have done
better later too when Earnie opened up Wrexham but played him in instead of
shooting, Brayson was a little slow reacting and had his effort blocked.
For the closing half-hour, just like at Port Vale, City shut
up shop and
looked very, very comfortable. It was up to the home side to fight back
but, just like Port Vale, Wrexham were clearly not good enough. Lee Trundle
looked to be their only threat and impressed throughout, a great player, but
Prior and Gabbidon played him well. Gabbi again stood out with his finesse
and style looking better all the time. Welsh team manager, Mark Hughes, in
the stand, will have taken note.
Wrexham's other likely threat, Darren Ferguson, was snuffed
out in midfield
by the unbelievable workrate of Willie Boland and the big hits of Des
Hamilton. His game was typified by one rare flowing Wrexham 5 man move
across the park. Each time, the player in possession had to pass quickly as
Willie moved into challenge and he eventually won it too, just magnificent.
It wasn't a good day for the Ferguson family and wasn't it
great to see?
Dad Alex suffered as ManUre-nited were stuffed 3-1 at Liverpool in the
morning with the balance of football power in the North West really shifting
back to Merseyside but, best of all for us, son Darren was also stuffed 3-1
in the afternoon to put Cardiff City undoubtedly back as the No 1 team
currently in Welsh football after 20 years in the doldrums. As they were
reminded throughout, it was "3-1 to the Capital"!
The closing stages saw Scott Young replace Rhys Weston with
Gabbidon moving
to right back and Wrexham show their frustrations with some niggly
challenges and, finally, ref Mathieson decided to show some fairness and
yellow card a couple of their players too. Nice of him to remember that he
had to discipline both sides for unfair play, something he'd forgotten in
the first 75 minutes. The main entertainment for City fans was waving bye
bye and serenading the Wrexham support with drifting away early together
with all 1,700 of us doing the Harry Enfield Scouser motions with the hands
and singing "calm down, calm down" as their support briefly got animated
before they went back to sleep again.
Perhaps City fans should start worshipping the yellow ball as
it must have
magical and mystical properties for the Bluebirds. Frank Burrows promotion
team had their best spell during winter with the yellow ball, their record
wasn't half as impressive with the white version. It was the same story
last season with Alan Cork. Wrexham was the first appearance of the yellow
ball this term and if it happens again, the campaign to keep the yellow ball
forever must start now!
Trundle was close with one effort, Alexander smothered
another and although
it was nowhere near vintage City, it was all we could have hoped and dreamed
of - particularly after the way the game was going in the opening spell. No
wonder City's support greeted the final whistle with an all singing, all
dancing display to "Hey-y-y-y-y-y-y bay-bee ooh ahh, I wanna
know-o-o-o-o-o-o-o-o, if you'll be my girl". The team was cheered and
chanted off with Kavanagh the last to leave. Once again, he flattered to
deceive, once again he earned man of the match with some but when he scores
a goal that turns a game like that, I ain't going to complain!
Report from www.sports.com
Cardiff's £1million midfielder Graham Kavanagh
turned the game with a wonder goal just on half-time after Wrexham lost their way.
He ran on to a long goal clearance and let
fly from 45 yards with a shot that went over goalkeeper David Walsh, hit the underside of
the bar and dropped over the line before bouncing into the roof of the net.
Wrexham manager Denis Smith said:
"That's what you pay a million quid for. His goal made the difference and put us on
the rack, forcing us to chase the game."
Kavanagh admitted it was one of the best he
had scored. He said: "Wrexham would call it lucky but it sat up nicely and I just hit
it.
"When it touched the bar I thought it
wasn't going in but then it went over the line and I am delighted "I have scored a
few volleys but that was up there with the best."
Carlos Edwards shot Wrexham into an early
lead when new defender Kevin Sharp crossed from the left and Craig Faulconbridge flicked
on to the back post.
Edwards set up Faulconbridge for a shot
straight after and Neil Alexander made a good save.
City nearly scored when Robert Earnshaw
evaded a challenge by the goalkeeper and got in a shot only to be denied by Steve Roberts
using an overhead kick to clear off the line.
But Roberts made a bad mistake to let City in
for their equalising goal. He completely missed the ball when he tried to dispossess Paul
Brayson and the City man crossed for Gavin Gordon to stab the ball home from close range.
Lee Trundle had a good shot saved by
Alexander turning it round the post before Kavanagh struck to put City ahead.
Lee Fortune-West added Cardiff's third goal
after Spencer Prior headed on from Andy Legg's left-wing corner.
Then a mistake in midfield let Brayson in for
a clear shot on goal, Walsh coming to Wrexham's rescue with a brilliant save and the
Cardiff midfielder missed a sitter from the rebound.
With time running out Trundle made a final
attempt for Wrexham with an overhead shot that cleared the bar Cardiff's assistant manager
Ian Butterworth said: "We had a sticky patch early on but we've come out worthy
winners of an exciting Welsh derby.
"Kavanagh's wonder strike was the
turning point in the game."
Other external
reports from:-
BBC
Wales
The
Western Mail
The
Guardian |
