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Tues 4th Dec 2001. |
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| Cardiff
City Alexander Gabbidon Prior Young  Gordon D Boland Bonner Kavanagh Bowen Thorne (Leo FW 27) Earnshaw (Maxwell 85) Subs not used |
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Brentford Gottskalksson Dobson Powell Gibbs  Hunt (Hutchinson 71) Mahon Ingimarsson Evans Sidwell Burgess (O Connor 65) Owusu (McCammon 65) Subs not used |
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CARDIFF CITY finally "did the business" at home with a magnificent display, magnificent individual performances, a magnificent team performance, magnificent goals and a magnificent win. It was MAGNIFICENT! After putting together back-to-back wins for only the 2nd time this season, City have finally propelled themselves into the play-off and promotion picture - somewhere they really should have featured all season. But now we're here, 5th place currently, we look set to stay and challenge all season. The signs that City were running into their best form came last Saturday when Oldham (higher than City before kick off) left Ninian Park well beaten but Brentford, who would have gone 2nd had they won, were comprehensively demolished and ripped apart, they knew it too. The only surprise was that City didn't win by a far greater margin than they did, they really should have. The tensions have lifted, players look happier and are fighting for each other, teamwork and spirit is noticeably so much better. Smiles are everywhere, the atmosphere is back and tremendous and even Alan Cork was treated like a hero with fans chanting for him to do the ayatollah throughout and even some chants of "Corkie for England", probably from Welsh fans who want to see them fail miserably next summer! Brentford came to Ninian Park hoping for a victory which would have taken them to 2nd place. The West London side looked physical but played fair and were well organised although their cause can't have been helped with two players with the dodgiest perms I've seen for years. Credit to them for helping to make a good game as they decided not to stick 9 men behind the ball as many sides have done this season and tried to take on City at football. They were useful and they looked dangerous at times but overall, they just couldn't live with City for pace, quality, skill which produced a match far above Division Two standards. Brentford opened brightly and had the better of the early stages without troubling Neil Alexander but once City sussed them out, it was one way traffic and total domination as The Bluebirds produced a first half performance as good as I've seen from any team this season, it definitely belonged to another division. The first sign that it would be a magic night was a glorious Jason Bowen run from inside his own half, which saw three Brentford players end up lying on the pitch as they missed him with challenges, straight through the heart of The Bees before he tried to chip the keeper from 25 yards who had come off his line. It was a comfortable save but a foot higher and Gottskalksson would have been beaten. Bowen was in the mood and was majestic all night. On 15 minutes, City went ahead with the first of two glorious first half goals. After piecing together 7 or 8 passes, Jason Bowen's cross was cut out and the ball was worked back to Scott Young on halfway. Most players were still on the right side from the initial move but Young looked up, picked out Peter Thorne who made space on the left and switched play to find him with a spectacular 40 yard floated pass into the penalty area. THORNE had plenty of work to do but made it look so simple as he chested down and stabbed the ball past Gottskalksson in his opposite corner. A truly superb move. The team and fans were in the mood and truly buoyant after that, the atmosphere was fever pitch, the passing and movement was sublime. There were several times when the crowd could be heard shouting 'ole' as passes were strung together and City players ghosted past their counterparts. My hands are still sore from all the applauding I did all night. Then came a blow, almost straight after the goal as Thorne appeared to have picked up an ankle knock after a fair challenge. He was struggling. Twice, the bench wanted to sub him but both times he pleaded for more of a chance to run it off but he couldn't and was replaced by Leo Fortune-West on 28 minutes. Leo is definitely no Peter Thorne but he was excellent in his attitude as he chased, harried and hassled for every second he was on the pitch, seizing the opportunity. He should have scored almost instantly as Danny Gabbidon beat two men on the right wing and sent over the perfect far post cross but he failed to connect properly. City's display was so good that it was starting to look a worry that they would only have 1 goal to show for it by half-time but on 35 minutes, City doubled their lead with a truly outstanding goal that sent the whole crowd (except for the 122 Brentford fans) mental. Brilliant work firstly by Dean Gordon who won the ball on halfway but that was bettered by Graham Kavanagh who had no right to win the ball on the touchline, spin and come away with it yet he did. He then threaded a ball ahead to EARNIE who turned, darted into the right side of the area, cut back to beat a player and unleashed the sort of shot you usually see on Virtua Striker or other football computer games which seem to rise and accelerate as it blazed across the area, you could almost see the flaming hot jet stream behind it, it gave Gottskalksson no chance as he dived in vain and smashed into the roof of the net on the far side of goal. Ninian went ballistic, Earnie's somersault in front of the Bob Bank and then using a large tv microphone for a pose made it even better. What a goal! I'm trying to avoid the tiresome, "Bees were stung, City were buzzing" cliches but that's exactly how it was. Young and Prior had Brentford's goal threat of one time City target Lloyd Owusu and Burgess The Man Mountain (he was scary) in their pockets, Gordon was quality on the left as he gains match fitness, Gabbidon was racing through them on the right and sending over quality balls, Bonner and Boland held all the aces in midfield, Kavanagh forced City forward, Bowen was unstoppable, Earnie hitting his best form is irrepressible and even Leo joined in. He tried to replicate Earnie's goal as he cut inside two defenders brought the ball back, the goal opened for him and then he smashed his effort into the very back of the Grange End. Fantastic stuff. City were on another level as Jason Bowen tore right through them again, beating three man and was only denied by a truly outstanding save as he delayed his shot from 8 yards to surprise the keeper who flung out an arm at the last second to push the ball away. It was the best 45 minutes of football City have produced at Ninian for months and the standing ovation as they went off at half-time proved how much everyone loved it. HALF-TIME: City 2 Brentford 0 The biggest half-time fear was that City may sit back and lose the initiative and, at times, it looked that way. Credit to Steve Coppell, Brentford's manager, who changed his 4-4-2 to 4-3-3 to try and get back his side back into the game, it nearly worked too as one shot whistled past Neil Alexander's left hand post literally 10 seconds after the restart, then another narrowly missed his opposite post a couple of minutes later. Back came City with another mesmerising piece of Jason Bowen skill as he broke on the left side and as he got into the area with players waiting for a ball across goal, he deliberately tried to trick Gottskalksson with a shot on the outside of his right boot that was dropping under the bar, the 'keeper reacted well to just about tip it over the bar. The game was less hectic but still had an ebb and flow about it, Brentford tried to attack but you always felt City were more capable of getting a third or fourth goal than Brentford were of getting two to bring them back. City looked very solid but they still have their moments of madness and conspired to bring Brentford back into the match when they should have been dead already. Having survived one goalmouth scramble, Brentford brought off both strikers - Owusu and Burgess - for another pairing to have a last throw of the dice. City responded by showing that old habits die hard as they suddenly fell back and gave Brentford an open invitation to come and attack them, I'm still not really sure why. Graham Kavanagh started playing in front of the back four and then Leo seemed to become a third centre-half, Brentford took the chance. The crowd loved it when Leo, as the furthest man back, smashed a clearence into the Grandstand. They didn't enjoy it at all however when Brentford scored from the resulting throw and it was a soft goal too to make it worse. Throw in taken, the ball was passed forward the across the area where another one time City target, Bees captain PAUL EVANS, didn't seem to hit the cleanest shot and I'm not sure if Neil Alexander was temporarily unsighted too as the ball found its way past him and towards a corner of goal on 68 minutes. With a quarter of the game remaining, City fans were now slightly worried that a collapse could happen but the players had the bottle and resolve but 7 minutes later, it was 3-1, game well and truly over. A simple set piece goal too. A Jason Bowen run won a corner as he looked set to go all the way, Kavanagh dinked his corner over the man at the front post, DANNY GABBIDON headed down powerfully from 5 yards and although the Icelandic keeper got to the ball, the power was enough to see the ball go over the line and into the corner by some distance. Ninian erupted and whilst it's unfair to single out anyone in such a brilliant team display, I thought Gabbidon was outstanding at right wing back, the goal was no more than he deserved for his efforts. With the contest effectively over, City tried to finish in style with late offside flags and passes just overhit a touch stopping more raids on goal until more drama in the 83rd minute as a through ball saw Earnie away and racing to goal. As he got into the area and was about to round the keeper, Paul Gibbs (until recently, one time boyfriend of Helen Chamberlain and owner of shocking peroxide blonde hair but he's now gone dark) made a desparate chase back and lunged. He caught Earnie, the result was inevitable - penalty to City, red card to Gibbs, 10,000 laughs and waves of cheerio from the City faithful. Kavanagh seemed to want to take the penalty at first but Earnie approached him, they chatted and away came Earnie with the ball. He was confident, probably too cocky but that's Earnie for you, as he moved up to the ball dropping his shoulders to nerve the keeper and then hit a similar penalty to the one he scored at Bristol City as he hit it high ... but this time too high as it smacked back off the bar. A minute later, he was subbed for Layton Maxwell and must be the first Cardiff City player for decades to leave the pitch to s standing ovation moments after missing a penalty! A 4-1 scoreline would have been fully merited, 3-1 didn't do City justice but it was a totally convincing win, three points and the charge is now on. The buzz at the final whistle, in the streets outside and those celebrating in the pubs made it all too clear. So what's brought about this change? Have the team gelled? Have problems been sorted out? Have the big name players finally hit peak form? It's undoubtedly a combination of all of three but it also has a lot to do with Alan Cork taking half a season to stumble on the right system and hit formula which will get results and with thrilling football that the crowds will love. Let's not forget that it wasn't so long ago he proclaimed that Michael Simpkins and Rhys Weston would always be in his side at right and left wing back. Both are talented players, especially defending, who will get better but fans argued they were the cause of many of problems as they struggled to pass out of defence and make the vital attacking runs. It needed injury to Simpkins and a couple of poor Weston performances to make Cork realise. The result tonight was a dazzling display on the right and left by Gabbidon and Dean Gordon. Gordon must be signed and with these two on board, City are far better. It also wasn't so long ago either that Alan Cork couldn't even find a place on the sub's bench for Jason Bowen. Against Brentford, he was magic to watch throughout and, if fitter, may well have had a hat-trick. Cork also persisted with a 4-3-3 system which sounds adventurous and has its merits away from home but meant City had no or little width, something so vital with teams largely defending, at Ninian Park. The front three had little service and Earnie was dropping out of front line attack to find the ball. The result of the new 4-3-1-2 system which is 4-2-2-2 as City attack suits this team. Give a devastating front two of Earnie and Thorne service, leave them both to do what they do best and the goals and results will come. It shouldn't have been that difficult to work out yet it took 4 months and 20 league games. We had a false dawn recently when Swindon and Port Vale were slayed in style only for things to come slightly off the rails, this time there's a feeling it's different. I honestly don't believe Brentford have what it takes to sustain a promotion challenge, they are starting to fall back into the pack, this was their 5th successive game without victory. They may have to settle with fighting for a play off berth. Cardiff, on the other hand, are warming up. Just 1 defeat (the nightmare at Bury) in two and a half months and 13 matches, a rise of 12 place to 5th and we're catching up everybody. City have finally arrived, let the season truly begin and let's enjoy it! The Blues are going up(wards)!! Report
from www.sports.com A fast moving and often compulsive match was slightly marred by the 82nd minute dismissal of Brentford full-back Paul Gibbs, who brought Cardiff striker Robert Earnshaw crashing down inside the penalty area just as the young striker was about to shoot. Gibbs was the last line of defence and referee Andy Hall of Birmingham had little option but to show him the red card. Earnshaw crashed the spot kick against the crossbar but by that time Cardiff had already done enough to secure all three points for the second time in four days. It was Peter Thorne who set them on their way in the 15th minute. Scott Young played the ball through from the centre circle and Thorne connected it just inside the penalty area, got past Darren Powell and sent his angled shot wide of Brentford goalkeeper Olafur Gottskalksson and into the far corner of the net from about 15 yards. The effort cost Thorne dearly and Cardiff manager Alan Cork was forced to substitute him in the 27th minute. Thorne had taken a knock on the ankle and his efforts to run it off proved unsuccessful, leaving Cork to replace him with Leo Fortune-West. While Thorne's touches were missed by Cardiff, they doubled their lead in the 35th minute with a spectacular goal from Earnshaw. Graham Kavanagh threaded the ball through and Earnshaw, with his back to goal, the speed of his turn bamboozled the Brentford defence and his shot left Gottshalksoon helpless. Jason Bowen almost added a third moments before half time when he ran on to a pass from Dean Gordon to bring a superb save from Gottskalksson and the Icelandic goalkeeper had to be at the top of his form again in the 52nd minute to tip a delicate chip from the hard working Bowen over the bar. Brentford gave themselves a glimmer of hope when former Wales Under 21 international Paul Evans pulled one back in the 68th minute. Cardiff failed to clear a ball in from the right and although Evans, on the edge of the penalty area, scuffed his shot it still had the power to beat Neil Alexander. Danny Gabbidon setttled any Cardiff nerves in the 75th minute when he met a Kavanagh corner with a powerful downward header and although Gottskalksson got a hand to the ball he could not prevent it going over the line. External match reports |
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