Tues 9th Oct 2001.

Bristol City
Phillips
Bell
Lever
Hill
Amankwaah
Murray
Brown (Clist 28)
Tinnion
Summerbell (Doherty 85)
Thorpe
Jones (Matthews 90)

Subs not used
Attwell
Burnell

Cardiff City
Alexander
Weston (Hamilton 90)
Simpkins
Prior
Gabbidon
Kavanagh
Bowen (Bonner 75)
Boland
Brayson
Earnshaw
Thorne

Subs not used
Leo FW
Andy Legg
Scott Young

Report from NigelBlues.
Cardiff City gained a credible draw, and came very close to winning at Ashton Gate against a strong Bristol City who will be there or thereabouts at the end of the season and we lived comfortably with them.

A draw was arguably a fair result in a game that both sets of fans enjoyed, a neutral would have loved although City had the best chances and maybe will feel the more disappointed they didn't come away with all three points.

A hazardous early evening trip to Bristol with roadworks and traffic jams galore then the usual City Centre snarl up with a lack of parking. (

A few of us were given a tip of a pub away from the ground which was easier for parking. Our walk to the ground was a cross country epic involving leaving the ex-sewage pumphouse converted to pub, walking over a swingbridge, crossing a main road (where the rest of the traffic was at a standstill), a shortcut across a warehouse, then into the pitch black to walk over a disused railway bridge, down railway tracks, getting over a 4 foot fence and then across a park. I did a new personal best on the way back!).

The ground is a decent all seater affair. Older stands on both sides of the pitch when both terraces behind the goals converted to a smart new stand behind one goal while Cardiff fans had a raw deal paying £16 to use what was traditionally the home terrace with bucket seats (no backs) simply put on the old terrace which had not been raised so good viewing places were difficult (especially as the police decided to section off chunks with wire meshing making the place cramped in many areas).

Let's hope Brizzle fans are similarly ripped off when they visit Ninian later in the season.

Alan Cork went from one extreme to the other in his match line up, tactics and formation and, in the process, helped put Cardiff back on the road towards progress after a month of self-inflicted damage.

Cork has insisted that with Ian Atkins around, he was the manager, the decisions were his but if ever proof were needed that he allowed the recently sacked Ian Atkins to impose his will and style on the club, this was it.

However much Cork denies it, City were playing tedious route one football to one or two big men up front, no width since our league win at Reading in early September.

He was helped by the return to fitness of Jason Bowen and Rob Earnshaw but we started with 4 strikers - Brayson and Thorne being the others and passed the ball constantly. In the first half, only one long ball was hit and that was Rhys Weston in injury time.

The transformation in Cardiff was pleasing to see, we were getting the best out of our players who were being allowed to play with freedom. With such a pacy, skilful forward line (Thorne and Earnie in attack), Brayson generally wide right and Bowen (the sole starting survivor of City's last appearance at Ashton Gate 21 months ago) all over the field in a free role, Bristol had to worry constantly rather than take the game to us.

The game had a quiet opening, partly as Cardiff adjusted to their new formation and rebirth of their passing style, with the quality evident in both sides. Bristol City had the first chance on 10 minutes when Thorpe eluded Cardiff's defence to meet a cross but place his header straight into the grateful arms of Neil Alexander. Their only other effort of the half came when he tipped over a 25 yard free-kick. Other than that, the best attacking moments were Cardiff's.

Playing towards a vociferous Bluebird Barmy Army support who drowned the support throughout, the movement and pace caused endless problems. Cardiff were passing well, looking to go wide, Kavanagh and Boland could look up in midfield and always see options ahead of them and the confidence grew in the side.

Bristol's defence were good (Hill did a good marking job on Earnie who he matched for pace although Earnie look a yard short in his first start after more than 3 weeks absent with injury) and Akinwaah on the opposite side looked quicker, going on a 80 yard run at one stage leaving three City players in his trail.

Primarily lead by Bowen, City started to make headway. Earnie had an effort blocked, Brayson mishit a shot after a sweeping and sweet passing 5 man passing move including backheels and flicks created the chance, Earnie blazed over, Bowen cut inside the area and his attempted pass to the unmarked Thorne was just cut out and, in the best chance, Kavanagh won the ball in midfield and brought it forward 40 yards leading a cavalry charge before sliding a diagonal pass to Earnie on the edge of the area who hit his shot across goal to miss the far post by a foot as Kav screamed for the return pass.

City were denied more opportunities thanks to several offside decisions, some of them dubious by a linesman. He also pretended to have temporary blindness when under pressure, Steve Phillips (Brizzle's keeper) accidentally tripped over Thorne and went to the ground feigning injury. Thorne was booked and incensed at the blatant gamesmanship, the linesman deliberately looked away when Thorne looked to him.

On the night though, the officials were bad to both sides. They were out of order booking Spencer Prior for complaining near the end when Thorpe booted the ball 30 yards away after being given offside (yep, Thorpe wasn't spoken to) but, in a rare second half tangle, Boland hit the ball against Gabbidon and City won a goal kick.

However one decision they got right was City's penalty award on half-time. Another good move saw Jason Bowen advance into the edge of the area. As he went past Hill, he was caught. At first, he kept up and moved a pace forward but realising it was an obviously penalty, he feel to the floor with slightly delayed reaction (no doubt helped by 3,000 City fans screaming for him to go down!), the result was inevitable.

City never used to get many penalties but this was their 4th in 5 league games. Although Kavanagh and Brayson scored City's last two penalties and were on the field, up stepped Earnie. He looked confident, almost too confident, as he wasn't bothered by Bristol delaying it then walked up slowly to take it, shaking his shoulders as he did but it was exemplary as he drove an unstoppable shot which hit the roof of the net (who else thought it was going over for a moment?).

The celebrations were mental as Earnie somersaulted and with Bowen and Brayson came running up behind the goal to enjoy it with us. Earnie loved it so much that he came back for second helpings!

A perfect end to a very encouraging half and performance. The action now switched to the catering points as Bristol knew 3,000 City fans were travelling mostly staright from work but seemed to have catered for 300 nd run out of supplies midway through the half causing a lot of unhappiness. Oh, drama!

H/T Brizzle Zity 0 Cardiff City 1

The second half never quite matched the first half, from a City viewpoint, but they must take great satisfaction that other than Bristol's goal, they didn't have any other shot in ager at us.

City's defence were magnificent. With four attacking players, Weston and Simpkins rightly criticised for their inability to get forward recently, did not have to tonight. In concentrating on their defensive duties, both were solid and hardly breached all night. Spencer Prior did well in the middle although not as well as we should be expecting but the star of the night and the true quality performer on both sides was Daniel Gabbidon.

He was a colossus, winning header after header with salmon like jumps, sticking a foot in where it mattered, bringing the ball out and being first to everything. Maybe his international call up gave him another confidence boost, he looked a class act in just about everything he did. Prior was brought to the club to help Gabbi through games, it actually looks the other way around at the moment.

The only way Bristol looked like scoring was with a moment of magic and they got it through Mickey Bell. Cutting inside, he was challenged and went to the ground. You have to question how he was allowed to do the rest but have to admire how he sprung back up, turned, stepped forward and unleashed a 25 yard drive which flew past Alexander into his top right corner. It is true that Alexander has little to do (three saves was all he had tonight) and only gets beaten by quality efforts, I'd love to see him save one or two of them though.

It was Bristol's turn to party but any thoughts that they could chant "you're not singing anymore" were gone in an instant as the whole City end chanted Men of Harlech non-stop for 5 minutes. All the noise, passion and momentum was Cardiff's on the pitch too as they took the game to Bristol again.

They could never quite find the cutting edge to open Bristol again. It is churlish to be too critical but the reasons for the breakdown were usually wrong decisions being made.

The individual flair players sometimes went a bit too far rather than pass, the crossing (particularly from Simpkins) was poor. Did we whip in a cross all night? Bristol were strong in that area. Players seemed loathe to try a shot when the game opened up or they took a step before trying and were promptly closed down. Corner kicks and free kicks were very poor too and must be worked on, they were underhit, overhit or taken short and messed up. Bristol nearly scored from one poorly taken corner.

But we are getting there, this was a performance to build on and it must have gave huge confidence to everyone.

In the final 20 minutes, it was apparent that both sides were happy with the draw. On the whole, they had cancelled out each other.

City came very close on two occasions. An Earnie snapshot from 10 yards was unfortunately hit straight at Phillips and it looked like he was going to win it deep into injury with a 30 yard run across goal beating three players (similar to his effort at Torquay last season) saw him round the last man but blaze over the bar from a difficult angle.

Bristol never came close at all. They attacked a lot but Gabbidon and Co snuffed them comprehensively. Changes were made (a boo went out when Bowen was replaced by Bonner with 15 minutes left but he had gone quiet and possibly was tired too, he has played little football recently) and Hamilton came on with the 4 minutes of injury time remaining but that was long enough for him to be booked again.

A deserved draw earned against a very good team at their own ground sounds looked we are sorting out the problems at last and bouncing back but we all thought that after Reading, didn't we?

It will only be a good result if we build at it at home by beating Wigan on Friday. Playing like this, they will so go and do it City!!

Report from The Western Mail
CARDIFF CITY re-asserted themselves as promotion contenders last night by taking a point off high-flying Bristol City at Ashton Gate.

The big-spending Bluebirds have had their critics in the last few weeks following three defeats in five games and the abrupt sacking of assistant manager Ian Atkins.

But inside an intimidating Ashton Gate, and in front of Bristol City's second-biggest crowd of the season, Alan Cork's men produced their most combative display of the season so far.

The Bluebirds were well worth the draw. In fact, the home side could not complain had the Welshmen taken all three points since they created most of the best chances.

Daniel Gabbidon, called up into the senior Wales squad on the weekend, was immense in the heart of City's defence, while Willie Boland was the game's outstanding midfielder.

In attack Robert Earnshaw, who has missed the last five games with a knee injury, and Jason Bowen, making his first start of the season, were a constant threat to the Bristol defence.

City deservedly took the lead on the stroke of half-time, courtesy of an Earnshaw penalty but Danny Wilson's side equalised with a brilliant long-range goal from Mickey Bell early in the second half.

The home side had the incentive of going top of the Second Division if they beat the Bluebirds and they started the better of the two teams with Tony Thorpe nearly opening the scoring in the ninth minute but he headed Scott Murray's cross straight at Neil Alexander.

The Scottish goalkeeper was needed again five minutes later to tip Brian Tinnion's 25-yard free-kick over the crossbar.

City's first chance came in the 21st minute when Paul Brayson latched on to a loose ball inside the Bristol penalty box but he miskicked his effort much to the relief of Bristol goalkeeper Steve Phillips.

A minute later Earnshaw spurned a fine chance to break the deadlock.

The Wales Under-21 striker was released with a lovely through ball from Bowen but he disappointingly fired wide of the upright.

Cardiff were beginning to look menacing on the counter-attack and on the half-hour mark Bowen found himself in acres of space inside the Robins' penalty area but he failed to pick out one of his team-mates and his cross was cleared by the defence.

Graham Kavanagh then surged through the middle following a delightful one-two with Earnshaw but the former Stoke player was dispossessed by a Bristol defender just as he was about to pull the trigger.

A City goal was on the cards and it came from the penalty spot in the 45th minute. Tinnion tripped Bowen and Earnshaw made no mistake, placing the ball in the top corner.

But the Robins levelled in the 56th minute just as the home support was starting to get on their backs. Bell let rip from 25 yards with his right foot and Alexander was left clutching thin air. It was a goal from nowhere and most of the City players stood staring at each other in disbelief.

Earnshaw had a good opportunity to grab his second of the night in the 68th minute. He was fed by Peter Thorne but he snatched at his shot and it flew straight into the grateful arms of Phillips.

Thorpe could have won it for Wilson's men in the 80th minute but headed Murray's corner over the woodwork. And Earnshaw could have stolen it in the dying seconds, his effort from just inside the penalty box ballooning over the crossbar.

Report from www.bcfc.co.uk
City and Cardiff shared the points in the Severnside derby after a 1-1 draw. Robert Earnshaw put Cardiff ahead in the first half with a dubious penalty.

Mickey Bell equalised early in the second half for City with a 25 yard strike, but despite late pressure from the home side, City had to make do with just one point which leaves them at third place in the League table.

City began well with Scott Murray causing problems for Cardiff down the right wing. Murray weaved past Bluebirds' defender Michael Simpkins and delivered a curling cross into the box. Thorpe managed to get on the end of the cross but his weak effort fell straight into the arms of Neil Alexander in the Cardiff goal.

Brian Tinnion was the next City player to test the Cardiff goalkeeper. His 25-yard free-kick was tipped over by the fingertips of the young Scottish 'keeper.

Paul Brayson had the Bluebirds' first chance. Graham Kavanagh's deep cross was headed down by Peter Thorne to Brayson. Unmarked, Brayson scuffed his shot wide of goal.

Moments later Robert Earnshaw, back in the team after missing five matches through injury, burst down the right after being put in by Kavanagh. Matthew Hill recovered ground well to put Earnshaw off as he skewed his shot wide.

Two minutes before half time City came close again. Murray found width down the right side and hit a high cross into the area. Steve Jones rose well to head the ball down to Tony Thorpe. Unfortunately for City, Thorpe slipped at the wrong moment and Daniel Gabbidon was able to clear the danger.

Just when it looked to be goalless at half time Jason Bowen earned Cardiff a penalty. Bowen came forward into City's area with Tinnion closing him down. Tinnion slid in and put the ball out for a corner. Remarkably referee Rob Harris pointed to the penalty spot after adjudging Tinnion to have fouled Bowen in the tackle.
 
Earnshaw took the spot-kick and placed the ball high into the top right-corner of City's goal to give the Bluebirds the lead deep into injury time of the first half.

It only took City ten minutes of the second half to equalise. Mickey Bell cut in from the left and curled a right foot shot into the top corner of the goal past Neil Alexander's out-stretched hand.

City piled on the pressure but couldn't manage to break through the strong Cardiff back line, who were marshalled well by ex-Leicester man Spencer Prior.

With eighty minutes on the clock, the City supporters were shouting for a penalty. Steve Jones received the ball in the Cardiff penalty area. He took one touch but before shooting seemed to be impeded by Prior. But this time referee Harris waved away protests.

Robert Earnshaw had a good chance to steal the points deep into stoppage time but his quick fire effort flew over Phillip's crossbar, with the final whistle blown moments later.

Report from www.sports.com
Mickey Bell conjoured up a brilliant 56th minute equaliser to maintain Bristol City's unbeaten home record.

But impressive Cardiff went home well pleased with a hard earned point gained by Robert Earnshaw's penalty in first-half injury time.

Both sides had chances to take the lead before the deadlock was broken. As early as the eighth minute, Bristol top-scorer Tony Thorpe headed straight at goalkeeper Neil Alexander when he should have scored from Scott Murray's right-wing cross.

At the other end, the lively Earnshaw broke on to a 22nd minute pass from influential midfielder Jason Bowen, but fired the wrong side of a post.

It was Bowen's strong running from midfield that forced a breakthrough at the start of five minutes of first-half injury time. He went down under challenge from Brian Tinnion and although Bristol claimed a dive, referee Rob Harris immediately pointed to the spot.

Earnshaw, back in the Cardiff side for the first time since a knee operation, took responsibility for the penalty and hit an unstoppable shot in off the crossbar.

There was nothing to chose between the teams, both fancied to be among the Nationwide Second Division promotion contenders, but Bristol's leveller came out of the blue.

Bell cut in from the left but seemed to be crowded out by Cardiff defenders. Then he won the ball back and hit a superb chip with his weaker right foot to leave Neil Alexander helpless.

A crowd of nearly 14000 watched a passionate Severn side derby that did credit to both teams and Cardiff might have snatched the points at the death when Earnshaw wriggled into the box between two defenders only to shoot over the bar.

The home side had found it hard to contain an adventurous Cardiff formation with a three pronged attack in Earnshaw, Peter Thorne and Paul Brayson .

Niether goalkeeper had many saves to make. But that was down to the quality of defending with Mark Lever excelling at the back for Bristol and Spencer Prior and Daniel Gabbidon doing a similar job for the visitors.

Both managers sent on late substitutes as each team prepared to settle for a draw.

City's last replacement Lee Matthews had the final opportunity of the game,shooting narrowly wide from just outside the box but there were no complaints from either camp at the end of a match for which honours were deservedly even.