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Sat 24th Nov 2001. |
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| Notts
County Mildenhall Baraclough Fenton  Chilvers Richardson, L Cas Caskey Bolland (Brough 34) Richardson, I Allsopp Hackworth Subs not used |
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Cardiff
City Alexander Gordon Prior Young Gabbidon Boland Bonner (Maxwell 36) Bowen (Legg 67) Collins Nugent (Fortune West 83) Earnshaw Subs not used |
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CARDIFF CITY gained a point at Meadow Lane in a match that gave full justice to its 0-0 scoreline. It was a performance that did absolutely nothing to enhance the reputations of the team, its promotion/play off chances or its beleaguered manager, Alan Cork. Reporting the match will be the easiest I've done in years, there was the bare minimum of meaningful action and incidents, it really was dire. The match rarely looked good enough for Division Three level, never mind Div Two. Come to think of it, the football now being played by City is much worse than a year ago, we have lost our style totally. Whatever the game shots at goals stats say, they will be totally misleading. Cardiff City failed to put one meaningful effort on target in the entire 90 minutes, Notts County had a couple of efforts but they tended to shoot straight at Neil Alexander. Notts County, like Colchester in midweek, were a poor side. It was very easy to see why they haven't won in 11 matches and have now dropped into the bottom four relegation zone. Apart from a Dutch winger, Marcel Cas, who was similar to Josh Low in style except he seemed to know what he was doing, they carried no threat whatsoever. Yet, we were never good enough to beat them and never looked like we would, what does that say about City?? The focus of the fans will inevitably be on Alan Cork yet again. His apologists will yet again make the case that we've now only lost once in 11 league games within the past two months, the team were today deprived of Thorne, Kavanagh, Hamilton and Brayson and, after 35 minutes, Bonner too and are still in 10th place with a game in hand which, if won, takes City into the play-off places. Those unsatisfied (and it is now the majority at games) will counter 6 of the last 11 have been draws which take us nowhere. Players were missing but isn't this why we have squad of 35 players, many of the "reserves" have cost us fair sized sums of money too? The quality of football, tactics and selections are ever increasingly bizarre and, in struggling to compete in what is undoubtedly one of the worst Division Two's for years, we are throwing away a golden opportunity to progress. Anyone can beat anyone in this division (and they do/have). Brentford, who are top, have finance problems and lost players due to them. Stoke, who are 2nd, lost their main striker (Thorne) midfielder (Kavanagh) to us which caused major unrest yet they have 11 points more than us. The teams at the top tend to be the better organised teams (not necessarily the best teams or squads), that only infers we are not as organised as we certainly have better players than most, if not all. To verify how average this Division is, compare it to Division One. The top teams have several points more than Division Two, many achieving it in fewer games. It's so mediocre that City still lie closer, in points terms, to a relegation place than a promotion position. This division is there for the taking but this squad and management aren't currently good enough to do it. The only shame for the travelling City fans was that Nottingham was such a good awayday ruined by 90 minutes of football. City created a new record for drunken fans in an away end as everyone was out to enjoy themselves and that's exactly what they did. Hundreds of City fans invaded Hooters Bar, just a few hundred yards from Meadow Lane, where the predominantly female bar staff all wear orange hot pants and low cut t-shirts. The result with the City hoardes was like watching Spielberg's Gremlins when they're out after midnight and had water! The edited highlights can't be condoned but were hilarious. Hope the City fan who filled his pants with chicken wings and covered them in tabasco sauce to show the waitress doesn't have burns today. A group of England rugby fans picked the wrong day to visit as they were taunted with chants. Feeling uncomfortable, they got the Manager to open the fire exit door next to them and they ran as City fans charged. What they didn't realise is that the support were after 8 jugs of bitter and lager they they'd left behind! Then there was the Notts Forest fans who foolishly decided to have their car doors with Forest scarves in the back as they passed City supporters who tried to get them to ayatollah. As far as I know, their scarves are still floating down the River Trent. All over the top antics, and with the sheer numbers who follow City, you can understand why we have a reputation but there was no real trouble. And then we had to go and watch the game, the only question many will now ask themselves is, WHY?? Nearly halfway through the season and Alan Cork still doesn't seem to know his best players or who should play where, he just keeps Stevie Wonder-style blind faith in a 4-3-3 system because it must have worked once or twice. Today he did it yet again when we quite simply didn't have the players on display to do it, it beggars belief. If anyone is prepared to launch a defence of the 4-3-3 system when two of the front three are motionless objects and we have no width (the pitch may as well be 30 yards wide) and no players prepared to power through the middle, I'd love to hear it. Alan Cork made four changes. On loan Dean Gordon from Middlesborough started at left wing back relegating Leggy to the subs bench once more, Bonner replaced the injured Hamilton in midfield, Jason Bowen was back in the team after injury and effectively replaced Kavanagh serving a one match suspension and, the biggest surprise, Kevin Nugent (a player continually overlooked and who Cork was on the verge of selling to Colchester for £20,000 in midweek) was given his first league start of the season But the surprises didn't end there, James Collins was retained to play alongside Nugent and Earnie, Leo was left on the bench. Weston, who Cork has defended to the hilt all season, was available after suspension but on the bench too with Gabbidon at right wing back (a better option many will feel but why did he have to wait 19 games for it to happen?). The game nearly opened dramatically with Notts firing at goal in the opening 10 seconds. Cas tore though Gordon and City's left side before driving straight at Alexander. City then looked bright for a few minutes with Dean Gordon prominent and showing his potential for the team. He stands out, not just because his head looks a cross between a lightbulb and Casper The Ghost!, but because he loves to get forward and his passes and crosses are hit into the area with fantastic pace, like exocets. He looks as if he will be a major influence going forward but not so sure about him defensively. He is clearly not match fit and was some way off the pace after the opening phases. This stopped him getting up and down the pitch which he needs to do for this side. It was noticeable that once Gordon started running out of steam, so did City. And with Gordon not firing in crosses on the left with Gabbidon and Bowen looking dangerous but never getting any major service over from the right then Collins and Nugent had no opportunities, Earnie went deeper and wider for the ball. The formation and selection problems were already apparent. They had plenty of the ball and territory, they always do in
the first half of games especially, but there was no end product nor did it often look as
if there would be. Notts County had a couple more efforts both through Cas, once flying past Boland before firing across goal, another time bringing a routine stop from Alexander. Mark Bonner had to limp off which gave Layton Maxwell a chance to shine, he did reasonably well. Half-time arrived and I was relieved for the chance of a drink but overreacting stewards decided to close the bar and refreshments kiosk because one City fan said something out of place. That's a good reason to deny the other 2,000 of us a drink and something to eat, isn't it? H/T Notts Co 0 City 0 If there was little/no action in the first half, the second half, until the final 10 minutes, was arguably worse. There was little doubt that for whatever reason, we were watching two very average sides, both low on confidence. Whether Notts County are better than they showed, I don't know, but this City side are definitely underachieving and under-performing. Players kept moving and changing position to no or little effect. Scott Young, Spencer Prior and Neil Alexander were the only ones who seemed to play their natural position and game all afternoon. Prior put in one of his best performances of the season, getting in several superb tackles during the game especially and was at the centre of a huge penalty appeal when Cas went down under a challenge as he had raced clear but the ref denied it. The officials had a poor game, one minute they played advantage, the next they didn't, they indiscriminately stopped the game for injuries but let others go, Gabbidon was a victim of a yellow card when a Notts player who had run out of space near a touchline dived over him and off the pitch. They also denied a Nugent penalty appeal but probably got that one right. The game was started to flow away from City as Notts realised the Bluebirds were there for the taking and pushed on. It wasn't pretty but it was pressure, Alexander made two more stops from drives hit at him. Alan Cork made his first chance on 67 minutes which caused huge boos and derision as Jason Bowen, who had played reasonably well, was replaced by Andy Legg who played wide left. The City fans were disgusted, it later emerged that Bowen after a few weeks out, asked to come off but the boos had as much to do with the general performance and this change was the catalyst to vent anger and frustrations. Cork still has some supporters left, he must have a large family!, and there was even a fight between a pro-Cork and anti-Cork fan in the City stand. I like Cork as a person and he's done well for City but admire the faith of anyone who believes that despite his obvious limitation and faults, he is still going to find the magic formula. The only chances City had in the second half both fell to Earnie, it's a sure sign of the current anxiety in the team that he snatched both giving the turquoise chested, yellow sleeved (how bad was his shirt?) Mildenhall two simple saves. City did however raise their game for the final 10 minutes and launch an assault on the Notts goal but it was in vain. In a final tactical manoeuvre, Cork decided James Collins was a fleet footed winger and moved him wide although sometimes he went back defending too and forgot where he should be playing. It didn't need a tactical genius to see that once City had two men wide (Collins and Legg), then they could finally exert some pressure. Collins got some hanging balls on one side, Leggy whipped over from the left. Leo was thrown on for Nugent (who went off to a good ovation) as a last gamble and the fact there were desperate gambles were underlined by City falling into old ways with aerial bombardment and Leggy long throws. Notts handled it with little difficulty. There's little doubt City are difficult to beat, it was a very comfortable point earned, and the first clean sheet in 8 league/cup games and only the 4th in 19 league matches is a bonus. However it disguises some real problems. This club and squad are better than this. They should, injuries or not, have collected a minimum of 4 points, probably all 6, out of Colchester and Notts County. The team would have been in the play-offs. Instead, we've had a week of ineptitude, poor performances, players fighting each other, fans fighting each other and not the slightest hint that we're getting better or going to sort it out. City seem incapable of bridging that gap between the happening teams in this division (who are mostly inferior to us) and the also rans where we currently lie - that's a damning comment of how mediocre City are performing. Is it really time to consider whether throwing more players and money at the problem, as happened again this week, is the real answer?? Report from www.sports.com In the 90 minutes, there was in fact, little to choose between them and both were lacking when it came to convincing finishing. The pattern was set inside the first 30 seconds when County's Dutch winger Marcel Cas tore down the right touchline, out stripping Cardiff debutant Dean Gordon, on loan from Middlesbrough. Cas, who had gone 11 games without scoring, provided himself with the perfect chance to end this lean spell but the shot was not a good one and Neil Alexander saved easily at the foot of his near post. Cas had two more chances but again failed to get the better of Alexander, first when the shot should have been better, and then missing the target completely after racing through in the inside left channel. Yet Cas did enough to warrant the man-of-the-match rating though he was run close by young Liam Chilvers, the central defender on loan from Arsenal who had a representative watching the game. Chilvers and Ian Richardson are forming a sound central defensive barrier and Notts have to thank these two players for two successive clean sheets. Seldom did Cardiff really extend Steve Mildenhall in the Notts goal though Robert Earnshaw gave him a couple of anxious moments. Playing further forward in the second half, and joining Kevin Nugent and James Collins up front, Earnshaw's darting runs created danger and Mildenhall made two good stops from him in the second 45 minutes. In the same period Notts felt strongly that they should have been awarded a penalty which would have won them all three points. Inevitably it was Cas who went racing into the area where he crashed down under a challenge from Spencer Prior. Notts were amazed and indignant when referee Howard Webb waived aside their spot claims. Cardiff played the neater, more controlled football whereas Notts relied more on the long ball which gave little effective service to front men Daniel Allsopp and Tony Hackworth who were largely shut out. The best scoring opportunity fell in the last half-hour to midfielder Leam Richardson, on loan from Bolton Wanderers but looking for his first Notts goal he saw his shot sail over the bar. Cardiff were more satisfied with their point than Notts who were plunged into the bottom four as a result of another failure to win. External match reports |
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