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Saturday |
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| Cardiff
City Hallworth Delaney Ford Mitchell Young Carpenter Hill (Legg 89) O'Sullivan Williams Nugent (Thomas 86) Middleton  Sub not used |
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Mansfield
Town Naylor Ford Harper Ryder Kerr
(Walker 46)Hackett Schofield Clarke Christie Peacock Tallon (Williams 81) Sub not used |
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| Report by
NigelBlues. What a day! Easily the best match at Ninian since...I really can't remember. The crowd and atmosphere was unbelievable. Credit to Mansfield for coming to play, the most worthy opponents City have faced all season, but I cannot praise The Bluebirds highly enough.Not the best display of recent weeks but if ever a team proved their bottleand credentials to be promoted and, please, win this division, it was Citytoday. Mansfield were not as good as Cardiff (and deserved to lose for the crappiest away support imaginable) but put City to the sword. City rose to the challenge to win the biggest and hardest test that they have had. It is really not possible to convey the atmosphere in these notes. You would have been proud a be a Bluebird. CARDIFF CITY (1) 4 MANSFIELD (0) 2 Williams 12, 46 Harper 53 Nugent 60, 80 Christie 58 Crowd 9,013 (magic, magic, magic) Mansfield Away Support 150 (Disgrace - Win and they would have gone top and that's all they could bring) Pitch: Perfect (as always) Jason Fowler was missing again (the man has more injuries than Cardiff Royal Infirmary!) so natural replacement Danny Hill was called up. Otherwise this was the same City line-up who have won 4 succesive league and cup matches. Perhaps the only other mention was an attacking subs bench including new signing Andy Legg and Robbie Earnshaw. The Bob Bank didn't seem to have a spare seat, three blocks of the Grandstand were full and the Canton looked near capacity. Only the Grange away end lacked Mansfield fans and atmosphere (did they sing anything this afternoon?). Their team deserved better. City walked onto the pitch to an enormous roar, the like of which had not been heard at Ninian in a long while. For a change, it was the opposition who had the better of the opening exchanges and possibly the first half but the only goal belonged to City. The first chance came in the 1st minute when Mansfield's leading scorer, Peacock (who flicks his locks more than Hallworth), shot into the side netting. Two players shone almost immediately. The Mansfield no 9, Christie, who only played late on due to a boil on the bum of their regular striker and Danny Hill, whose passing, vision and general play made him my personal City man of the match (the sponsors gave it to John Williams who played out of his skin yet again). City fought but Mansfield continued to press harder. The Canton Stand were twitchy and cheering any City touches until the TOP OF THE LEAGUE side took the lead on 12 minutes. Craig Middleton won possession in central midfield and moved the ball wide to Danny Hill attacking towards the Grange End. After controlling the ball and beating his marker, Hill played a beautiful pass/cross across the penalty area to John Williams. Rushing in, Williams made no mistake and the City faithful burst into "ONE-NIL TO THE CHAMPIONS". The chanting never stopped. Still, Mansfield continued to have more posession and pressure but created few real openings. Christie, for all his nice touches, was a striker playing wide so no threat but he then moved inside. He had Mansfield's best chance when he charged through and was one on one with Hallworth. Jon Hallworth showed all his experience and composure as his positioning and covering of all angles was faultless leaving Christie's effort hit him and bounce away. Superb! The crowd approved with Jon Hallworth chants and rightly so. Chances came at both ends as Williams had an effort saved and Hallworth kept out weak Christie efforts. City marched off to triumphant applause for a lead hard-earned and harder to hold onto. H/T CITY 1 MANSFIELD 0 First half nerves were soon forgotten as John Williams hit City into a 2 goal lead within 30 seconds of the re-start. Following a quick move, a superb Kevin Nugent flick put Williams clear. Charging into the area and turning his marker inside out twice, Williams 1st shot was well saved but the rebound fell kindly and he slotted the ball into an empty net. Ninian Park erupted. It was Willo's 10th goal in 9 matches. Chants of We Are Top Of The League boomed louder than Concorde. This seemed to set City up for complete destruction of Mansfield and, for the next few minutes, the visitors were torn apart. The best effort was a Nugent chip from 25 yards which left Mansfield's keeper stranded but went inches wide. Then disaster. Mansfield scored twice in 5 minutes to level the game. On 53 minutes, that man Christie easily won the ball, turned in the area and played the ball back to Harper who hit a great shot high into City's net from 15 yards. It was the 1st league goal City had conceded in 4 matches and only the 2nd league game City had conceded a goal in the past 9 matches. It was 2-2 on 58 minutes as Mansfield won a corner after appealing for a penalty that was clearly ball to hand. The corner to the far post was innocuous and so was the resulting Christie far post header. A Christmas miracle unfortunately came early. Somehow it caught Jon Hallworth off his line and looped in the centre of the goal for the softest goal City had conceded in ages. It must be regarded as a Hallworth error. City's three wise men at the back - Young, Mitchell and Ford - weren't 'stable'. They were no longer gold, Frank was incensed and everyone said mmmmmmyrh! Crap joke, sorry! Thoughts of "here we go again" arose as City lost their way but credit to the fans for getting behind the team and City regained the lead just 2 minutes later. A cross field ball was superbly flicked on by Nugent to find Wayne O'Sullivan wide. His dancing feet got into action as he bemused a Mansfield defender and then delivered a beautiful far post cross. It was met expertly by Kevin Nugent who cushioned a perfect header back in the direction from where it came and into the corner of the net. I was heading to the toilets at this moment so I fear television pictures may show me going mental running along the walkway at the front of the Canton Stand on my own in celebration. If it does, I'm sorry but I'm sure you will understand. It was the biggest roar I had heard in ages as the game more more like a cup match than league game. A minute later, it could have been 4-2 . Craig Middleton was clean through and seemingly clipped by Mansfield's keeper. In my opinion, he was not. We have to accept that you really cannot 'Dink and Dive At Christmas'! OK, no more crap Xmas jokes! He was booked for play-acting. City continued to press but Williams, always dangerous, was understandably looking tired looking tired and Mansfield were still a threat. It needed a killer fourth goal which arrived on 80 minutes. Mark Delaney (does he ever get tackled/fouled without somersaulting 10 feet into the air?) after good work produced a class centre that was met by another perfect Nugent header planted high into the netfrom 8 yards. It was City's 20th goal in 8 games - who said we have a goalscoring problem? I have to admit I NEARLY did a Gazza and had a tear in relief/celebration. For me, this fightback shows that City will get promoted. I know there's half a season to go and a lot can go wrong but we showed everything that a good side had to prove. This was easily City's toughest test for weeks but our class, strength and authority shone won the day. We have what it takes. The next 10 minutes were a blur but the noise at the final whistle rocked Ninian. Virtually every fan stayed until the last kick and then stood, cheered and applauded for a couple of minutes until the last City player disappeared down the tunnel. Your homework question is, "When was the last time City were top of the table at Christmas?". I cannnot recall it. Wishing every City fan a Blue Christmas. Don't forget to photograph teletext league tables on Christmas Day and let's see a full house for Shrewsbury on Boxing Day. Report by Carlsson Report from AOL. Report from the Sporting Life. |
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