| Report by
NigelBlues CARDIFF CITY 1 PLYMOUTH
ARGYLE 0
It wasn't always pretty, a tough game, we had luck but got 3 points and that's
all we needed today!
A good few listers in The Lansdowne again inc Stewie, Eric The Red, Mike
Morris, Zoe Jones, Peter & Dean Hurley, Hicksy & Bethan plus Blueloaf amongst
others. If I missed you out, sorry. Mike & myself took some ribbing for
having no lives - our ability to post at various times, everyday and
especially after a few bevvies is fast gaining international fame.
A few noticeable sights on arrival at Ninian:.
- The yet again promised of replica shirts didn't happen entirely. The only
sizes available were children and large. So if you want M, XL (yep please -
for comfort too!) and XXL (if I continue my "sponsorship" of Brains Breweries
& Caroline Street, maybe next season) better start thinking of asking your
loved one to get them as a Christmas prezzie.
- A great banner on the Bob Bank fence - big Welsh emblem with the words
"Stick Your Anfield Games" on it - whoever did it, great work fella!
- Muhz's letter "Send In The Clowns" got star billing and was reproduced in
full in The Echo. Mark Smith of the list also had an excellent letter in The
Echo. Think the views of this list are starting to get good billing!
- Really good turnout from Plymouth (400-500 fans but fairly quiet, certainly
no comparison to 400+ City fans on the road)
- Plymouth's shorts or were they hot pants?
- A skeleton in goal for Plymouth - or should I say, his shirt was - check it
out on telly.
Team: The ony change in the starting line up was Kevin Nugent replacing
Williams.
Hallworth
Delaney, Eckhardt, Young (C), Mitchell
Bonner, Carpenter, Brazier, O'Sullivan
Thomas, Nugent
sub: Fowler, Middleton, Williams
City started slowly whilst Plymouth played with the confidence and arrogance
of a team at the top of the table and on a winning run.
City were struggling and found it hard to get into the game. The midfield
weren't firing and Carpenter, in particular, wasn't showing. Mark Bonner and O'Sullivan
were both working hard. Up front Kevin Nugent (who was getting plenty of stick from the
Plymouth faithful where he was a £200,000 player (flop?)) looked like someone rertuning
from injury whilst Dai Thomas, who looked so impressive at Shrewsbury, is struggling and
now not looking short of full fitness.
The main problems were at the back where Graham Mitchell was having a poor
game again. We all accept he's not a good tackler but if his heading ability
is as good as some say, why was he being beaten nearly every time by someone
nearly a foot shorter than him in Earl Jean? His distribution is so poor too
- particularly to Matthew Brazier who came back often to cover and made some
vital tackles and interceptions. Mitchell's passes to Brazier was always
behind him making it awkward for him to get away down the wing.
John Hallworth was busy having to punch or catch a number of centres and made a couple of
excellent saves - pushing a Jean header over the bar and, better still, keeping out a free
Plymouth header on the 6 yd box.
However City were playing themselves into the match and were slowly cranking
it up. Brazier starting getting more ball up front and linked well with Nugent. His
crossing was very good too - including a couple of specials off the outside of
his boot.
The closest City came was a Carpenter shot on 35 mins which deflected off Dai
Thomas onto the bar with the Plymouth skeleton totally stiff on his goal line.
This seemed to give City more confidence and they ended the half, at last,
competing and starting to show signs of getting on top.
HT City 0 Plymouth 0
The second half saw City continue to build pressure on Plymouth as the flow of
the game was towards the skelton's goal. Some nice moves were being put
together on both wings.
On the left, Brazier was starting to fire. Having been booked for a foul,
Delaney was clearly instructed to take on Gibbs every time. He clattered
Delaney a couple more times and clearly losing his rag, many refs wopuld
probably have red carded him. The biggest cheer of the afternoon was when a
City player accidentally nutted him.
For all the possession and play, City were again failing to produce in the box
and it was starting to have 0-0 written all over it. Nugent and Thomas were
out of sorts and the support play still left something to be desired but City
found another notch.
15 mins from time the best chance came when a powerful O'Sullivan shot parried
off the skelton's left wristbone to Jeff Eckhardt 8 yds out but he couldn't
keep the ball down as it came to him quickly and spooned over the bar.
Just after that, Jason Fowler came on as sub (about 10-15 minutes too late
Frankie) hit a classic chip/lob that cleared the corpse but went narrowly
wide.
One last throw of the dice saw John Williams replace Dai Thomas which proved
to be the decisive moment.
I said earlier this week that Wayne O'Sullivan should be more direct and when
he finally did it, he hit the jackpot. Receiving the ball on the half way
line, he charged forward past 4 Plymouth defenders and when it looked like he
may go all the way, he cleverly played the ball wide to John Williams just
inside the penalty area. Williams held the ball, took one touch to play it
wide of a marker and hit a useful ball across the goalmouth.
With O'Sullivan steaming into the far post, a Plymouth defender (Wooton) tried
to clear the ball facing goal but simply sliced it at speed into the net. The
skeleton was gutted! City fans danced on their seats and let out that
strangled throaty roar we do when we score and hugged complete strangers.
It was a massive stroke of luck but exactly what City needed and probably
deserved for their second half performance. Not fluent but powerful and they
snubbed Plymouth out as a threat.
If you ever doubted Frank Burrows passion, the final couple of minutes would
have shown you all you need to know about his commitment to City. He was
constantly barking orders as City looked capable of throwing it away and at
one stage was on the pitch with play going on!
The final whistle was greeted with uproar. The support was excellent again
especially considering that due to the 12.15 ick-off, most of us had to watch
City sober for a change!
Let's hope this can inspire a run. Seeing as Barnet let in 9 (that's nine)
today, is it really unreasonable to expect another win on Tuesday?
Report from Phil Samuel.
a very fortunate win for the city. the first half was pretty
dismal, with
only the last five mins before half time producing anything of note. a
richard carpenter 30yarder being deflected onto the bar, with the keeper
stranded.
plymouth dominated the opening exchanges and seemed to be first to every
50/50 ball.
a much better 2nd half performance from city, who had a purple patch midway
thro the half, which saw eckhardt shoot over from 5 yards.
yet again when city dominated , we seemed unable to make the keeper produce
a save, players seem reuctant to shoot, and continually play that extra
pass.
city replaced thomas with williams with 6 minutes to go.
with 2 minutes to go, wiliiams turned the right back crossed into the box
for the plymouth no6 to volley past his own keeper.
final score city 1 plymouth 0 |
