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Monday |
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| Brentford Dearden Boxall Anderson Hreidarsson Quinn Bates  Freeman
(Bryan 67)Folan Owusu (Fortune West 89) Rowlands Mahon Sub not used |
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Cardiff
City Hallworth Delaney Ford Mitchell Young (Eckhardt 13) Carpenter Middleton (Legg 71) O'Sullivan Williams Nugent Fowler Sub not used |
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| Report by
NigelBlues. I'll keep this to a brief report of the game as it was 2 days ago and sadly, overshadowed by other events. There's bad and good news about this game. The bad news is that City lost, our lead at the top is cut to 4 points, a gamble to drop Danny Hill for Craig Middleton failed, Scott Young may be absent for a few weeks and despite reservations by some, I thought Brentford deserved their win. They created more upfront than City who definitely had an off-day in attack where nothing came off. The Brentford keeper did not have one save to make, Hallworth had a few so their win was deserved, simple as that. The good news is that City were more than the match of Brentford and both sides are better than the rest of the division. We easily look capable of turning this around and beating Brentford when they visit Ninian at the end of January, it was only our second away defeat for 4 months, Danny Hill will surely be back in the side next match and Jeff Eckhardt will not let us down playing instead of Scott Young. Can we also now close all debates on which is the biggest club in this division, never mind humourous attempts to convince us that neighbours in West Wales are as worthy in terms of support or potential? The support for the past 3 City matches has been magnificent. We can criticise the stayaways or glory seekers but it has always been known that if City produce a consistent, winning side, the support will be back. I only hope that City can match the ambition now that they are here, it is time to produce on and off the field. Like most City fans inside the ground, I assumed that everybody had got into Griffin Park. Tannoy announcements were regularly broadcast into the street telling us that the kick-off was delayed and assuring us that everybody would get in. Inside the stadium, there was room. I stood on an admittedly small family section of the away terrace which was half full, there seemed to be space on the rest of the terrace and the stand to our left which was presumably the contingency area had plenty of empty seats at the front. I couldn't tell how full or otherwise, the stand above our terrace was, but officials now say more than 3,500 City fans entered the ground with upto 2,000 locked out. I can only assume someone made the decision not to let any more City fans into the ground. It was not until half-time that I realised so many were locked out with some outside made a vain attempt to force entry at the rear and fans with radios mentioned the lock-out. Turning to the game, Brentford looked slightly the brighter side without creating real chances. City were extremely tight in defence although Delaney was struggling against a very lively winger and it was even in midfield. It was won in attack where, on the day, Brentford's were better than ours. Following outstanding personal performances in the past 2 matches, Frankie Burrows dropped Danny Hill for the more battling qualities of Craig Middleton. It helped in the midfield battle but City still lost out as they could not create anything up front. The main tactic seemed to be playing the ball on the right wing to Jason Fowler but he could not get into the game. It was not for the want of effort and he never went into hiding and tried until the final whistle, luck just did not go his way. John Williams had a quiet game too and Kevin Nugent battled but the support was not quite there. Over 90 minutes, City acquitted themselves well but they didn't click and get a lucky break. That is the way it goes sometimes. The support inside the ground was passionate, vociferous and deafening as Brentford fans were hardly heard all game. There were few chances but the best opportunites all fell to Brentford. Lloyd Owusu, looked a very good player and cracked a couple of shots. His twists and turns caused trouble for much of the match. City could have signed him after he impressed in FA Cup matches for Slough against Cardiff last season, they must still regret it. The goal, on the hour, was superbly taken. Hendraisson collected the ball on the half-way line and advanced as, for a rare occasion, City's midfield and defence stood back and allowed him time and space. Once he reached 25 yards and from the right side of goal, he smashed a low left footed shot across, the area, goal, Jon Hallworth and into the far left corner. City players all looked at each other but it was easy to see why Hendraisson, an Icelandic international, was a Premier player last season and at 750,000, obviously more quality than you will generally find at this level. The seemed to be the cue for City to raise the game and the final 25 minutes was spent mostly in Brentford's half. However Brentford seemed to absorb the pressure well and fans rarely felt City would equalise. The support became more raucous and once defeat gradually became apparent, chants of "we're still top of the league" and plenty of other songs rang around the ground. Kevin Nugent headed over, John Williams shot wide and had another effort blocked and in injury time Nugent headed wide of the keeper but his effort was cleared by a back-tracking defender. This header followed Hallworth making a great one-on-one save seconds earlier as all City players were pushed forward. Wayne O'Sullivan was my City man of the match as he covered every blade of grass several times and never gave up for another exceptional personal display. Huge credit must also go to Jeff Eckhardt who replaced a limping Scott Young (hamstring?) after 15 minutes and played like he had been in the team every week. Scott Young joined City fans at the front of one of the stands to watch the rest of the game. Andy Legg played the final 20 minutes and looked very useful again, putting in better crosses than Jason Fowler had all match. It surely will not be long before he gets a full game. It was, of course, a disappointing result but a battling display. It may have opened up old wounds about the extent of City's firepower but my lasting impression was Brentford will lose more games than Cardiff during the remainder of the season. When I found the coach (with a despondent Paul Sawyer and son having sat on it all afternoon and then the full horror hit home that so many didn't get in), Radio 5's commentator said, "At the end of 90 minutes, Cardiff remain top by 4 points from Brentford in 2nd but they have 2 games in hand. Don't be surprised however if it remains this way at the end of the season". A fair assessment in my view. We're still going up and if we do it as Champions, what a bonus, but there is no need for despondency at narrowly being edged out by excellent opponents with an unbelievable home league record of 10 wins and 1 defeat. Roll on January 30th so we can get those points back. Report from Matchfacts. Report from a Brentford viewpoint. |
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