Report by
NigelBlues.
Peterborough 2 City 1
Attendance: 5,892(est City 1,000)
Weather: Dry,Bright,Sunny but bitterly cold
Pitch: Cut up during game
Cardiff have not had a good 4 weeks (this is their 2nd successive away league
defeat following a struggle to beatYeovil).
The performance today was much less impressive than usual and just when City
fans thought that it was the sign of a good side who can play poorly away but
still get a result, the game was lost in the 3rd minute of injury time.
Their programme was crap but worth mentioning because Big Barry Fry had plenty of nice
words to say about Frankie, the team, the tremendous support and our passion and
commitment. Fry says we are "certainties for promotion".
Peterborough's ground is pretty good by Division 3 standards although it has
poor floodlights and is not attractive from the outside. Terracing behind
both goals and stands along both sides of the pitch, one of them being a new,
impressive double decker stand.
City fans were in excellent voice and didn't stop all match. Danny Hill, still
recovering from a hamstring injury, was substitute but John Williams was still
absent and replaced by Dai Thomas - oh no! Most fans couldn't believe the
choice of substitutes, if we cannot put Earnie or Roberts on the bench when
strikers are injured, when will they ever get a chance? It was a mistake.
Peterborough started on top and created plenty of pressure, shots rained
across goal and corners were frequently gained. Ethrington, their £2 million
rated winger was giving Delaney a hard test. For all the pressue and despite
feeling and looking uneasy, Jon Hallworth didn't have a worthy save to make.
Gradually City fought back and gained the lead very much against the run of
play after 25 minutes. From a Fowler throw-in after a good run, Wayne
O'Sullivan angled the ball low into the area. With a touch of class, Kevin
Nugent flicked the ball back and centrally centrally to Dai Thomas. He turned
and hit a powerful shot which was parried away by the Peterborough keeper but
Super Kevin Nugent followed up and drilled the ball back with interest from 15
yards for his 7th goal in 7 games (or 9 in 12) and still counting lads! It
was a quality.
City at last settled and had the upper hand creating several chances producing
saves and near misses. Nugent had another shot saved, Dai narrowly missed
getting the follow up. Then a 2nd goal was disallowed near half-time when the
ball was ruled to have been kicked from the keepers grasp before Middleton
slotted home. Mike Ford appealed to no avail.
They ended the half on top, the scoreline was great, it was the 15th
consecutive league game where City had not conceded a first half goal, the
fans were outsinging Peterborough and all was well in the world.
H/T Posh 0 City 1For the start of the second-half, read the
first-half. Peterborough again
pressurised the defence but instead of holding firm, City got sloppy and let
them equalise within 2 minutes.
Mark Delaney was caught hopelessly out of possession and too far upfield as a
through ball was played to the wing to find Ethrington in acres of space. He
raced away before sweeping a low cross into the path of Peterbough's no 8 who
placed the ball wide of Jon Hallworth from 8 yards.
Credit to all City fans. Rather than be deflated, the noise levels were
raised by several decibels as the Frankie Burrows Blue AND White Army rave
chant started and lasted for the final 40 minutes. City fans everywhere were
chanting, dancing and, in some cases, were bouncing away on the terraces. To
make it an authentic rave, a whistle was also introduced.
We also had time for laughter as Peterborough's no 9 (Carruthers) beat the
offside trap and was clear on goal. With Hallworth to beat, he amazingly tried to
side step him and got tackled by a green and white mound called turf - not the
sort of thing that you expect to find on football pitches, is it? - and lost the ball.
City got back into the game and were very close to regaining the lead as Jason
Fowler, who again could not play on the harder, cut-up mid-winter pitches,
briefly showed his class with a curler from 25 yards. It was destined for the
opposite corner but it brought a great save from the Peterborough keeper.
Nugent battled so hard but was let down again by Dai Thomas alongside him.
The need for another striker on the bench became more and more obvious.
Peterborough had more possession but the City defence were generally in
control and protected Hallworth very well. Danny Hill came on and so did
Andrew Legg in an attempt to win 3 points but City over-elaborated too often
and there were several who passed when shotting oppotunities were available.
The worst culprit was Hill who received a miskick from the Peterborough keeper
but rather than take a chance and hit it back, he inexplicably decided to go
on a 25 yard mazy run and walk it in - he was dispossessed.
The clock ticked away and the final 3 minutes of injury time had elapsed when
Peterborough broke clear on the right. A centre was swept in and ex-Stevenage
F.A. Cup hero Grazioli who had came on minutes earlier met the ball and headed
inside the near post past Jon Hallworth who maybe should have had the angle
covered. You also had to query where the defence was.
The match had barely restarted when the final whistle blew leaving City fans
in stunned silence but quickly applauding all the players. City don't lose
many but are making a habit of giving games away in the final minute -
Cambridge, Swansea spring to mind as well as Yeovil's equaliser during the
week in addition to today. Perhaps they need to look at this.
City have bounced back from bad results with good ones immediately. Let's
hope it happens again.
Full report from the POSH Pink.
Report from Total Wales.
GIULIANO GRAZIOLI is about as popular in Newcastle as Douglas Hall or
Freddie Shepherd.
The former Stevenage striker embarrassed the Geordies in the FA Cup last season at about
the same time that Hall and Shepherd were revealing their thoughts on Newcastle and its
people.
It is perhaps a sign of the plc times in football that shamed Newcastle directors Hall and
Shepherd have bounced back quicker than Ron Atkinson responding to a relegation crisis.
Grazioli’s return to the limelight has been more pedestrian despite five goals at
Barnet in September.
As Posh manager Barry Fry quipped, “He had been been stuck on eight goals since the
old king died.” But neither player nor manager will forget his ninth goal in a hurry.
The three minutes of injury time that the fourth official had indicated necessary had all
but elapsed when Grazioli, an 80th-minute substitute for Matthew Etherington, met Dean
Hooper’s near-post cross with a flashing header.
“That just happens sometimes,” said Cardiff manager Frank Burrows after Posh had
repeated their comeback win at Ninian Park in August.
“I thought we played quite well all through the game, and certainly deserved
something out of it. I’m sure every Peterborough supporter in the ground would say
that.
“But as I said to my players in the dressing room, it’s what you do next and how
you react to the disappointment that matters.
“If we feel sorry for ourselves then people will steamroller us. This game can be
cruel sometimes, and we’ve no divine right to take points off anyone. It’s
important we make sure that we are still in the picture at the end of the season.”
Despite this second successive defeat on their league travels, that ambition should be
well within Cardiff’s compass.
The Third Division leaders started sluggishly on a heavy surface that had been under water
in the morning and cut up badly as events unfolded.
But once they had been lifted by Kevin Nugent’s 13th goal of the season – his
ninth in 11 games – the victory that would have opened a seven-point gap over
inactive Brentford appeared there for the taking.
Nugent’s 26th-minute tap-in after Posh goalkeeper Mark Tyler had parried a powerful
18-yard effort from Dai Thomas had the same sudden effect as pricking a balloon.
The buoyancy went out of Peterborough, and City took charge with Richard Carpenter and
Jason Fowler controlling the midfield skirmishes where Wales Under-21 talent Simon Davies
had shone earlier.
But, just as they had done at Yeovil in the FA Cup in midweek, Cardiff wasted copious
chances to take the game beyond their opponents.
Mark Delaney’s ball over the top freed Nugent, but he fired straight at Tyler and
Thomas was beaten to the rebound by the recovering David Rennie.
Craig Middleton tested Tyler, and skipper Mike Ford was denied by an offside flag in the
ensuing goalmouth scramble. Fowler then ended an exciting run with a tame shot at the
goalkeeper.
It took only 50 seconds of the second half for the balance of power to shift as £2m-rated
Etherington – among those being monitored by the 33 representatives of Premiership,
Nationwide and Scottish League clubs in attendance – broke down the left and crossed.
There were plenty of City defenders in the vicinity, but midfield runner Steve Castle
timed his burst to perfection for a trademark finish into the far corner of Jon
Hallworth’s net.
After that the game ebbed and flowed in thrilling fashion, and Posh striker Martin
Carruthers rounded Hallworth only to lose his footing.
Substitute Danny Hill cleverly worked a half-opening for Nugent that was blocked, but City
looked increasingly weary in the final quarter.
The effects of playing on a second energy-sapping surface in the space of four days
finally took its toll when Grazioli darted towards the near post.
“Thank God I brought him on,” said Fry. “I don’t think Matthew
Etherington would have been in the six-yard box to get on the end of a cross like that.
“I wasn’t even going to put Graz on the bench. He had the flu all week and went
to the doctor on Thursday to get another course of antibiotics. But David Farrell turned
up on Friday with a bad back and Graz got the nod.”
It seems that Grazioli will be as welcome in Cardiff as he is in Newcastle from now on. |
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