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Monday Wrexham win 4 - 3 on aggregate. |
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| Cardiff
City Kelly Phillips  =  Legg Mitchell Eckhardt Bonner Fowler
(Hill 80)O'Sullivan (Thomas 80) Bowen Nugent Middleton Sub not used |
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Wrexham Wright McGregor Brace Barrett (Elliott 71) Ridler Carey Chalk Russell Connolly Spink (Morrell 71) Owen Sub not used |
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| Report by
NigelBlues. Attendance: no announcement made - 1,500??? Wrexham: 15 approx Weather: Rain at times, torrential rain during poor Pitch: Cut up in places, surface water but playable Atmosphere: What atmosphere unless the count the last 2 mins and ref baiting! This was the FAW Cup. It could only be Cardiff City who end their season in such dramatic final. Changes from Saturday saw Lee Phillips replace an injured Mike Ford plus Wayne O'Sullivan step in for Danny Hill. The game got off to a dramatic start as City took the lead inside 5 minutes on a treacherous surface which improved as the game progressed. Receiving a ball from Fowler, Craig Middleton advanced inwards from the left towards the penalty area and let fly across goal from 25 yards as he fell. The ball flew and seared into the top opposite corner giving Wrexham's keeper no chance. It was an absolute peach of a goal. At this stage, City players were showing well and looked much better than their Wrexham counterparts suggesting many could cope with Division 2 life but it's hard to really tell in these games. Fowler/Middleton on the right in particular but also Legg/O'Sullivan on the left were linking well and Wrexham were being stretched. It foes without saying these days however that City had no cutting edge in attack. Wrexham's only outlet was Karl Connolly who looked excellent all night and constantly worried our defence. Dare I say we struggled whenever he showed his pace? However the turning point of the game was the referee. Alan Howells of Port Talbot who I recall as having poor FAW Premier games may be a Welsh league ref but is woefully short of even being an (in)competent football league ref. It was a big night for him, nobody else, and he wanted to show who was boss. In doing so, he lost control of the game. No allowance whatsoever was made for the conditions and he had a dictatorial attitude. This culminated in at least 7 first-half book (mainly City) when there genuinely was not a bad foul from either side. The most crucial decision was appalling. Connolly played the ball ahead of Lee Phillips and both raced along the right hand touchline. Both players were legitimately nudging each other and it ended with both falling at least 30 yards from goal. Due to the conditions, Connolly probably slid for 10 yards. It was probably a foul and nothing worse than a free-kick, the only decision 100 times out of 100. but the ref inexplicably decided to give Phillips a second yellow and sent Phillips off. The remaining few minutes of the half fizzled out as City withdrew Bowen leaving Nugent isolated up front as they tried to protect what they had until half-time. H/T City 1 Wrexham 0 Second-half continued in pretty much the same vein. The best early chance fell to Bowen who tore away through the right and fired a low 20 yd effort across goal which missed the far post by a couple of inches. Generally, until the last 25 minutes, they was little from either side but gradually, Wrexham's extra man was telling and they were starting to cut through City's defence. Except Shay Kelly chose to give, by far, the best goalkeeping display in any match this season to show his potential again. The sponsors made Middleton man of the match prematurely as Shay was absolute class catching every greasy ball that came his way and making, I kid you not, 6 or 7 outstanding stops. Kelly was, quite simply, awesome. There was no sign of City getting the 2nd goal which would have taken them through on away goals and Frankie left it until 5 minutes to bring on subs who were Dai Thomas (seemingly reducing us to 9 men!!) and Danny Hill for O'Sullivan and a disappointing Fowler. The pace of Earnshaw, which surely would have given City a valuable outlet, was again overlooked as he stayed on the bench. However, with just 1 minute to go, the miracle happened. A long, hopeful ball was launched goalwards and was brilliantly chested down by Dai Thomas on the edge of the area. He fell beautifully into the path of Nugent who side footed home from 25 yards. The place just lifted. As the goal went in, the linesman showed 2 minutes injury time. Wrexham pushed forward and even threw their keeper upfront in desperation. Kelly produced another outstanding effort to turn a point-blank range header over the bar. Billy Ayre was dancing on the touchline in glee. But then disaster as a corner went to the far post to be met by a Wrexham player with no City defender in sight. He headed back across goal and after a scramble including the keeper trying to shoot, the ball fell to a Wrexham player in the melee who kicked it forward from 8 yards for the ball to hit the post and go in. Kelly didn't deserve to be beaten and everyone fell but defensively, the marking was a nightmare. The goal arguably cost City 80,000 - the difference between being winning next week's final vs Barry Town and losing the semi. And the season was over! What a way to end it. |
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