Report by NigelBlues.
If any club are putting their supporters through more highs and lows than
Cardiff City, I can only pity their supporters.
Cardiff, just about the most promoted/relegated club, of the past 25 years have shown
exactly why they're a yo-yo side in the past few weeks by giving us depression and ecstasy
in successive games. Depression of a draw and terrible performance at Chesterfield,
followed by a fantastic away win and showing at Reading. Then disaster in a home defeat to
Burnley followed by a fantastic effort to draw at Preston only for last week to be
"slash your wrist time" with the horrendous 0-4 home defeat to Cambridge. And so
today, what else could it be but a City win, fully deserved too. Please Cardiff break the
sequence and beat Bury on Monday too!!
It's not every trip where you start off by marvelling at a police helicopter that crashed
onto a house but that was the sight greeting Cardiff supporters travelling up Manor Way.
The rest the journey north (it was a 430 mile round trip) was uneventful apart from seeing
plenty of Millwall fans and Jesus Battle Buses (is that why Rob Hughes wasn't at Boundary
Park?).
Oldham's ground is easy to access, straight off the M627, and once there, most City fans
settled into a session at The Bluebell. Excellent pre-match atmosphere but where were the
Oldham fans? It was look a ghost town.
This was City's first visit to Oldham for 15 years, Oldham have enjoyed Premier football,
cup semi-finals and looking around showed how well they had done as it never struck you as
a Premier town or ground. The ground itself is sparse and made you wonder how it staged
Premiership football. There is plenty of car parking but the ground is as basic as they
come, four corrugated type stands, one of them looking particularly rickety and
hospitality boxes that made City's box between the Canton Stand and Bob Bank look the
ultimate. The ground was all seater but nothing special, like Ninian, much of it was
nothing more than lumps of plastic and metal bolted onto terracing, certainly not worth
the £13 extortion we were charged to get in (usual thing, Oldham fans had similar seating
for £10/£11 - so much for same price for home/away fans).
The Cardiff end, behind one goal, was large and the support congregated in the middle of
it. Word went around that Oldham had fantastic toilets, by footie ground standards, so,
one by one, the support went to check them out. Amazing, 7 or 8 cubicles, urinals
everywhere, basins with soap, mirrors, hand dryers all of course enough to prompt the
chant "sh*t ground, nice bogs".
Unknown to City fans, the ground had passed a mid-morning pitch inspection but it must
have been a close call as the pitch that greeted us was horrendous. There had been a
deluge in the half hour before kick off but the pitch was covered in puddles and was a mud
bath in the centre of the pitch from one goal to the other. At kick off, fans were
speculating whether it could be finished, it really was that bad, but the rain stopped and
it did seem to drain but what a mess. Cardiff's midfield not only had to beat their Oldham
counterparts but ducks, mudlarks and fishermen digging for worms!
City had some problems as Perrett and Ford were both injured (how unusual) which probably
forced City to go 4-3-3 with Bowen playing behind the front pairing of Nugent and Brayson.
Nogan was substitute, it was assumed to be an injury, but it later transpired that Billy
preferred Brayson, it proved to be an inspired decision at 90 minutes. In midfield, Willie
Boland was rewarded for a fine display in the Caernarfon FA match by getting his first
start for a few months.
City went at Oldham from the off with Mark Bonner taking charge. One run saw him burst
through Oldham, he attempted to put Bowen clear but was stopped by a handball, Carpenter's
free kick was easily blocked.
Bonner, Boland and Bowen all looked comfortable and threatening in the conditions but the
rear was nervous and awful. It didn't help that the ball kept sticking in the middle but
play was poor too. The defence and Kelly looked especially ill at ease. Kelly put his
first three goal kicks straight out of play and on 6 minutes, it looked like early
disaster.
Shay Kelly failed to deal with a high cross under pressure, the ball dropped loose and
McNiven poked home. Last week, an inept linesman awarded an offside goal, luck equalled
itself, as the linesman this week ruled Kelly had been fouled. It seemed very harsh, most
would have awarded a fair goal. But it was a brief respite, following Carpenter narrowly
driving wide, Oldham took the lead on 15 minutes following another defensive nightmare.
Andy Legg was skinned by an average looking winger despite having 5 yards start but
recovered to concede a corner. From that, the ball ran loose, a "nothing" ball
was hit in, flicked on and, unbelievably, Oldham centre half Thom, was totally unmarked 4
yards out. He had no trouble turning the ball past Kelly. Some fans believed it was
offside but it was terrible defending, Willie Boland seemed to be having a go at Jeff
Eckhardt, and a desperate goal to concede.
Fans were wondering if Andy Legg was fit as minutes later, he was skinned again and had
not got over halfway in the opening 25 minutes. It proved to be due to City's formation
with just 2 central defenders as Legg eventually got involved at set pieces but he looked
awful in the opening period.
Being honest, most of the rest of the half was dismal to watch. What little football there
was came from Cardiff. They had players in midfield and attack to fight back but, given
the conditions, the tactics seemed to be all wrong. City were trying to string passes
together and move the ball about when it just wasn't possible on the surface. Young and
Eckhardt getting stuck in but full of mistakes giving palpitations to all. Shay Kelly, a
confidence player if ever there was one, decided it would be better to punch and crosses
rather than catch the greasy ball and he took heart from some great clearances under
pressure.
It was looking ominous, some discontent started with a few fans when, out of the blue,
City equalised with a goal to rank alongside any they have scored this season. It was the
best move of the match by far. City started at the back and moved the ball to Boland. Not
for the first time, he played an intelligent forward ball of the type rarely seen from
City's midfield to find Nugent in space on the edge of Oldham's area. Nugent briefly
thought he was Pele as he produced an outrageous back-heeled flick to cut apart Oldham's
defence and put Bowen clear. Without any hesitation, Bowen smacked the ball outside the
right side of the penalty area and the ball screamed as it hit the roof of the net with
Miskelly, in Oldham's goal, powerless to get anywhere near it, neither would have most
keepers on the plane.
The City support went mental in celebration of a wondrous goal and, of course, felt no
sympathy whatsoever for those fans who had disappeared early for their half-time cuppa -
especially those who are big and bald and called Mike Morris!
Within 30 seconds of the restart, the half-time whistle blew, the buzz was immense, the
team and the support were on a high. That goal was relived a few times but with news of
Oxford leading, it confirmed more than ever that 3 points was the only acceptable outcome.
Half-time Oldham Athletic 1 Cardiff City 1
Cardiff were totally in the ascendency as they tried to finish off Oldham who, in
fairness, had more than their fare share of injuries and it was disrupting them. The
centre half, Thom, a brick outhouse of a player, was now their target man in attack and
undoubtedly it benefited Cardiff too with Nugent starting to win the ball at will.
A flick of his, put Bonner into space wide and most City fans thought there was a
deliberate handball, the officials saw nothing, appeals from the players seemed
half-hearted too. Nugent next threatened to break through but was taken down just outside
the area. Bowen fizzed a drive across the goal but it was always flying over the bar.
For some reason, a BBC crew came to our end of the ground and started filming the support.
They could not have timed it better as City took the lead on 53 minutes, entirely
deserved, to send everyone into frenzy (from South Wales that is). As an away fan, is
anything better than your team scoring in front of your "end"?
City moved the ball well again but the difference yet again was Willie Boland playing
another excellent through ball to find Brayson on the edge of the area. Brayson spun and
broke clear of his marker to have a one-on-one opportunity. He shot low and hard, not the
best placed, but who cared as the ball somehow squirted between Miskelly's legs and into
the back of the net.
The support took off, many charged from the stands to the walkway at the front to
celebrate with the players. The BBC cameraman was almost trampled in the melee, just about
hung onto his camera, but must have got some great pictures. He soon disappeared probably
thinking to himself that he needs danger money before next filming happy Cardiff fans or
hoping that his next assignment was in safer territory ... such as a war zone!
The cries went up of "2-1 to the sheep sh*ggers" which amused the Oldham
faithful but there was no looking back as City were now in total control.
City were incisive and every time Bowen or Brayson ran at Oldham, they panicked. Bowen was
put clear by another Boland pass, again it has to be asked, why hasn't he shown these
capabilities this season until now?, but squared to Brayson rather than shoot and the
chance had gone.
Next move produced one of the more disgraceful decisions you are likely to see as Brayson,
receiving the ball wide, burst towards the area and was ghosting past a defender. In
desperation, a lunge took away Brayson's legs. Penalty, it had to be, but the ref seemed
to walk over towards the edge of the area. Players complained bitterly arguing that the
foul was inside the area as it seemed he was about to give a free kick outside but,
unbelievably, he gave Oldham a free kick and booked Brayson, presumably for diving. It
defied belief, the look of the faces of Oldham players suggested they knew they had got
lucky.
City threatened to score more goals and run away with the game but the support was tense
as everyone know how capable they are of messing it up too. Bowen broke through again,
evading a couple of challenges but his drive was straight at beaten away, Nugent narrowly
missing the rebound.
The last 20 minutes seemed like 200 as Oldham introduced all their substitutes and without
looking likely to score, it was nerve tingling.
Those nerves were more fraught as a ball swept across goal was headed powerfully but saved
by Kelly, to a huge roar, apparently with his knee. As it turned out, Kelly had to punch
and catch a couple but that was his only real action of the half.
In the closing stages, Cardiff were denied a third penalty appeal, the second obvious one
as Jason Bowen tore through Oldham's defence again, his shirt was tugged and pulled and
definitely hauled back. He managed to keep on his feet but if he had gone down, there
surely was only one decision, Bowen probably didn't want to risk it after what had
happened to Brayson. The effort was cut out but City fans were totally frustrated.
The final escape came almost on time as one last desperate attack saw an Oldham looping
header graze the top of the bar with Kelly either beaten or somehow knowing it was going
over. It was no place for the faint-hearted.
Two minutes of injury time somehow lasted almost four minutes but City played it out
comfortably, Brayson nearly scored after being put clear by Bowen. Every touch, pass and
tackle was cheered and then the final whistle blew - the relief was better than an enema.
The supporters clapped and cheered the players who had given everything in terrible
conditions and had thoroughly deserved their victory. It was "typical City" that
it was so close, they really should have won by 3-1 or 4-1 but it didn't matter at the
final whistle. Legg and Bowen in particular were celebrating with the support. It's
amazing to think that Frank Burrows had wasted Jason Bowen as an outright striker when his
true class and abilities have never been more obvious playing as a floating attacking
midfielder in recent weeks.
Then came the news that Oxford had failed to win at home, Scunnie and Blackpool had lost
and we were out of the relegation zone. In a nice contrast, Frank Burrows' West Brom had
lost too to fall into the Div 1 relegation zone - magic Frankie, just magic!
Singalong - Oh it's such a perfect day .....
One of the stranger facts is that Oldham have now lost more games than Cardiff in Division
2 this season but whilst City have been in, or just outside, the bottom 4, Oldham have
been comfortable in mid-table - they would have gone top 10 if they had won. Maybe the
message will register at Ninian that draws, we've had way too many of them in recent
seasons, achieve very little.
Monday's game is must win and City must break the mould and took the novel step of
following up a good result with ... another good result. Unbelievable to think we can do
it.
If you're reading this and thinking of staying at home or going out for the Bank Holiday,
then don't. Get down to Ninian and get behind your club. Div 3 is just too horrid to
contemplate, especially for travelling supporters who know that long trips like today will
become the norm again, never mind the standard of football, the dire grounds and no
atmosphere crowds. No, no, no, no, no, no, NO!
Bloooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooobirds.
Report from Jack + Kates Latics website.
Well it was better, but not by much.
We got absolutely soaked to the skin again, we
lost 2-1 to relegation candidates and we're not happy. Not happy at all.
Cardiff played well and deserve to get out of
jail for the effort they put in but Latics defence was again asleep when it mattered most.
Two defensive blunders, an appalling ref and a disallowed Blues goal all told the story of
a day when Latics dominated up to the time when Cardiff equalised but failed to
consolidate their lead.
Ritchie fielded what can only be described as
an experimental side. Either that or he's on something and I want some!!
Craig Dudley right wing back? Scott McNiven
left midfield? Stuart Thom striker? Look at the formation above - no I haven't made a
mistake - Central defender Thom upfront and Craig Dudley, arguably Blues best striker
-playing wing back.
"He's havin' a larf", we said when
we saw the team. But he wasn't and oddly enough, it almost worked. It was certainly good
enough to try again in different circumstances.
Blues came out of the traps at a gallop and it
appeared that we weren't going to have a repeat of Tuesday night when they put in no
effort whatsoever. They had the visitors on the back foot from the off and Whitehall came
close with a shot after only two minutes.
Latics continued to dominate and had the ball
in the net on 7 minutes when a Craig Dudley run down the right resulted in a cross to the
far post. Thom rose with the keeper, won the ball and headed it down for Scott McNiven to
prod home from point blank range. No goal said the ref, who blew for a foul on the keeper
by Thom, despite the linesman not flagging.
The ref had, up to this point, given every
decision to Cardiff who were diving and rolling around on the floor at every opportunity.
Latics on the other hand were being constantly fouled as they jumped for headers but the
ref conveniently ignored all of this. It was no surprise therefore when he found an excuse
to disallow the goal by blowing for a foul that no one else saw.
I quickly consulted my programme to see if he
was called Daffyd Llewellyn or something similar, but he wasn't. Perhaps he was Welsh on
his mother's side.
Never mind. Latics pressed on and eight
minutes later had the ball in the net again. Following a Phil Salt corner, the Bluebirds'
defence could only clear the ball as far as Lee Duxbury, hanging around just outside the
penalty area. Dux took the ball wide right and lobbed the ball back into the thick of the
action. Sean Garnett got the merest of flicks on the ball but it was enough to carry it on
to Stuart Thom, who was lurking far post. Thom made no mistake as he drilled the ball past
the hapless Seamus Kelly to give the Blues the lead.
All credit to Cardiff, they responded
immediately and pressed forward as they stepped up a gear. In appalling conditions, with
the centre of the park resembling a swamp, they played some decent stuff, passing the ball
around well on the difficult pitch. They were the better of the two sides in this spell
but they couldn't get through a resolute (for the moment) Latics defence and their chances
were limited to a couple of long range shots, one which whistled wide and another by
Carpenter which Miskelly fielded easily.
Latics were falling into the trap they fell
into on Tuesday whilst ahead, by underestimating the opposition. The Welshmen's reward for
their pressure came on the stroke of half time. After a clever one two between Jason Bowen
and Kevin Nugent, Nugent played a superb back heel into the path of Bowen for the latter
to lash an unstoppable rising shot past Miskelly whilst the Latics defence spectated. It
wasn't quite Raul and Redondo, but it was a division two equivalent and The Bluebirds
trooped off at half time deservedly on level terms.
We thought that Latics would come out with
ears ringing from Ritchie, but Cardiff took up where they left off. Sean Garnett was lucky
not to be penalised when the Cardiff team and all it's fans (and us!) saw him handle but
by now the ref had got over his jitters and seemed to be more even handed. Either that or
he was unsighted! Whatever - it made up for the disallowed first half goal.
Cardiff grabbed the lead on 51 minutes after
some more poor defending when an Andy Legg right wing cross was poorly cleared then
slotted back in to the box. Again the Blues defence failed to deal with the danger and
Paul Brayson latched on to the ball to fire under the diving Miskelly from the spot to
give Cardiff the lead and ultimately the points. He was hero turned villain 8 minutes
later when he was booked for a blatant dive but the damage had been done. Latics failed to
respond and had few further chances. McNiven put a cross behind, Steve Whitehall's free
kick whistled over the angle and a Sean Garnett header inched over the bar but the fight
back just didn't happen.
All credit to Cardiff. They won the game and
probably secured their second division future. As for Latics, Ritchie has some work to do.
Two home defeats by bottom 4 clubs in the space of four days. Get it sorted Andy. What
promised to be a glorious end to the season, with Latics finishing top 10 looks like
turning sour. We have 3 games left. Let's get it sorted now.
Report from Sports.com
Cardiff defied their lowly league position to post a
deserved victory at Boundary Park and give themselves a great chance of Second Division
survival.
A fourth away win of the season was sealed by
Paul Brayson - on loan from Reading - who was overjoyed with his first league goal for two
years.
The Bluebirds are now out of the bottom four and have a game in hand on their rivals.
They inflicted a tenth home defeat on Oldham, who were booed off by their disillusioned
fans.
Oldham thought they were in front after seven minutes when visiting goalkeeper Seamus
Kelly dropped Craig Dudley's high cross and Scott McNiven tapped in.
But referee Richard Beedy, rather harshly, penalised Stuart Thom for a foul on the
keeper, Cardiff responded well to their escape and Richard Carpenter shot just wide from
25 yards.
Oldham, however, grabbed the lead after 15 minutes through Thom, their defender turned
striker who was their one real success.
The attack began with a rapid burst by Dudley and, when the resulting corner was turned
back in, Steve Whitehall's flick gave Thom a six -yard tap-in at the far post.
Cardiff refused to lie down and were the better side without creating chances until
Jason Bowen bagged a brilliant equaliser in the 44th minute.
When the ball was played in from the Cardiff right, Kevin Nugent touched a clever
back-heel across the box.
It was met by the onrushing Bowen, who smashed a rising first-time pile-driver into the
net from 12 yards.
Bowen went close with a curling free-kick just after the break and Cardiff's momentum
proved unstoppable when they completed their comeback after 51 minutes.
The goal came when Willy Boland slid the ball into a ruck of players on the edge of the
box.
Brayson controlled, turned neatly and sent a low shot through goalkeeper David
Miskelly's legs from almost on the penalty spot.
After 59 minutes there was a change in fortune for Brayson as he was booked for diving
when he claimed Andy Holt had brought him down in the area.
Cardiff were still superior to their dishevelled hosts and Miskelly had to palm away
Bowen's 20-yarder.
There was a scare for the visitors after 74 minutes when a rare Oldham chance saw Thom
plant a header too close to the keeper.
Cardiff again responded well and could have had a penalty when Holt seem to pull back
Bowen.
Shaun Garnett headed over for Oldham, but Brayson's late chance was the best of the
closing stages.
Report from Teamtalk.
Stuart Thom's opener only acted as a prelude to a spirited Cardiff fightback as Oldham
succumbed to a 2-1 defeat.
The difference between the two teams could have been the simple fact that Oldham had
nothing concrete to play for, but stand-in striker Thom justly opened the scoring after
earlier being responsible for a disallowed goal.
Scott McNiven thought he'd given Athletic the lead only for the referee to award a
free-kick for a foul committed by Thom on Cardiff 'keeper Seamus Kelly, as the central
defender attempted to meet Craig Dudley's eighth minute cross.
Seven minutes later Cardiff were punished for their failure to clear a corner sufficiently
and once Lee Duxbury prodded the ball back into the danger zone, the writing was on the
wall as Shaun Garnett diverted the ball towards the far post. There, Thom applied the
decisive touch to give Oldham the lead.
Cardiff's response was immediate but the visitors were restricted to a couple of
speculative, long-range efforts from Richard Carpenter. One was driven well wide of the
upright and the other caused David Miskelly no problems as he made an easy save.
Midway through the first half, Cardiff visibly stepped up a gear as they seemed to
remember the precarious position they still find themselves in. Slowly they began to
assert a degree of authority on the game and inevitably the equaliser came on the stroke
of half-time courtesy of Jason Bowen.
The goal itself was a direct result of some intricate interplay between Bowen and Kevin
Nugent. Ultimately, Nugent should be given huge credit for the manner in which he placed
perfect weight on his back-heeled pass into the path of Bowen, who applied the finish the
move deserved.
The second-half commenced as the first ended with the visitors taking the lead courtesy of
on-loan striker Paul Brayson. The home crowd had already endured one particularly anxious
moment courtesy of what appeared to be a Garnett handball. However, the majority of
Bounday Park were soon left horrified at Oldham's failure to deal adequately with Andy
Legg's cross from the right hand side.
Their fears were justified when the ball fell to Brayson who squeezed the ball under the
body of David Miskelly.
Brayson was booked for diving as he sought the penalty which could have established an
unassailable 3-1 lead. The lead could have been legitimately extended nine minutes from
time when another piece of exemplary Nugent - Bowen interplay came to nothing.
Two minutes later the hosts staged one further push for an equaliser when Garnett rose to
meet Whitehall's dangerous free-kick, but to City's relief, the ball flew inches over the
bar.
The eventual final whistle was greeted with huge sighs of relief from the Cardiff
personnel and prompted delirium among the healthy number of travelling supporters.
Andy Ritchie meanwhile must reflect on a week which has seen his team lose twice at home
and attempt a more fruitful conclusion to the season. |
(Graham 50)