Tues 14th Dec 1999

Sub not used
Abraham

Report by NigelBlues
For 70 minutes tonight, those at Ninian wondered why they had bothered. Frank Burrows didn't bother, presumably he was scouting again. Someone should tell him he's getting a bit old for tying knots and rubbing two sticks together. Billy Ayre was so cold, he wore a thicker jacket than usual and even had his socks pulled up, still had the shorts on though. Yet again, the FAW Premier Cup was anything but Premier, another sorry match and City performance.

Then enter Josh Low and Jason Fowler and bang, bang, bang, City win comfortably and are through to the next phase of the competition. You just wouldn't have believed it watching all that went before.

For a change, City fielded as strong a team as they could muster in this competition. City wanted to give first team players, who have been inactive for a week after the Bolton postponement, a run out.

Some cosmetic changes at Ninian as the back of the Grange End is now adorned with huge Acorn Recruitment signs to go with Ford and Eckhardt representing Acorn Antiques in front of it! A cosmetic change on the pitch as Winston Faerber became the latest player to shave all his hair off. But there were three blonde haired, blue eyed boys in Legg, Carpenter and Humphreys which probably made the German Jorn Schwinkendorf feel at home for his Cardiff City debut.

Jorn is indeed a big lad, so big that his Super Furry shirt almost looked like a boob tube on him and painfully skinny in a Posh Spice type way. That lad needs to discover Clarks Pies and Brains Dark. He runs very strangely (looks like Big Bird, runs like Big Bird), looked comfortable on the ball and got some good tackles and touches but also looked lost at times with some awful positional sense. He was regularly out of formation with Ford and Eckhardt and there is clearly work to do but a bit to early to make a proper assessment other than say you can understand why Frankie believes he is not ready for regular first team action just yet.

The first half is a blur and instantly forgettable. It was the familiar story of City having possession but hardly ever looking like scoring. Richey Humphreys had a battle with the Merthyr defenders all night and tried both close range flicks and long range efforts that unfortunately flew straight at Merthyr's keeper, Thomas. The best chance of the half fell to Bonner but he was too slow to react to a cross that surprisingly fell at his feet 5 yards out which bounced off him and away.

Most of the half, City were way too elaborate and trying to walk it through the Merthyr defence and into goal. Jason Bowen was the best player on the pitch and everything seemed to involve him but yet again, when it really mattered, in the area, it never really happened. Bowen was close with one shot and there were further efforts from Carpenter and an excellent curling free kick from Andy Legg which drifted narrowly wide. For all these efforts however, none forced Thomas into real saves.

Merthyr played neat football, were well organised. Not many old Ninian faces on display as Cohen Griffith was a substitute, Tony Bird is cup tied, Gareth Abraham was absent (injured?) and Manager Jimmy Mullen was sadly at his father's funeral. Their only efforts of the half were a good move through the middle which saw Hallworth do well to beat away a snapshot from 15 yards. A free kick near half time sailed harmlessly over the bar.

Half time and getting colder City 0 Merthyr 0

It was now getting more interesting to discuss what shopping was left to do before Christmas than watch events on the pitch. The only points to talk about were some terrible refereeing decisions by Mr Collins, who like his linesmen, were from Swansea. Surprise, surprise, he didn't do Cardiff too many favours. Just to rub it in, his initials spelled JAC!

It needed a goal to prevent mass rigamortis in the Family Enclosure and Grandstand, the shock was that it came from Merthyr after they won their only corner of the match. From a Bluebird point of view, it was another conceded due to a defensive nightmare.

Darren Ryan drifted a perfectly harmless ball into the middle where it fell between Merthyr's 5'5" Gary Shepperd and City's 6'5" Jorn Schwinkendorf towards the near post. Shwinky showed himself to be less able in the air than his German compatriot, The Red Baron, as Shepperd won the challenge without really having to get off the ground. His header looped across goal and fell into the corner with Hallworth rooted. The Martyr's 50 or so fans were rapturous. Meanwhile, City's defence stood around looking at each other - exactly as they did when the corner came over funnily enough.

The players on the field appeared incapable of raising their game and it was clearly time for change. One advantage of Frankie being absent was that this meant we didn't have to wait until the final 15 minutes for it to happen tonight. Just after the hour, an ineffectual Faerber was replaced by Josh Low who proved that his stirring substitute appearance at Northampton last week was no fluke. He was danger every time he had the ball, his passing and crossing were classy and he gave City options on the right wing that had not been there at all in the previous 60 minutes.

Minutes later, Fowler and Boland were brought on for Bonner and Brazier. Jason Fowler, for one of the few occasions this season, was used in his best and natural attacking midfielder role and the game finally woke up with it. Low first created for Bowen to shoot wide when it looked a goal all the way.

City having failed to take advantage of Neil Thomas' 2nd half performance when he appeared to be the dodgiest of all dodgy keepers to have visited Ninian in a while, as he missed and dropped crosses every time they came near him, finally capitalised on 79 minutes. Just as supporters were drifting away in despair at another home flop.

An excellent Low cross either deceived Thomas or, more likely, he totally missed his punch towards his near post. Fowler was lurked behind him and probably couldn't believe his luck as he stroked the ball into an unguarded goal from 6 yards.

Fowler, looking super confident, was toying with the Merthyr rearguard and spraying passes everywhere or leaving players in his wake. On the wing, Low was doing exactly the same. Two minutes later, the pair linked again to put unbelievably put City ahead.

Low received the ball wide, looked up and saw Fowler free on the opposite side. He drilled a ball across the surface which Fowler controlled, moved in, stepped inside his marker and as another defender approached him, he unleashed a rising drive into the net for a superb finish from 20 yards. Critics could unkindly say Thomas helped by sinking to his knees but it was the best moment of the match, by far.

There was only one winner now. City were buzzing, the passing and movement were excellent, Merthyr had gone and looked dazed that a game they had fought so hard for had drifted away from them in moments.

City capped an amazing final 11 minutes by getting a third goal at the close of the game. It was a give-away but again, it was due to excellent Josh Low play as he beat his man and delivered a cross. Neil Thomas should have taken it under little pressure but somehow spilled it behind him, and this time, Jason Bowen came in to head home from 3 yards just in front of a Merthyr boot.

The scoreline flattered City but it had all changed on 2 players and 2 substitutions. Low looked superb going forward and created infinitely more havoc in his spell than Faerber managed all night. He certainly stated his case for a full start at right wing back but this was a game City were chasing and he never had to show his defensive side. Fowler was irresistible but we all know he's capable of doing this when he's in the mood.

A great ending to the game and credit to City for the fightback. But apart from those closing minutes, those who stayed in tonight or regularly stay away from FAW Premier Cup games wouldn't have had too many regrets.

Report from Phil Stead.
Cardiff City qualified for the quarter finals of the FAW Premier Cup tonight with a flattering 3-1 victory over a hard-working Merthyr side who have now won just one of their last eight games. Only 753 souls braved the first frost of the Winter, and the 50 who had travelled down the A470 must have thought their journey would be fruitless when they saw that Cardiff were fielding their strongest side. Mike Ford replaced Andy Legg as captain, and there was a debut for Jorn Schwinkendorf. at central defence. To describe Schwinke is easy; imagine Jeff Echardt after half an hour on a medieval stretching rack, and you've got it. There was a return to Cardiff for Tom Ramasut, with Tony Bird cup-tied and on-loan Keith Walker gone back West. City started brightly and there were close efforts from Carpenter and one from Bowen which skimmed past Neil Thomas' right hand post and rebounded off the giant new advertising hoarding situated directly behind the Grange End goal. Schwinkendorf had a good start. He was imposing and solid, making a crucial saving tackle on Chris Sloan after 9 minutes. Merthyr settled and began to make an impression on the game with Hallworth saving well from ex-Ton Pentre forward Gary Shepherd, who had ghosted past Schwinke a little too easily. The Merthyr fans had warmed up and their team were enjoying a period of dominance, as Carter and Loss bossed the midfield. The elegant Carter shot narrowly over after 20 minutes. Jason Bowen was looking a class above everybody on the pitch and seemed to have plenty of time when he was in possession. The final edge was missing though, and soon after placing a shot wide, he spoiled some inventive approach work when his poor pull back from the by-line allowed Merthyr to clear when a better final ball would have meant a certain goal. The game now had the air of a practise match, with only Merthyr's Andy Power up for some physical contact. Chris Sloan was replaced by Darren Ryan in the 40th minute and he almost made an immediate impression when his free kick drifted inches over after the ineffective Faerber had needlessly nudged him in the back. Schwinkendorf showed a touch of class in the final minute of the half when he dispossessed Shepherd and turned nicely before bringing the ball away confidently.

H-T Cardiff City 0-0 Merthyr Tydfil

The first ten minutes of the second half were unmemorable as Merthyr dug in and denied Cardiff any space to play. Then on 54 minutes Shepherd found himself one-on-one with Hallworth who did well to concede the corner. It was Carter who took the inswinger from the Merthyr left and Shepherd nodded in a free near-post header even though he was a foot shorter than our new German centre half. Maybe Frank's concerns about language and communication problems were borne out. Merthyr didn't sit back on the lead and were now playing with confidence and a minute later Shepherd had a chance to make it 2-0, but over-elaborated when well placed. Merthyr fans were making a lot of noise and even their Chairman, Owen Money was shouting his support from the Director's Box. After 62 minutes came the substitution which changed the game. Faerber had delivered only 2 crosses all game and he was replaced by Josh Low, who moved onto the wide right to make a 4-3-3 formation as Merthyr were now offering no threat and were happy to defend their lead with numbers behind the ball. Immediately things improved for Cardiff, as Low equalled Faerber's cross-count within his first minute on the pitch. 10 minutes later, Billy Ayre brought on Fowler and Boland for Brazier and Bonner. Fowler started on the left of midfield, taking up a much more advanced position than his recent deep-lying role. And it worked. This was the Fowler vintage of 1998. He was running at Merthyr's tiring defence and causing all sorts of problems. On 79 minutes Jeff Eckhardt's through ball found an overlapping Josh Low whose floated cross looked to be covered by Neil Thomas until the voluble Craig Lima hampered him. Fowler bundled the ball home in front of an open goal from 6 yards. There was only going to be one winner now as Low and Fowler were creating havoc for the Merthyr defence. The ironically named Low offers City an extra option on the back post which he showed with a couple of headers that nearly brought a return. It was he who set up City's winner, finding a grateful Fowler in yards of space on the Merthyr penalty spot. Fowler's ancestors would have been plucking turkeys at this time of year, but he wasn't thinking about Christmas when he smashed his shot straight down the middle of the Canton Stand goal. The small crowd celebrated loudly after taking a ribbing from the Merthyr fans who had been chanting "What a waste of money". Merthyr were understandably dispirited after having matched City for most of the game and when Humphrey's final-minute cross was tipped onto Jason Bowen's head by the unfortunate Thomas, their sense of injustice was complete. Andy Legg was voted MOM by match sponsors Jack Brown Bookmakers, though I thought he had a quiet game by his standards and would have given it to Josh Low for his very effective half hour. His performance causes a problem for Frank as Low surely deserves a starting place at Burnley. However the only way to accommodate him without playing 4-3-3 would be to use him out wide in a 4-4-2 formation. And as Frank would say - "This system's not for changing."

Observations by Huw Owen.

The script for this game was taken off the same shelf as most of our preceding games - City dominate most of the game, play very pretty football up to the last third, then contrive to do everything they individually and collectively can do not to put the ball in the back of the net. Then, as usual, we give a stupid goal away - usually from a cross or a corner, with people not being picked up in the box. Tonight, it was from a corner, with the Merthyr striker left unchallenged within the six yard box. Was it Shrunkendwarf, or Eckhardt, or Ford or anyone else at fault ? Maybe - but as a non practising member (retired) of the goalkeeper's union, you have to question our Jon. OK, every now and again, a defender will screw up and get shaken off by his marker - but the keeper has got to boss the defenders at set pieces, tell them who to pick up, put men on the posts etc. Maybe I'm being totally unfair - but I suspect our Jon doesn't do this as properly as he should do. Is he as loud and as nasty as other keepers when setting up the defensive wall ? Do we see him pushing, shoving, pointing and shouting at his defenders when we line up to defend a corner ? Maybe I'm doing the guy a great injustice - on the other hand, look at how many soft goals we've let in at corners over the past couple of seasons. OK - the jury's out on this - but I'll take some convincing to change my vote.

I disagree with Phil on one major point - I think many of our attacks tonight (and this season) break down with Bowen - his intuitive reaction when he gets the ball going forward towards goal is to go sideways or backwards - hence we look so pretty getting to within 30 yards of our opponents goal, and then suddenly we become cramped and the ball is played sideways, backwards etc. He is not alone in his culpability - Faerber, Bonner, Carpenter, Brazier (and there's more to this story !) are just as guilty - except Jason is meant to be a Centre Forward for goodness sake ! In the second half, I counted four separate occasions when Bowen had the ball going forward at the defence, and he either passed sideways, ran across goal, or turned backwards. Don't get me wrong - the man is a little gem - but I think a position wide, or just behind the front two would make much better use of his pace and his trickery - but a position behind the front two would mean Frankie changing formation, and the wide right berth really would screw up the chances of the man who, as Phil rightly says, changed the game for us tonight - as he did when he came on at Northampton last week. Low was immense (in comparison to dear Winston) again tonight - beating his man by dribbling past him, through sheer pace, by body swerving, and every other trick in the book - outside, inside, whatever he fancied. As with last week, we didn't see him tested defensively - but hell's bells, Winston is no Mike England in the defensive stakes either is he ? As Phil said, he also adds a dimension in the air, he can play equally well, it seems, with either foot, and has a shot like a mule in both. We've heard rumours that Low may have a perspicacity to flatter to deceive - but the guy's on fire at the moment, so make the most of him whilst he's on form.

Exactly the same goes for Fowler - we all know Jason "hot and cold" - but he's well hot at the moment, so he, along with Low, ought to start on Saturday.

Shrunkendwarf was promising - but he was hardly under consistent pressure tonight. He won his fair share in the air, but what worried me was the little things that don't make the headlines - like a couple of times he over committed himself (we already have Sir Jeffrey Bravehardt in the side to do that thank you !) and was way out of position, like the couple of times he put long, hopeful passes straight to the opposition, like the couple of times he put long passes straight to the man, rather than five yards in front of him - player therefore waiting for the ball to come to him rather than running on to it, therefore losing momentum - and like the One time when he came up for a set piece, had virtually a free header from around the penalty spot, at a perfect height, and somehow managed to hit the ball with his arse - now I know he's tall but.....

And then, what I haven't mentioned, is the last fifteen minutes when we were majestic, scored three, could have scored six - Fowler, Low and Boland obviously brought the wrong last few pages of the script on - City just don't do this, turning classy football into pressure, and then into goals - or do they ?

Report from Total Wales
JASON FOWLER left the substitutes’ bench at Ninian Park last night to score twice in three minutes and earn City the victory that virtually assures them of a place in the quarter-finals of the FAW Premier Cup.

Midfielder Fowler scored in the 79th and 81st minutes - both from corners by fellow substitute Josh Low - to overturn Merthyr’s lead and stake his claim for a Second Division recall against Burnley at Turf Moor on Saturday.

Gary Shephard had headed the Martyrs into the lead after 55 minutes to raise hopes of them registering their first win in the competition.

The former Ton Pentre forward rose above a City defence including 6ft 5in debutant Jorn Schwinkendorf to convert Danny Carter’s inswinging corner.

Early City pressure created openings for Richard Carpenter to volley wide and Matthew Brazier to shoot at ’keeper Neil Thomas.

But the Dr Martens League Premier Division side went closest to opening the scoring. Shephard moved on to a piercing pass from Tom Ramasut to force a diving save from Jon Hallworth.

Carter went close with a shot on the turn and Jeff Eckhardt had to make a goal-line clearance to deny Richard Gardner after 20 minutes.

Shephard’s clever run past Schwinkendorf produced the corner from which Merthyr scored their first away goal in the competition.

City’s introduced three substitutes during the second half and two of them were involved in the goals which earned the victory that lifted the Bluebirds to the top of Group B.

If Fowler’s equaliser was no more than a tap-in from Low’s cross that eluded Thomas, the second was a spectacular rising effort.

Jason Bowen added City’s third with a close-range header.

Report from Daily Mirror

JASON FOWLER stepped from the subs' bench to rescue Cardiff from an another night of FAW Premier Cup embarrassment.

With just 18 minutes left the part-timers from the Dr Martens League were hanging grimly to a 1-0 lead when Fowler, Cardiff's most skilful player, was belatedly sent on.

He made his presence felt in the best possible way by scoring twice in as many minutes to bring relief to a side in grave danger of disaster.

Cardiff had already been beaten by League of Wales outfit Barry Town in the competition this season.

When Gary Shephard cleverly headed Merthyr into the lead in the 55th minute it seemed another upset was on the cards - against a Cardiff first-team line-up seeking match practice after their FA Cup tie at Bolton was rained off.

Fowler's first goal, 11 minutes from time, was gifted to him by a calamitous error from Merthyr keeper Neil Thomas who dropped a cross from Josh Low at his feet.

The second was superbly taken, as he cut inside a defender and left Thomas helpless with a fierce cross drive.

Poor Thomas boobed again in injury time to present Cardiff's third to Jason Bowen when he fumbled another cross.

Report from Teamtalk.
Two goals from Jason Fowler and a third from Jason Bowen turned a 1-0 defecit into a 3-1 win in the FAW cup at Ninian Park. Fowler came off the bench to score two goals in as many minutes to give Cardiff a victory in this Group B match. In a very uneventful first half it was the visitors who had the better chances. Jeff Eckhardt had to make a last ditch tackle to deny Gary Sheppard and he was also in the right place at the right time when he cleared off the line from Sheppard again. The visitors deservedly went ahead ten minutes into the second half. The dangerous Sheppard headed in a Danny Carter corner. The Bluebirds seemed to be heading for defeat until Frank Burrows introduced Jason Fowler. On 79 minutes Low's crossed from the left, Neil Thomas in the Merthyr goal missed it and Fowler tapped the ball in. Two minutes later Fowler set off on a run. He beat two defenders and hit a fifteen yard shot passed Thomas. Cardiff wrapped up the game in the last minute when Jason Bowen headed in from close range.