The build up to today’s return to Cardiff City Stadium after a long absence to take on Mansfield revolved around the question “who replaces Rubin Colwill in the number 10 position?” Once the confirmation had been received that he would, in all likelihood, be out for ten weeks if he did not have an operation following the ankle ligament injury he suffered last week at Northampton and twelve weeks if he did, it seemed everyone was coming forward with their own answers to the question.
Chris Willock, Joel Colwill, David Turnbull, Omari Kellyman, Alex Robertson, Cian Ashford and Callum Robinson were all mentioned as contenders. However, in the end, Brian Barry-Murphy opted for what was probably the most attacking option and picked the last named to play behind Yousef Salech and also captain the team.
Robinson, who did not get on to the pitch at Northampton, was far from the only change from last week as Perry Ng, Dylan Lawlor, David Turnbull and Cian Ashford, who did not even make last week’s match day squad, came into the starting line up..
Ashford was to the fore early on with a dangerous cross across the face of the visitor’s goal and, after a quiet spell following that scare for Mansfield, City gradually took charge of proceedings. This coincided with someone who, as far as I’m aware, was not suggested as our new number 10 becoming a big influence on the game with some lovely passing which opened the opposition’s defence up on quite a few occasions.
I’m not going to say we would not have gone down if Ryan Wintle had been with us last season, but when he plays like he did today, the decision to loan him out looks ludicrous. Okay, I get there was a seeming clash of personalities with Erol Bulut and I’ve heard the rumours about him being a disruptive influence, but when you think that Bulut was sacked six games into the campaign, maybe whatever grievances Wintle had were justified?
Anyway, Wintle is an important member of this season’s squad and today he showed an uncanny knack of being able to find Salech with defence splitting passes. There must have been four or five of them and, while none of the opportunities the striker was given from them could be called sitters, you do feel that something tangible should have come from at least one of them.
The best chance for me was from a far post header which Salech put into the side netting when he should at least have forced the goalkeeper into a save. With other misses in the second half to be taken into consideration, you could see why Salech is the one out of the top scorers in the division who is rated as having missed the most “big chances” this season by the statisticians and analysts. Salech got his goal today, but he should be celebrating at least a hat trick tonight.
Besides the Wintle to Salech supply line, David Turnbull produced two pretty outrageous shots which forced keeper Liam Roberts into the first two of what became a series of good saves.
For the first one, the Scot tried a a Whittingham like shot from a free kick out close to the bye line not too far from the corner flag which Roberts kept out, but the ball bounced free across goal with Lawlor and Salech just unable to turn it home from no more than a yard out. Turnbull’s second effort was from about thirty five yards and was destined for the top corner only for Roberts to keep it out with a flying save.
City were not to be denied though and from the resultant corner they got the goal which, in truth, had been coming for ten minutes or more.
City owed a debt to Mansfield for some poor defending of the set piece, but Joel Bagan’s corner to the near post was beautifully delivered and Will Fish got himself free of his marker to nod in from eight yards.
The remaining ten minutes or so of the first half was seen off comfortably by City who had dominated with Bagan, playing his hundredth game for the club, and Ashford turning in strong performances alongside Wintle.
For their part, Mansfield played through City nicely on a couple of occasions with our press lacking the snap it can possess with Rubin at the heart of it and, although Robinson certainly didn’t play poorly, I don’t think he made an overwhelming case to be the older Colwill’s replacement.
There was no end product behind Mansfield’s neat passing though and they needed to find a cutting edge after the break if they were to have any hopes of getting anything out of the game.
To a small degree, the visitors did that as ex City youngster Deji Oshilaja forced Nathan Trott into his one serious save of the afternoon and former Newport striker Will Evans turned a header from a corner wide from inside the six yard box, but, rather like at Northampton, a triple substitution around the hour mark changed the nature of the game in City’s favour.
Isaak Davies, Robinson and Ng (all of whom turned in solid seven out of ten performances) made way for Willock, Joel Colwill and Ronan Kpakio. Willock and Kpakio went into their normal positions, but the younger Colwill became the second one to play in his brother’s position and, although he didn’t do anything really eye catching with the ball, our press improved no end as Joel applied his running power and stamina to good effect and the chances came thick and fast as Mansfield struggled to cope.
Clearly, tiredness on Mansfield’s part had something to do with it, but there were plenty more goals to be had than the two we managed in the last half an hour of the game.
In saying that, Mansfield were definitely still in the game going into the last twenty minutes, but then a truly outstanding goal created by our two teenage Welsh internationals gave us the breathing space we needed.
Lawlor looked in danger of losing the ball as he dwelt on it looking for a pass forward, but I should have had more confidence in him as he picked out Kpakio with a superb ball knocked down the right. For a second time, I was fooled by a City youngster as, for a split second I thought Kpakio’s first time connection with the ball was an attempt to lob Roberts that was going wide, but no sooner had that thought formed than I realised it was a cross to the unmarked Salech who headed in his eighth goal of the season at the far post from six yards.
It really was a superbly constructed goal which showcased the facets of their games which make Lawlor and Kpakio so special at this level especially. In the case of the latter, Ng showed at times while he was on that he is a better option in some aspects of right back play, but we don’t score that goal with Ng in that position.
Within seconds, Roberts presented Salech with the ball twelve yards out for what seemed to be an inevitable goal only for the keeper to redeem himself by remarkably getting down to turn Salech’s shot aside, but it really should have been 3-0 and would have been if Salech had lifted it a yard or so over the prone keeper..
Salech probably should have buried Bagan’s fine cross a few minutes later as well, but, again, Roberts denied him. Then Lawlor’s header from a corner was turned aside by the keeper.
When Roberts was beaten for the third time, he must have cursed his bad luck. Sub Alex Robertson brought a twenty five pass movement to an end with a great ball which nutmegged a defender from five yards to leave Ashford through on goal, the keeper was able to block the shot only for it to roll towards the net allowing Ashford to nudge the ball home from about a yard for the goal his performance deserved.
So, City return to the top with one of their best performances of the season, admittedly against opponents suffering an injury crisis, and it was reassuring to see that we seem to have enough about us to cover for the loss of what many consider to be our most important player.
Defeats for both the under 21s and under 18s in the last two days, a Mannie Barton goal couldn’t prevent the former losing 3-1 at Burnley yesterday in the EPL Cup, while the latter followed up their heavy Cup loss to Swansea last week with a 3-0 away loss to the same opposition at lunchtime today.
Meanwhile, Treherbert Boys and Girls Club remain rooted to the bottom of the Ardal South West League after going down 4-2 at home to Goytre United.
A fine report Paul.
Your comments on Wintle make me again accuse BBM of total dereliction of duty. For a bloke who allegedly LIVES soccer 24/7, it is shocking that he did not do the hard yards and check out the record of Ryan Wintle at Cardiff City. If he had, he would realise that whilst Bulut may indeed have done his bit to hinder Ryan’s progression, the biggest guilt at CCS must be accepted by the egregious Mick McCarthy.
What is the betting that when we recently were humiliated at Bloomfield Road, BBM had no idea that his unused* sub that day was someone Blackpool fans revered?
*’unused’… God help us. Beaten 3-1 by a team who were crushed 0-3 at home by READING yesterday… a team who at the time of kick off yesterday were 3 points below Mansfield in the bottom half of our division… and are now still one place below.
Blackpool fielded the exact same side that took us to the cleaners, yet despite getting 63% possession they were demolished by Reading.
I sincerely hope that the 3 points BBM threw away at Blackpool, do not come back to haunt us at the end of the season.
I urge MAYA readers to study my detailed ‘facts of the matter’ in my comments below your report here…
https://tinyurl.com/57kpneuw
TTFN,
Dai.
Just heard the news about Billy Bonds. He was the most COMPLETE central midfielder I ever saw: amazing to think he never got a full England cap.
I first set eyes on him on a visit to my favourite London stadium of my youth: The Valley.
This was in the days before segregation of fans, and I used to delight in standing high up on the halfway line in what was then the biggest and steepest ‘kop’ in all England. I first became enchanted with it as a schoolboy watching Eddie Firmani cause us grief, but when I went there on Tuesday September 14th 1965, he’d been succeeded by Ron Saunders (later to become more famous as a manager).
We were again beaten… this time 5-2… our goals (I think?) coming from Harkin and Johnston.
But two teenagers ran the show that night in 1965… their marauding 18 year old buccaneer of a right back, (10 months my senior), and their gifted 17 year old inside left (6 months my junior).
Billy Bonds and Alan Campbell respectively.
11 years later, the latter came to us to help us get out of the third tier… and I well remember the goal he scored to add to Doug Livermore’s in that crunch game against Hereford.
But going back to the mid 60s… I seem to recall we had another even bigger beating there in the September the following season… (we still shipped 5 but did not score) with the two teenage sensations again standing out… particularly Billy… who was everywhere on the pitch.
Now fast-forward about 12 years to the summer of circa 1978. I am working as a travelling wine salesman and find myself turning a corner and walking into Eltham High Street and virtually bumping into an instantly recognisable young super handsome Adonis clad in a T-shirt and jeans, out shopping with his wife and two young kids… and taking up most of the hot sunny pavement.
I stepped out into the gutter with an ‘oops, sorry’… and he smiled and acknowledged my action with a sotto voce ‘thanks’… and that folks was the nearest I got to a footballing ‘force of nature’.
But if anyone ever asks me ‘did the late great Billy Bonds ever speak to you?’, I can say… ‘well I would not be telling a lie if I did say he aimed a word in my direction’…!!
DW.
Thank-you for your latest reflections on the Mansfield (h) game, Paul. Not surprisingly, with a team managed by the son of Brian, the game, thankfully, was one that featured more of the Corinthian spirit than some we have seen this season.
There are questions that we ponder in life and few pose them with more eloquence than songwriters. Sandy Denny [most notably on the 1969 Fairpirt Convention album, ‘Unhalfbricking’] used her skills to pose the question,”Who knows where the time goes?” Chicago [on their 1970 album, ‘Chicago Transit Authority’] likewise asked, “Does anybody really know what time it is?” Yip Harburg, in the song made famous by Judy Garland, queried, “Why couldn’t he fly, like birds, over the rainbow?” I wonder what these three songwriters would have made of the subject matter: “Why have I supported Cardiff City for approaching seven decades considering the few seasons of meaningful success?”
During much of the Club’s history it’s been akin to watching a weight lifter trying to thread frayed cotton through the eye of a needle. Whilst attending games it’s often been all huff and puff and little ecstasy. Most seasons and games have simply joined the haze over Sloper Road. Forgotten into the collective. But occasionally, just occasionally, a blinding shaft of light breaks through the gloom.
Cardiff City’s second goal on Saturday was one such moment: a shaft of sunlight that instantly dispersed the mist in a new clarity. The goal was a thing of absolute beauty. Lawlor’s equisite 50 yd pass to Kpakio, so well weighted that the young full back met it in his stride, chose the correct moment to place an inch perfect cross to where the on-rushing Salech would clinically head home, from the back-post some 6 yds out, into the roof of the Canton goal. Memories of Toshack, Clark and Warboys all rolled into one.
It was Nigel Clough’s father who once said, “All goals are good goals.” Just occasionally Clough Snr is proved wrong. If there ever was a case for giving a greater reward for a single goal, City’s second was it.
This could not be coached. It was as instinctive and precise a goal as you could ever wish to see. City fans, as one, all stood and gave full voice in their wild and spontaneous celebration. I don’t think it excessive to say it was almost a glimpse of something from another world. It is these things of rare beauty, these things that remain in our consciousness, that keep us hoping during the dark days.
David Ackles, on his 1972 album, ‘American Gothic,’ wrote:
“But I hold on to my dreams anyway
I’ll never let them die.
They keep me going through the bad times,
While I dream of the good times coming by.”
A thing of beauty is the only panacea for supporters of Cardiff City.
Thanks both for the replies. Dai, I can’t agree with your opinion of our manager/head coach. If I accept that he cost us the Blackpool game (which I don’t really), I would counter by saying that his substitutions have helped turn a potential defeat into a victory against Leyton Orient, a draw into a win against Reading, a draw into a win at Northampton and on Saturday they helped swing the game back in our favour at a time when Mansfield were having their best spell of the match – that’s just off the top of my head, I’d probably be able to find other examples if I looked into it..
I think BBM is well in credit overall this season and my biggest bugbear with him is how he changes the centreback pairing all of the time. Apart from that though, I would say that he is a big step up from what we have got used to since Neil Warnock left and would urge you to watch this really good interview with him last week – the interview takes up the second half of the podcast, but the whole thing is a good watch if you want to see the lot of it;-
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=fuecebvIAKg&t=4217s
Agree with you about Mick McCarthy’s decision to loan Wintle to Blackpool though. I have heard that McCarthy became convinced that Sam Bowen could do a better job in the role that had been earmarked for Wintle and with a need to cut the wage bill, he decided to let his new signing go for the first half of the the season. What I will say about that is that I had high hopes for Bowen who I thought was the most likely to make the grade out of the group he played his youth football with, but I notice that on Saturday, he was on the bench for Solihull Moors – I feel like asking what went wrong with his career, but I think you always have to bear in mind what has happened to his father who was always there watching Sam, and his older brother Jaye, at under 18 games I attended.
We had a chat on here about Billy Bonds a few months back didn’t we. “Force of nature” is a good way to describe him as he appeared to be indestructible in his playing days. Although I seem to remember that you mentioned that he was not well at the time of our online exchange about him, I still find hard to take in that he is no longer with us – quite what he would have made of the antics of Mr Paqueta on Sunday, I dread to think!
Steve, I love the “watching a weight lifter trying to thread cotton through the eye of a needle” line and the way you talk about the second goal on Saturday. Here’s another video worth a watch (or at least the first few minutes of it). although, unusually for him, Ali Maxwell makes a mistake when he said Kpakio took a touch before crossing, the fact that he didn’t only makes the goal more impressive. There’s also a nice bit about Cian Ashford after he finishes talking about Lawlor and Kpakio.
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Aqn5kcO1IcI&t=493s
You make some good points Paul, and I liked your two links. Coincidentally, I had just finished watching your 2nd one about 5 minutes before reading your above comments in MAYA.
The first one though was new to me and indeed illuminating. And I will give BBM full marks for his clear sense of purpose… although he disappoints me as a speaker in that I so love the lyricism of the County Cork accent, and it disappoints me that BBM speaks in a strange series of sudden rushes where he does not clearly articulate his words. Oh for the measured delivery of a Fiona Shaw or even the frenetic (but clearly articulated) pace of a Graham Norton.
But I will doff my hat to BBM in that he clearly shows a commitment to our club, and real drive. Contrast this to the new love in my life: P.A.F.C.
The Pieface and Cornish Janner vlogs have completely stolen my heart. Gee, I think if I were a younger man I might move to Plymouth.
I avidly watch their vlogs now… and the You Tube algorithms are such, that it also serves me up everything Argyll-related.
And that includes Tom Cleverly’s press conferences. Oh my giddy aunt…what an uninspiring chap he is. God bless us for having someone in BBM who has some sort of SPARK about him.
And finally, I urge my MAYA brethren to watch this Fans Forum… I was looking out for questions that might discombobulate the panel… and found one at 1.05.00. Also ‘Sam the Stats’ boy later asks a two part question that Simon Hallet neatly avoids the first part of…!!
And how, of the three guys up on the stage, only one comes out surprising me: Derek Adams. He carries himself impressively well.
This is the guy remember who stunned us all with that interview on the pitch at Wembley after his Morecambe team had beaten Newport to gain a place in the EFL.
He was asked whether he had words of sympathy for Newport: “None”, he replied (and not quite verbatim): “it was perfect karma: they are a bunch of cheats”.
Hardly ‘magnanimity in victory’.
But he comes over well here…
https://tinyurl.com/kuvjwa4v
DW