Yesterday’s Development team game with Leeds at Leckwith was the final one of a trio of matches on consecutive days that I’d watched and it’s fair to say that I looked forward to the Under 18s encounter with Hull and the first team fixture with Arsenal a lot more beforehand.
As I said on numerous occasions last season, Under 23/development team matches had become less enjoyable occasions because of the number of trialists being used which. for me, engendered a lack of continuity, which in turn made it tougher for the Cardiff City contracted players being used.
So it was a pleasant surprise that yesterday’s match turned out to be one of the better ones of the last year or so to watch as a spectator as City, generally second best for the first half of the game, ended it unlucky to have lost by the odd goal in three.
The fact that this ended up being a watchable game was, from a City perspective anyway, down mainly to the contribution of Lee Tomlin, who, along with Matt Connolly, provided the experience in what was otherwise a young side with, thankfully, just the one trialist in the starting eleven.
Tomlin, like Anthony Pilkington, the other high profile absentee from the twenty five man squad of senior players available for Premier League selection for the rest of 2018 did not see the loan move he must, surely, have wanted materialise before the Football League loan window closed on Friday. Consequently, I couldn’t help but think that motivation for a second string match in front of about a hundred spectators on a what is, basically, a parks pitch across the road from Cardiff City Stadium would have been an issue for him.
I’ll admit to not being Tomlin’s greatest fan during his time with us. My reasoning for that is, essentially, down to the frustration I feel at any player with skills which most do not possess who doesn’t utilise that talent as effectively as he should.
While those who are more sympathetic to his cause emphasise the rare occasions when he has influenced a first team game (e.g. his leading part in turning what seemed lost causes into draws at home to Sheffield Wednesday and away at Reading and I also remember an influential display in the home win over Ipswich), they only tend to increase my frustration with him because they offer fleeting glimpses of the player he was at Peterborough and Middlesbrough.
Anyway, for about thirty five minutes against Leeds, Tomlin’s contribution was what I expected it to be – there was a clever, quickly taken free kick on the edge of the visitor’s penalty area which caught them out and led to strong Cardiff claims for a penalty for a foul on Laurence Wootton, but little else as he jogged about on the edge of proceedings.
While this was going on a Leeds outfit which, like their first team, had not lost a game this season established themselves as the better side with their talented number eleven Jack Clarke heavily involved in most of the things they did well.
The penalty shout I mentioned earlier represented the only occasion when a Cardiff goal looked on during this period, whereas Leeds were gifted, and wasted, two outstanding opportunities. The first came when City keeper Matt Hall miskicked a clearance to leave two Leeds attackers on to a single home defender, but what became a one on one with Hall was missed as the shot rolled wide. Hall was then seen to better effect when Ciaron Brown carelessly gave away possession to leave the visitors in an almost identical situation, but this time the keeper did well to turn the shot behind for a corner.
The game changed around the thirty five minute mark when something happened to alter Tomlin’s attitude. Whether it was the lovely goal he scored from a free kick about twenty yards from goal which Leeds keeper Kamel Miazek could only watch as it curled gently over the wall and into the net or some other incident which got Tomlin going I don’t know, but from then on, he was a changed man.
It’s inevitable that a player with Tomlin’s talent becomes the most influential player on the pitch in a game at this level if he’s committed and for, the rest of the match, that’s what he was – albeit in a losing cause.
A 1-0 half time lead certainly flattered City and it didn’t take Leeds long after the break to restore parity with a goal very like the one which had given us the advantage, but this time Clarke’s free kick from a similar position to Tomlin’s seemed to benefit from the Cardiff wall breaking up thus allowing the shot to go through it.
City, with Tomlin pushed further forward following Ibrahim Meite’s withdrawal at half time with what looked a minor injury, were in the game more now and the goalmouth action was tending to come at both ends, but it was Leeds who still looked the most likely scorers of a third goal as the referee became a decisive influence on proceedings with three decisions in short order which, from my hardly ideal viewing position, looked very debatable to me.
Firstly, he disallowed a headed Leeds goal from a corner for what can only have been a push, then, minutes later, he pointed to the penalty spot after an innocuous challenge in the City penalty area and, finally, waved away Leeds appeals for what looked like a more justified penalty than the one he gave.
I suppose the upshot of all this if the decisions were, indeed, wrong, was that they more or less cancelled themselves out because Clarke scored from the penalty that was given to get what turned out to be the winning goal.
Maybe Leeds brought it on a bit themselves by sitting back and protecting their lead, but the rest of the game saw wave after wave of Tomlin inspired City attacks. Ar times it was like one of those games I remember as a kid where, if you were lucky enough to have an outstanding player in your team, you would try to get the ball to him as often as possible and he would try take on as many opponents as possible as he looked to score solo goals.
Tomlin went past three or four opponents on a few occasions before being fouled to create free kick situations similar to the one he scored from, but Miazek become a hero for Leeds in the closing minutes with a string of good saves from them and decisive punching clear of some of the string of corners City gained.
Chances came along at regular intervals, but City were fated not to score again and Leeds ended up taking the points in a match which they had controlled for long parts, but I thought City’s late rally meant that a draw would have been the fairest outcome.
