Yes, it’s slowly coming back to me minute by minute, that feeling I used to get when we won a game. As someone who’ll be qualified to receive the state pension for the first time in February, there are certainly a few of the pleasures of life that I won’t be experiencing again and I was beginning to think that seeing my football team win was one of them!
What are the best types of win? Is it a 5-0 romp when you team plays really well or a real battle with good football at a premium which is decided by a very late goal? I think possibly the former, but that is not to dismiss the latter which gives you that great explosion of joy which you didn’t see coming – you don’t get that in a 5-0 of the type I’m talking about, it’s more of a contented purr.
Clearly though, when you’ve been on the sort of run that we have, the win, when it comes, is far more likely to be of the last minute winner variety than the five goal thrashing and so it was proved this afternoon as City beat a Huddersfield side that have now not won in sixteen games against us by 2-1.
City ended their horrible winless run of ten matches with the latter of those two options as they beat a Huddersfield side that are challenging for the Play Offs at the moment thanks to a quality goal, which had little in common with most of what had gone before it, in the third, and final, minute of added time.
There were definite parallels with the last time we won as well. Just as at Nottingham Forest, we won from 1-0 down thanks to a couple of goals scored by a Wales international. There was a time not so long ago when Welsh internationals just didn’t play for Cardiff City, now we have four named in the Wales senior squad , four in the under 21s, four in the under nineteens, four in the under 17s and there were seven recently in the under16s.
Don’t get me wrong, although that last paragraph may suggest otherwise and we won today, that doesn’t mean that everything in the garden is rosy once more. The league table still tells you that this is far from the case, but it is pleasing that the club is now making a full contribution to Welsh international football at all levels in the men’s game.
Steve Morison made four changes to the team beaten by QPR on Wednesday as City tried to prevent a club record for most consecutive home league defeats being extended and one for the longest time without a home league goal being created. Aden Flint came back into the side for out of sorts captain Sean Morrison, Joe Ralls’ reward for his impressive late substitute showing against QPR which almost got us a point was a starting place replacing Will Vaulks (and also the captaincy) and Mark Harris and Leandro Bacuna came in for the injured Keiron Evans and Rubin Colwill who was a substitute.
To be honest, I thought we were terrible for much of the game. Having spent so long moaning about our approach down the years, I really like the fact that we’re trying to retain the ball better and cut down on the route one stuff, but we look so frail at times and, like on Wednesday, we created very little – until we scored that is. The game was panning out like so many of our home matches this season have done where there was this overpowering feeling that the game was as good as lost once we’d conceded a goal.
For most of the last ten games, particularly those at home, we’ve been an impossible conundrum to solve – how do you get out of a losing run when you can’t score a goal or keep a clean sheet? Well, we still can’t keep a clean sheet and we gift wrapped Huddersfield a goal after just twelve minutes today.
Mark McGuinness has been the one central defender not to be dropped in recent weeks and rightly so as he has looked pretty solid despite being unlucky with things like penalty decisions and deflections that resulted in goals, but here he left a back pass a long way short of Alex Smithies to leave Luxembourg international Daniel Sinani with a run in on goal. Curtis Nelson came across on the cover and got a good tackle in, but the ball only rolled a yard or so away from the forward on loan from Norwich who was able to get to it and score from eight yards with a shot which flicked the post on its way in.
To an extent, City responded well to going a goal behind as their high press forced a Huddersfield team determined to play out from the back into a series of errors with goalkeeper Lee Nicholls particularly culpable with his kicking.
Unfortunately, the visitors’ carelessness only served to expose Cardiff’s limitations in terms of finding the pass or cross that would punish the opposition for their slackness and the overall feeling was that Huddersfield would have been punished by better teams than us.
Nevertheless, City could feel unfortunate to be trailing after half an hour because they’d been on the front foot for most of the time against opponents who seemed content to put nine outfield players behind the ball and invite us to break them down.
Ralls was unfortunate to see a shot that may well have been going in deflected over, but it was noticeable that when Huddersfield did become more adventurous, they looked a lot more dangerous than we did. Three times the ball flashed across the face of our goal with McGuinness redeeming himself to some extent with a block that prevented Josh Koroma, one of two subs brought on by the visitors in the first half as injuries forced off Jonathan Hogg and Duane Holmes, a tap in to double their lead.
Nicholls was finally forced into a save in the last worthwhile attack of the half when Perry Ng, a player who definitely looks to have benefited from having Steve Morison in charge, got in a good left footed shot from the edge of the penalty area after City opted for something different from what looked like being another long throw in.
The opening stages of the second period saw the pattern for much of the first half repeated with Cardiff having most of the possession and territorial advantage without ever really looking like they had an equaliser in them.
I can’t begin to imagine how difficult it must have been for the players in such an awful situation where their confidence must be on the floor as everything they tried to find that elusive goal came to nothing. This was exemplified when last season’s goalscoring hero Moore ballooned a shot high and wide after he’d done pretty well to work himself an opportunity from eighteen yards, at that stage you just had to wonder if that goal would ever come.
City were in need of inspiration and they bought on a player who would later provide it. Surprisingly, it wasn’t Colwill, it was Isaak Davies, who was introduced instead of Harris who had been quiet throughout. Davies had barely got a kick when he was brought on for the final ten minutes in Mick McCarthy’s last match in charge against Middlesbrough (who, incidentally, parted company with their manager, whoever he is, today) for his first team debut and he didn’t do a great deal in the minutes after his introduction today as Huddersfield threatened to put the game beyond City by hitting the post twice in a matter of minutes.
New Welsh international Sorba Thomas, surprisingly playing on the right, was most noticeable today for his excellent dead ball deliveries and he produced a beauty of a corner which found on loan Chelsea defender Levi Colwill completely unmarked some four yards from goal. One of the surprises of this season where we have generally defended awfully is that we’ve still to concede a goal from a corner and it’s down to Smithies that we still haven’t as he produced a great reaction save to turn Colwill’s header on to the far post and out.
Shortly afterwards, Flint, who played well overall, made a mess of a long ball forward and ex City man Danny Ward was able to lob over Smithies for what looked like a certain goal, only for the ball to hit the same post and again bounce out.
City were, somehow,still in the game and, with Colwill on for McGuinness, they stepped up the pressure again as Davies did very well to force a corner on seventy four minutes and then it happened! Some seven hundred and eleven minutes after the last City player had scored at Cardiff City Stadium, we actually found the back of the net.
Although I’d mentioned on here recently that we were looking less threatening from dead ball situations lately, it was still a very decent shout to think that when the goal came, it would be via that method and so it duly did – it really was all so simple as Ralls’ on the mark delivery from the corner won by Davies was nodded in by an unmarked Moore on the near post from six yards out.
It was all set up for a storming last fifteen minutes then as a home crowd finally given something to cheer got behind their team, but, in truth, the next quarter of an hour or so was a bit of a mess – Moore got in another header which Nicholls was able to save quite easily and City were grateful to Marlon Pack and Flint for a couple good defensive blocks, but there seemed no sign of a winning goal until Davies got involved.
The goal when it arrived on ninety three minutes was satisfyingly old fashioned as Colwill fed Davies on the left and, instead of cutting in like so many do these days, he took on, and skinned, his marker on the outside to get to the bye line. If that was impressive, what came next was doubly so as a perfect left footed cross picked out Moore stood just beyond the far post around nine yards out and he gave the cross the finish it deserved with a technically perfect downward header into the opposite corner beyond Nicholls.
As I said before, it was a goal that was out of keeping with the game, but what it will do for the team’s confidence cannot be over stated – it may be that we’ll continue to struggle when fixtures resume in a fortnight, but that goal will have removed a suffocating black cloud that has hovered over City for a couple of months.
As to what all of this has done for Morison’s chances of getting the manager’s job on a permanent basis, a return of four points from the three games he was supposed to have been given is a very good one considering where we were after three quarters of his first game in charge at Stoke and I think it should be enough to make the owner think seriously about giving him the job, but I suspect that Vincent Tan will look elsewhere- surely not to Neil Warnock though after what Mehmet Dalman said about him in that notorious meeting with fans representatives last month!
Whatever, happens as far as the main job is concerned, Morison is part of what has been almost a Renaissance at Cardiff City at the levels below the senior side. Besides the all conquering under 23s, the under 18s have put their stuttering start to their season behind them. Today they made it two wins in a week at Swansea for City age group sides by recording their fourth straight win as they followed up the under 23s 3-1 triumph there on Monday with a 2-0 victory this morning.
Joel Colwill and Caleb Hughes got the goals to inflict a fifth defeat in the last six games on the jacks in matches at senior, under 23 and under 21 levels between the clubs– I’ve also learned that, at the same time, the under 16s were winning their match against the jacks 4-1.
It was a good day for the local Rhondda Valley sides as well. In the Highadmit South Wales Alliance, Blaenrhondda returned to winning ways in the Premier League with a 4-2 home win over Aber Valley to move up to seventh in the table, while Treherbert Boys and Girls Club consolidated their position at the top of the Second Division with a 4-0 home win over second in the league Aberfan.
In the Ardal Leagues South West, there was a welcome win for Ton Pentre as they beat one of the sides down at the bottom of the league with them, Cwmamman United, 3-2 at home.
It’s the time of year again when I ask readers of Mauve and Yellow Army to make a contribution towards its running costs. Before I go into detail about this, I should, once again, offer my sincere thanks to all of you who have helped ensure the future of the blog over the past three years through a mixture of monthly payments via Patreon, monthly Standing Orders into my bank account and once a year payments via bank transfer, PayPal, cheque and cash.
The first time I made this request for assistance, it was prompted by a need for funds to pay for three yearly web hosting costs which, frankly, I was in no position to meet following my move of house a few months earlier. However, I’m pleased to say that, this time around, the web hosting bill was settled back in June with none of the problems there were back in 2018.
Therefore, any monies received this year will go towards other running costs and, although it’s too early yet to make any formal commitments despite so many of the pandemic restrictions in Wales being lifted recently, I am minded to do another review of a season from the past book to follow on from “Real Madrid and all that” (copies now also available om match days at the reduced price of £8.99 from the Trust Office, near gate five) which looked back on the 1970/71 campaign. At the moment 1975/76, the first promotion season I experienced, looks to be favourite for the book treatment, which would mean a lot more trips back and forth to Cardiff than my finances have become used to over the past year and a half – hopefully, the majority of them will not have to be made via Radyr Cheyne!
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A game where very few players covered themselves in glory (Bacuna, Giles and NG first half; Smithies, Ralls and Moore right at the end in the second) but they stuck together after goal conceded and fans stuck with McGuinness and Moore through their miss-kicks too. Can’t say we deserved three points for footballing reasons but very happy they finally came and was reward for that togetherness.
4 points from 9 is a good return for Morison especially when bringing in foundation for change of approach, but we were 3 down in one game and probably should have been 3 down yesterday so I still think it’s probably too big a job for someone with just 2 years experience as a coach. He’s done well enough to get fans back on side though and small things (Colwill showing more aggression at the right times yesterday) show how good a manager he is and how good coaches his team are.
I think we’ve definitely got ups and downs to come as younger players continue to find their feet/senior players try to remember where they’re meant to put theirs but things are more positive than they were at last international break.
Great that Morrison has got us passing the ball along the ground going forward instead of hoofing and hoping, but yesterday some, especially Pack, were so nervous about keeping possession that instead of looking for chances to go forward, passes were going across and back, sometimes all the way back to Smithies who hoofed and hoped, and too often those passes across or back were not accurate enough and possession was lost.
Well, I finally made it back to the ground to see us ‘in the flesh’ yesterday. Having zero expectations before hand at least meant little likelihood of being disappointed so to see us score two goals and get three points was way beyond my most optimistic imaginings. Indeed, I reckon it was probably the most memorable home match since we left the Premier League.
Much of the time it wasn’t great of course, and we gave the appearance of a team of new signings who didn’t really know each other but that might be the effect of trying to play a new system (ie passing the ball) which too many of our players aren’t that comfortable
with. Despite some promising signs , I still think some new signings are going to be needed if we are to survive in the Championship. Passing skills, pace and crucially leadership on the pitch seemed in short supply despite the promise of our younger players.
Finally, thanks Paul for the write-up and all the others recently which must have been a painful task.
Hey Paul! Typical. Had a flu jab on Thursday and by yesterday was really rough. Didn’t go. Didn’t even listen to the commentary. Lay in bed feeling sorry for myself. But thank-goodness for your write-up Paul, this has made me feel so much better.
I love added-time winners. My favourites.
Still on the fence re. Steve Morison as I’m dead scared we’ll be relegated. I really don’t know what’s going on with our club at the moment but I do know we have to stay in The Championship.
Thanks Paul.
Just like you forgotten what is feels like to celebrate a goal, much less a win.
Genuine feeling of euphoria at the end and it was great to sense that spirit and feeling amongst the crowd for our team to come back and win at the death. Better than a 5 – 0!
Must admit that I feared the worst as the game progressed. Felt like Reading part 2 – better passing and general feeling, but little creativity and another basic error in the first half. All that was missing was fact that Danny Ward – or Campbell didn’t manage to score!
You can see that Morison has encouraged a more patient, passing style although a lot of this felt like shuffling across the back line and then back to the keeper to lump it!
To his credit though he is clearly a believer in youth and another of our new boys stepped up to the plate with an impressive showing. Harris never stops trying and Davies the same. In the driving rain and with gloom all around he created something out of nothing – twice.
Credit also to Moore who had appeared frustrated and petulant for long parts of the game and clearly lacking in confidence if his shooting was anything to go by. He took his chances well and that should set him up nicely now.
In the end I was glad I was there, despite the frustrations of the first hour or so. Not saying a turning point, but at least a time out while we re-group and sort out the manager situation. No idea which way this Board will go, but clearly we are in a battle now and just hope someone can knit something together from our emerging talented youngsters and our older lags!
Thanks everyone for your replies, so much nicer to comment on something positive. DJ, I’d agree with your summing up, I’m not wholly convinced by Morison yet, but I’d have him up with the favourites for the job now when I didn’t think he had a prayer ten days ago. Judging by social media (not the best thing to do I know!), he’s got the fans on his side with voting three to one in his favour in the poll on the messageboard I use.
Graham, the under 23s have played fairly similar to the senior team in a few ways when it comes to style of play, but I think in the sort of case you describe, George Ratcliffe would be looking to play it short if he received a back pass and I’d like to think that Morison would try to get the first team doing something similar if he was in charge for a longer period.
Richard, that’s some compliment to pay that match (most memorable home game since relegation), but for it to happen in your first game back must have made your drive home on Saturday so much easier. There are obvious potential issues when fielding a few youngsters in your side every week, but I firmly believe that it is the senior players who are the major problem this season – whether it’s the contract system or what, I think that is the big challenge facing whoever the new manager is because, as you say, we’re short of leadership (I think making Ralls captain is a good move though if Morrison is going to continue to struggle).
Simon, I’ve given the last few home matches a miss for a number of reasons, one of which is that I don’t fancy going without having had my booster vaccine which is due on the day we play Hull, so I hope to make the Sheffield United match when I will use the train because driving to games from Treherbert was doing my head in with all of the traffic jams you’d hit as soon as you got close to Cardiff – I see that with renewed admiration for those like Richard who drive far further to games than I do. Agree with you about having to stay up and I’m still not quite sure about Morison, but what I really don’t want is another experienced “safe pair of hands” because the last one was anything but that.
Huw, I said I like the calm of a 5-0 over the last minute winner, but you’re one of an overwhelming majority letting me know I’m wrong for thinking that! You’re right to point out that Davies did his bit with the first goal as well and I’m grateful to a messageboard poster who I’ve watched Academy matches with before for reminding me about something we’ve talked about when we’ve watched Davies play. On Saturday, he took on a marker on the outside while playing on right for the first goal and then the left for the second goal and while he didn’t quite get past him man first time around, he managed to win a corner which suggests he troubled the defender – to be able to be successful in getting by a marker on the outside on opposite sides of the pitch is something of a rare gift which points to the fact that I find it impossible to tell which foot is Davies’ preferred and natural one. That makes him so much harder to defend against and he’s already shown that he can give the first team something that they’ve been lacking for some time despite the number of wingers they had at the club.