Cardiff City took their unbeaten run to five matches tonight, but at the same time ticked another of those boxes that mark them out as a probable relegation team. Struggling sides at home against an out of form team that are looking like one of the worst visiting outfits seen all season simply have to win when they go 1-0 up. City didn’t, they conceded with three minutes left, then tried their best to lose the point they had as baffling substitutions left them hanging on through the five minutes of added time as the opposition, Watford, realised they had a chance of snatching a ridiculous win given how ninety per cent of the match panned out.
Watford looked like a team that had lost four straight matches and for all but the final eight minutes or so seemed resigned to their fate. Although the BBC’s stats, surprisingly, indicate a very even game, City won the physical battle throughout and when they scored on sixty five minutes, it seemed there’d only be one winner, but that was the signal for them to take a backward step and, although they looked comfortable enough in the following twenty minutes, this is a team that hasn’t kept a clean sheet in the league for three months. So, although the desire to preserve the lead was understandable to an extent, City were well on top when they scored and a second goal looked on the cards.
City continued with Rubin Colwill leading the attack and this time he played more like a proper nine than a false one, but, in a very poor first half, all they did despite generally edging it was show the sort of lack of attacking understanding and combination play that has plagued them at home in particular this season.
It took Watford eighty seven minutes to get an effort on goal, and it earned them their point, so there was little from them to suggest a goal, but, by the same token, they were comfortable at the back as City’s attacking limitations gave them hardly anything to worry about.
We did have the only two on target efforts of the half. In saying that, Alex Robertson’s dribbler from twenty yards may have been going just wide as Jonathan Bond dived to make an easy save, but the keeper was much more impressive in turning Chris Willock’s shot from the corner of the penalty area aside as the winger tried to bend his effort into the far corner.
The first forty five minutes looked like either a 0-0 or one of those games that would produce just the one decisive goal, but the second period suggested one of the two teams could go on to win more comfortably than that.
It’s not been very often this season, particularly at home, when you could suggest that a City goal was coming, but, after a quiet first ten minutes or so, that’s how it felt as the game neared the hour mark.
Watford had escaped when a Robertson corner bounced free just short of their line only for defender Matt Pollock to scramble the ball clear. Shortly after that, Colwill’s shot from twenty yards was not cleanly struck, but rolled only a yard or so wide and then, when Jesper Daland headed down to Perry Ng, the full back’s volley from around the penalty spot was diverted around the post by a defender.
Next, Colwill was inches away from reaching a Dimi Goutas header when any sort of contact must have seen him score, but, just as I was beginning to think that all of the pressure would come to nothing, the player who seems to me to be the only one in the senior squad who can challenge Callum Robinson for the title of best finisher showed the others how to do it.
There was luck involved as ricochets helped Robertson and our best player on the night, Callum Chambers, but when the ball found it’s way to Cian Ashford, he took a touch and then finished crisply from fifteen yards.
That should have been that and, although City’s attacking intent was quite substantially reduced after that, they still had two great chances to make the points safe. The forst came when Ollie Tanner, on as a sub for Willock, gave Pollock the chance to clear for a corner with a pass aimed at the unmarked Robertson that was not good enough and then when Ashford was somewhat greedy, understandable in view of his confidence at the moment maybe, when he opted to shoot instead of passing to better placed colleagues inside him.
Tanner had come on a few minutes after our goal and he was followed ten minutes later by Yakou Meite coming on for Colwill. However, surprisingly, Omer Riza delayed any other substitutions until almost the very end as Joel Bagan and Joe Ralls were ready to come on as defensive substitutes for Robertson and Ashford when Watford launched an attack.
City defenders had been getting first contact on balls into our box and down the channels all night, but when Andy Rinomhota was penalised for a foul out on our left some thirty yards from goal, City were grateful for Meite’s sliced clearance past the far post as a couple of Watford players closed in on a dangerous dead ball delivery.
The resultant corner saw City struggle to clear and an isolated Callum O’Dowda was made to pay for not getting to the ball first as Kwadko Baah got to the bye line and crossed for the unmarked Vakoun Bayo to head in from inside the six yard box.
If that was a real kick in the guts, Riza’s decision to go ahead with the substitutions he had planned at 1-0 was just bizarre- this was a game we had to win and yet he went ahead with his shut up shop changes with the result that we barely crossed the halfway line after that.
Indeed Watford could have won it as Jak Alnwick had to make a good save to keep out a shot by sub Rocco Vata and so, although our point takes us out of the bottom three, it’s now five victories out of twenty six and we’ve got no chance of staying up unless that win rate starts to improve quite dramatically.
Sadly, it seems the mid season break has had a negative effect on the under 21s who had been the bright spot of this miserable campaign. While the 5-1 thumping at Ipswich last week was understandable to a large extent because of the number of Academy youngsters involved, it was a much stronger team in action at Leckwith this afternoon against league leaders Brentford, but they could have few complaints about a 3-0 loss that didn’t flatter the visitors at all. I thought Dylan Lawlor did pretty well on what was a testing afternoon and Isaac Jeffries showed up well in attack at times, but there was little to enthuse about as it begins to look as if our second string might be in for a difficult second half to the season.
Before the game, Watford’s Tom Cleverley said following their recent run of four defeats, the thing he most wanted from the game was a clean sheet. After the game he took responsibility for the drab first half, admitting that’s how he set his team up, and said he didn’t enjoy watching it so changed things at half-time.
Like you Paul, after we scored, I thought we were going to win, as despite Watford’s more positive approach, our defence was coping pretty well, although their sub Vata (who had scored a worldy against Fulham in the cup last Thursday), was proving a handful down the left channel. Fortunately he didn’t quite replicate that strike at the death, as Alnwick made a fine save, after I feared the worst as I saw him line-up a shot from a similar position!
As is often the case, many of these games are decided by fine margins. Both goals had an element of defensive sloppiness about them, combined with a fine finish.
Although the result took us out of the relegation zone, and despite some decent performances it’s starting to remind me of the mid to late 1990’s, when we’d play some attractive football and often take the lead at home, but concede a late equaliser, and away we too often lost 1-0, and so ended up finishing much lower than our overall performances deserved imo.
While we’ve put in many more than decent performances since the Oxford horror-show, we need to get someone who can convert the chances we’re creating (e.g. Hugill, Uche, Kaba). That’s easier said than done of course. Ashford is playing really well atm, and scoring some great goals, but we can’t rely on him alone. Will Etete be able to make an impact, despite being missing all season? Isaak Davies has been a big miss too.
There’s talk of a 6’5″ Danish striker (Yousef Salech) being an imminent signing. Following in the foot steps of Andreas Cornelius and Ken Zohore perhaps?
If so it will certainly be good business for the selling club. They paid 600k euros for him last February, and it’s reported that we’ll be paying 3.5 – 4 million euros for him!!
Still if he scores the goals to keep us in the championship, I’m sure we’ll all be happy and/or relieved.
Big game next, of course!
Thanks Paul as ever…
Looking at player ratings for this game, I am reminded of the rule at our National Eisteddfod NOT to award the poetry prize if the quality of any submission does not meet the required high standard.
And so it was I laughed out loud when Glen Williams opined that Chambers was our star man. I said to my wife… ‘none of them were worthy of a 6 out of 10… apart from maybe the goalkeeper and young Ashford. But blow me, if you dear Paul, then go and echo Glen’s thinking on Chambers…
Of course, he is not the total liability in midfield that he is as a centre back, but that said, this seemed to me the weakest game he has had as our defensive midfield. But hey, as someone (Mark Twain?) once said ‘it is a difference of opinion that makes for horse racing’.
Desiderata are a centre forward and – just as vital – a centre HALF.
My heart just sunk when I read that we were gonna spent circa £3m for some striker from Scandinavia… who will doubtless take time to acclimatise to the EFL.. and not save us from the now almost inevitable drop. True, anyone is an upgrade on Rubin as a number 9… last night I reckon that 4/10 would have been generous… but I reckon a centre BACK – not centre forward – is the most pressing need.
The Norwegian boy, looks the part, but somehow is fragile under pressure. Goutas is not the player he was in his first season. Oh for a commanding player like that nasty S.O.B. Harry Darling… (no doubt he’ll now have a shocker against us at the weekend, and I will look more of a mug than usual…!!)
A couple of other points: Omer seems infatuated with Rinomhota. I don’t see it. If Siopis keeps Ralls out of midfield, then play Ralls in his place.
And as for my second favourite player… Callum O’Dowda. When will Omer realise he is a left winger and not a left back? Because he is a tricky-ish winger, he defends like one, always wanting to play fancy football getting out of a tight corner… hence him making the same mistake as the similarly fatal one he made at Ashton Gate.*
And anyway, how injured was Joel Bagan? Could he not have started? I rate him the best of our onfield defenders…
Right. Lunch calls…
*Oh for Stuart Pearce to bang it into Row Z…!!
TTFN,
Dai