AFC Wimbledon gave Cardiff City a much more testing time tonight than Luton had done on Saturday, but you wouldn’t have guessed it by the scoreline as City scored four goals for the fifth time in a home league game this season to record a win on a night when Lincoln won again, but the chasing pack stumbled to an extent.
Bolton rescued a point at Reading with a goal six minutes into added time, while Stockport came out on the wrong end of a 1-0 scoreline at Bradford which propels them right back into the heart of the battle for a top six place. Meanwhile a bad few days for Huddersfield ended with them beaten 1-0 again, this time by Doncaster.
So, we continue to lead Lincoln by four points, but now it’s a gap of twelve to Bolton in third and, as of tonight, Bradford, fourteen points behind us, but with a game in hand, are probably best placed to catch us as they have now moved two points ahead of Stockport.
A scoreline of 4-1 probably flattered us somewhat against opponents who were deservedly level with us at 1-1 after forty five minutes. However, a couple of quick fire goals around the hour mark swung the match decisively in our favour and the chances were there after that for us to go beyond that four goal mark for the first time this season.
City brought in Will Fish (23 today) for Gabriel Osho and Ryan Wintle returned after his suspension for David Turnbull in the only two changes from the weekend and we were set back on their heels somewhat by a lively Wimbledon start which saw the ball bouncing about a few yards from our goal from a corner with barely three minutes played.
City took a while to get going, but, when they did, they started to pose a threat down the right with Oliie Tanner prominent while on the other flank, a subdued Chris Willock had a night when the ball just didn’t seem to head his way as much as normal.
Perry Ng shot wide from close range as Wimbledon struggled to cope with Tanner, while Omari Kellyman forced a diving save out of Nathan Bishop, but it was by no means one way traffic as Wimbledon showed more ambition than I for one had been expecting from them.
When the game’s first goal came on twenty two minutes, it was hardly as if it had a sense of inevitability about it, but as it came for City, I couldn’t help feeling that it was the signal for us to take charge.
It was one of those goals where you have to salute the scoring team for both cleverness and technique and yet the defending side’s coaching staff and manager would be fuming because they’d got caught out from a set piece. Alex Robertson went out to take a corner on our right which seemed a bit strange as Tanner had been taking inswingers up to then from that side. However, the reason for the change was made clear as Robertson played a low pass from the flag kick to Joel Colwill who was stood around the penalty spot and he swept his first time shot beyond Bishop. It was a quality goal in terms of both the assist and the finish, but, as I say, Wimbledon erred by leaving Joel with so much room.
The goal seemed to rock the visitors for a while, but they worked their way back into the game despite having to make a change up front when Matt Stevens replaced the injured Omar Bugiel.
Tanner was still the main threat for City, but he was becoming a bit more careless as the half wore on and this maybe gave the visitors the encouragement to push on a bit more after a short spell where we did look like we could take charge in the manner I was expecting us to.
City weren’t quite “at lt” in the way they’d been in their last two games though – although still dominating possession, they were sometimes unusually careless in their passing. Careless would be the word I would use to describe a pointless foul given away by Ng as well as the half went into the signalled two minutes of added time.
City were made to pay as Steve Seddon’s nicely flighted delivery was deftly volleyed in by Stevens as he got in front of Calum Chambers.
While it was hardly a case of BBM needing to read the riot act to his team at half time, it felt like City needed to wake their ideas up somewhat in the second half. Instead, it was a quiet first ten minutes or so which would have had Wimbledon feeling increasingly confident of heading home with at least a point, but City suddenly came to life in a five minute spell which had them looking almost certain winners by the time it was up.
Tanner almost cashed in on as a misplaced pass by visiting captain Ryan Johnson as he ran from half way only to shot a yard wide. Within another minute or so, Joel Bagan was worked into a great position only to see his shot deflected up and narrowly over the bar by a defender.
From the resultant corner, City regained their lead when Tanner’s inswinger was nodded in at the near post by Ng to make it three goals in three home matches for the full back.
Again though, Wimbledon had left the City scorer unmarked when defending a corner, but there was certainly no feeling sorry for themselves as they opened up our defence with some neat passing straight from the restart and Stevens shot across Nathan Trott, but also across the face of the goal as his effort rolled four foot wide.
With Tanner having provided an assist for Ng, the roles were reversed as a long period of patient City passing was ended by Perry playing a short pass to the winger who was able to burst inside and shoot low past Bishop from the edge of the penalty area.
It was Tanner’s first goal of the season and I’m grateful to blog reader Howard Jones for informing me that this makes eighteen players now who have scored for us this season which I’m told equals a club record that was set in 1999/2000 – a season when we got relegated!
Although Wimbledon ended up having one more goal attempt than us (16/17), they didn’t really cause us many problems in the second half and, apart from a header against a post in the dying seconds and the Stevens chance mentioned earlier, they never looked like scoring after the break.
On the other hand, we had plenty of occasions where the final ball wasn’t quite right when we’d virtually opened the Wimbledon defence. As it was, we were able to add one more goal when substitute Callum Robinson’s clever pass set Kellyman free and he calmly beat Bishop from twelve yards.
There was five minutes or so for loan signing Callum Scanlon as he replaced Kellyman, but I’m pretty sure he didn’t touch the ball as the game petered out rather gently as City made it twelve without defeat. They are probably in a position now where a mere point a game in their last fourteen games would be enough to guarantee a Play Off spot and a mid table type finish of a point and a half per game would see us equaling the club record of ninety points set in our 17/18 promotion season.
Finally, a first half goal was enough to condemn the under 21s to defeat this afternoon at Queens Park Rangers.
Gosh Paul, we started slowly. We need to be switched on from Minute One at Home Park, in what I think will be our toughest test of the season. Hope to God he does not pick Chambers in defence… he was a liability last night.
As for Glen Williams giving NG a 9 and ‘star man’ status: he should have deducted a point for that stupid foul you allude to… the one that gave them the free kick that led to their goal.
Talking of which… when we form a wall across the pitch to defend a free kick taken from the touchline, we do seem quite vulnerable. Chambers let his man go into the space unhindered for their goal, and we had another hairy moment in the second half. What do you reckon the problem is?
DW
Thanks Paul.
Great summary and that’s exactly as I saw it too.
Not as crisp and assured as Saturday, it can’t complain when we score 4 goals can we?
As you and Dai mention it was a slow start and the crowd a bit flat on a very cold evening. Credit to the Wimbledon fans though who turned up in good numbers and equally good voice throughout the match.
Credit also to their team also who were a marked improvement on some of the recent visitors to CCS. The stats did not lie and they gave us a few anxious moments, but we are blessed with talent and firepower throughout the team – and bench – and another short purple patch of play did the job again.
There were periods again, admittedly shorter than Saturday, when we have a momentum and quality which makes us virtually unplayable. Still leaving some goals out there though, but our heads never drop and this team are an absolute credit to their manager and coaching team.
The improvement in players such as Joel C and Tanner in recent weeks is great to see, whilst Wintle, Robertson and Turnbull all look comfortable and excel in whichever midfield role is asked of them. Also good to see Fish back last night as sure he has felt a bit left out of it in recent weeks, but he was a very solid presence at the back.
Just need to cut out the needless free kicks/ petty fouls though and protect possession a bit better – but guess I am nitpicking now!
Plymouth will be a tough one as they are flying and scoring for fun, but hopefully we can keep things going and maintain that cushion at the top.
Tanner was a consistent outlet
Ta Paul, for your report on the AFC Wimbledon (h) game. What a cold night that was under the black Cardiff sky. As you wrote we were a little slow in getting going. Though we had large portions of the game, the quality of the final ball in the first period conspired against further goals than the younger Colwill’s lovely finish direct from a right-wing corner, whilst Wimbledon were no slouches and could have scored another goal or two with more precision at the top end of the pitch. As the warmth of the Grandstand beckoned, the visitors brought the scores level from Ng’s needless freekick.
City needed to improve their game in the second half. This they did. City upped it by about 30% and scored two richly deserved goals in the first 15 mins. Ng’s header, again from a corner, and Tanner’s first finish of the season, really put us out of sight. Kellyman’s wonderful goal, stemming from an Ng pass into space which Robinson drifted out to collect before his reverse pass to the Chelsea loanee, ended with a beautiful goal into the far corner of the net.
The score of 4-1 did not flatter us though the visitors would be unhappy that two of our efforts came from corners where the finisher was unchallenged. That said, we completed the game rarely having to move out of second gear. SofaScore, incidentally, scored 9 of our players 7/10 or above (four being 8/10 above).
Mr Mather was certainly not the worst referee we’ve had this season, though the churlish might draw our attention to the challenge on Ashford and a foul in the box which both went unpunished. As it was he did his best to keep the game flowing and was not the centre of attention due to his inadequacy.
Two further gripes about football today and last night in particular. The number of, ‘teddy bear picnics,’ we now see with a player going down injured so that a gaggle of his team-mates can get instructions form the bench must be outlawed. Secondly, the number of players going to ground clutching their heads has mushroomed since the protocols were brought in. And to cap it all the two worst incidents, by a country mile, I’ve seen this season, Salech (Stockport) and Davies (Rotherham) were ignored / missed.
Well, a win is a win in anybody’s language and we move on.
Thanks all for the replies. Dai, compared to earlier in the season, it seems to me that we’re much harder to score against in open play and I reckon there has been an improvement in our defending from set pieces, but we still can be vulnerable from them. I put one of the reasons for us getting better at the back down to Calum Chambers playing better than he was in the autumn, but Tuesday was a bit of a return to performances like Port Vale and Swindon for him. Given that he’s played twice this week, we can probably expect Chambers not to be in the starting eleven tomorrow given how often BBM has juggled his centrebacks around this season. Not sure who I would have given Man of the Match to on Tuesday – for me, Ng slipped a little below the high standards he’s been setting in recent weeks, so I think it might well be Joel Colwill again for me.
Huw, there’s been some criticism on a couple of podcasts I watch, that the atmosphere at home games has been a bit muted lately and I’ve heard it said that this could be down to people going along expecting to be entertained and so they’re quieter until this happens. I must admit to something like that on Tuesday as I felt a little disappointed at the final whistle that our performance had fallen a bit short of what we’ve been serving up in recent weeks. That’s most unfair on my part – as you say, we scored four and definitely could have had more. Before this season, we’d scored four or more in a league game just three times since 21/22. Tuesday night represented the fifth time we’ve scored four in a league game this season – it’s amazing how quickly people like me forget things like that and our abysmal results and form in Championship matches during the 2020s.
Steve, I’d decided to let that foul on Ashford go unless someone brought it up in the feedback to my piece as, like you, I thought the ref wasn’t too bad overall. However, now you have brought it up, I thought the decision not even to award us a free kick was an absolute shocker. For me, it was more of a red card than Wintle’s was against Rotherham and, as I thought that decision was harsh, but understandable, I must admit to complete bemusement at Tuesday’s decision – for it to be judged not even worthy of a free kick is absolutely mind boggling.
I’ve mentioned before that I’m always wary of officials moving away from medical protocols because of the risk of them making a poor judgment call with someone who is actually badly injured. However, I’m with you really on this subject and I think we’ve seen enough this season on the head injuries protocol to know that in nine times out of ten the “head injury” is tactical. Sadly, this is another example of managers, coaches and players being given an inch and taking a mile. I don’t know if you watch the videos of Dorking Wanderers games you can see on You Tube where the cameras are given access to the Dorking dug out and you hear what they’re saying to their players and the officials, but there’s been a couple of instances on there where a player is told to go down so that they can have a team talk/drinks break with the rest of the team on the sidelines for a minute or two.
If or when we ever get to a situation where a ref plays on and a seriously injured player does not get treatment quickly enough, then managers snd coaches have to bear a lot of the responsibility for this because of their flagrant cheating when given even the slightest opportunity to bend the rules.
I post this less than 5 hours before kick off… a game where 2 of the 3 ‘in form’ teams in Div 1 challenge each other.
Personally, I will be delighted if we get a point.
Home Park will be full. Those Green Army fans are even in the opinion of their own players, (as here)…’NUTTERS’ (though in a nice way, and are not in the hooligan sense)… but you can be sure some of them would be delighted to get Ng sent off. He must keep his cool and avoid the gratuitous niggling foul which is his ‘calling card’.
Cleverley’s comments re us are generous and interesting. https://youtu.be/f3HWNrC5Zxg?si=kehj-XAw4Niztq8y
DW