So, it’s the First Round of the FA Cup and that Cup that Premier League under 21 sides play in next season as, for the first time in twenty two years, Cardiff City will be a lower league club.
All of the ifs and buts whereby after every “massive” game we’d say something like if we can beat Luton, Stoke and Oxford we should be okay. Then, it became Stoke and Oxford, until suddenly we were saying we have to beat West Brom and Norwich and now we’ve not beaten the first of those clubs, those who care about such things are saying if we can beat Norwich there’s a chance we won’t finish bottom of the table.
The BBC’s Championship table shows every team’s last six results and, apart from Preston who suddenly find themselves in the relegation mix, we’re the only side in the relegation battle that has not won any of the their last half a dozen games – all of the other teams down there have won at least twice during that time.
There is nothing profound about how you avoid relegation. All you have to do is win games while at least three others are losing theirs – it’s a simple two part equation which in our case never got started because, when it really mattered, we couldn’t get the wins.
In fact, because so many at the bottom have been on good runs in the last month of the campaign, someone is going to be very unlucky in that they’re going to go down while on a run of results which is among their best of the season.
Even if Cardiff and Preston, the two sides who cannot buy a win, go down, Plymouth, who are all but down now, will be doing so with at least four wins from their final seven matches.
Quite how City didn’t score today is hard to figure out as the West Brom goal led a charmed life at times, but then the same could be said of us in a match that saw both teams have eighteen goal attempts, with six each of them on target.
Finally, in the second half today it seemed as if the penny dropped as to the severity of our situation. There was the urgency that was lacking in games like QPR, Preston and Stoke, but I’m grateful to Iwan Roberts for this stat which says so much about a fifth straight season of truly miserable home performances and results – only five times in our twenty three match home season did we score more than one goal.
Today’s 0-0 was not your typical post Covid Cardiff City Stadium fare though – a neutral would have enjoyed a game that had everything but a goal, but the fact that there wasn’t one partially explains why the season has been a disaster for Cardiff and a frustrating failure for a West Brom team that was the quickest out of the blocks of any back in August.
Aaron Ramsey only made the one change from the team which drew with Oxford on Monday with David Turnbull coming in for the injured Sivert Mannsverk who will miss the game at Norwich as well.
City made an encouraging start with Calum Chambers getting in a powerful header from a Turnbull corner which Isaac Price did really well to clear off the line. However, the Baggies took control of the next twenty minutes as Ethan Horvarth, who had a good game today, denied Price who then saw his shot hit the inside of an upright, roll across the face of goal and then out for a goal kick.
Horvarth next denied Callum Styles, but City got back into things just before half time as Chambers nodded in a Turnbull free kick only to see the goal ruled out by an offside decision which replays showed to be just about right.
Chambers moved to right back for the second half as Jesper Daland replaced Perry Ng and the makeshift full back was among those denied in an incredible scramble which saw Alex Robertson have one shot blocked and another saved by Josh Griffiths before Yousef Salech shot against the same post Price had hit – from there, the ball bounced to Chambers whose shot was turned around the post by Griffiths.
With the minutes ticking by, City increasingly left gaps at the back which a West Brom side still entertaining faint hopes of making the Play Offs looked to exploit – an offside looking Adam Armstrong should really have broken the deadlock, but was foiled by Horvarth and sub Daryl Dike had the ball in the net only for a foul on the City keeper to be given.
As City became more desperate, Joe Ralls, on for Turnbull, shot just wide from twenty yards and another sub, Ollie Tanner, and Salech saw shots kept out by Griffiths, but after only three minutes of added time, the relegation I’d become resigned to after we lost to Luton was confirmed.
It’s typical Cardiff City that the club’s Player of the Year presentation takes place on the night relegation is confirmed (Callum Robinson won Player of the Year, Andy Rinomhota Player’s Player of the Year and Cian. Ashford was Young Player of the Year) and the fact that I genuinely can’t think of a deserving winner of that award reminds me that this squad of players have got off quite lightly when you think that, as of today, they have only won twenty per cent of the games they’ve played.
As mentioned earlier, City look likely to finish bottom of the league and yet there are still those who think this is a squad which should be halfway up the league. With hindsight, the recruitment last summer, which was applauded by many at the time, placed too little emphasis on getting in dressing room leaders as influential members of the squad were becoming increasingly injury prone.
It goes without saying that Erol Bulut should not have been given a contract extension and, for all that I was pretty supportive of Omer Riza, his appointment as manager has to be seen as a serious mistake.
I don’t feel much like talking about the owner, Chairman and CEO tonight, there’s little new I can say about them. They’ve been pretty hopeless for the last decade and more, but since our last relegation six years ago, they’ve been intent on pursuing a course that was only ever going to end one way – more than anyone else, this relegation is down to them.
Meanwhile, the under 21s season is ending tamely. They fell to a second successive 2-1 away defeat yesterday – the first was at QPR on Tuesday and yesterday it was Watford who came out on top.
The under 18s by contrast are finishing well and won 2-1 at Burnley this lunchtime with Jac Thomas and Riley Hilaire-Clark scoring.
Treherbert Boys and Girls Club are currently a creditable eighth in Ardal Leagues South West following their 2-0 win at Cardiff Corries today, but it was not good news for Treorchy Boys and Girls Club as they continue to slip down the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Division One East table with a 5-1 home loss to Cwm Welfare.
