Back in late November 2000, Cardiff City were in the fourth tier and were facing up to successive home games against Lincoln City and Hartlepool United. The combined attendance for the two matches was 11,037 and those of us who were there to see both games will never forget what happened in them – or, to be more accurate, we’ll never forget what happened after the ninety minute mark in them.
City were later to pay Lincoln half a million pounds (which was about £400,000 above his real worth!) for their centre forward Gavin Gordon who was largely responsible for the visitors going into added time with a 2-1 lead. Gordon’s two goals looked set to land a City side who were drawing too many games as they struggled to live up to the Sam Hammam hype with a damaging home defeat until Paul Brayson equalised and it looked like we’d escape with another draw, but, instead, Lincoln then proceeded to present us with a winner as their centre half Jason Barnett turned the ball into his own net.
Four days later, what had been a fairly quiet match against Hartlepool was level at 1-1 in the eighty eighth minute when Tommy Millar put the visitors 2-1 up, only for lightning to actually strike twice. The Willie Boland and Mark Bonner midfield pairing never used to score, but here it was the latter who made it 2-2 and then Kurt Nogan, the man the Echo claimed had been bought by the club’s supporters, came up with his only goal in City colours to secure a highly improbable pair of 3-2 wins which went a long way to setting a feeling that something special was happening that season in motion – indeed it was, as we secured promotion while scoring the most goals out of the ninety two clubs.
I always thought I would never see the like of those two finishes so close together again in my lifetime, but, in a way, I have now. I’m going to take a guess here and say that it was some sort of club record to come from behind in added time to win a couple of games in a season, well, whatever else happens in this season, City have equalled that record now.
Back in November, Karlan Grant and Ike Ugbo scored in added time at Preston to turn a potential 1-0 defeat into a 2-1 win, but the fact that the home team were out on their feet after having to play most of the second half with ten men following Robbie Brady’s red card greatly helped our cause.
However, today we needed no such help as an Ipswich side that were on their way to joining Leicester at the top of the table on eighty one points were left stunned when their 1-0 lead was overturned by goals in the ninety fifth and one hundredth minutes.
Okay, the two late, late show wins in 23/24 don’t match the 00/01 ones because they didn’t come in successive games, but it’s still a fantastic achievement for the current side and speaks volumes for their team spirit.
So, another bonkers game in the bonkers division which is the Championship, but, even without the breathless and dramatic ending, this was still a remarkable match by the standards of what we’ve come to expect from Cardiff City in 23/24. I say that because it didn’t follow what has become the script for the season – to be more accurate, it spent most of the time being a pretty typical City game, but when it veered off script, it did so spectacularly.
Ipswich arrived in the Welsh capital on the back of six straight wins and must have thought they knew exactly what to expect from us. This wouldn’t have included City sprinting out of the traps from the first whistle to force the title contenders on to the back foot and leave them grateful to have reached the fifteen minute mark without falling behind.
It was by a distance, our best start to a home game this season and apart from Huddersfield probably, I’m struggling to think of a better one in an away match. Quite why we decided to have a right go at Ipswich when the likes of Rotherham, Millwall and Sheffield Wednesday were given such a gentle introduction to their Saturday afternoon at Cardiff City Stadium I don’t know, but I’m not complaining!
City, with Yakou Meite starting in place of Famala Diedhiou and Manolis Siopis in for Joe Ralls in the only changes from Wednesday night and Huddersfield gave Vaclav Hladky in the Ipswich goal more to do in the first fifteen minutes than some keepers get in the ninety when they face us.
Notably, Hladky had to turn aside a David Turnbull shot from twenty yards that looked to be heading in above his dive until he thrust his arm up to make the save. The resultant corner from Turnbull skidded off an Ipswich head and went beyond the far post to Josh Bowler who got his awkward half volley from virtually on the bye line exactly right as Hladky sprawled to make a save. However, for a split second, it looked like Perry Ng had been left with the formality of tapping in his seventh goal of the season, but the reality was that the chance was harder than it looked as the ball bounced up slightly and Ng was unable to get a full contact on it aa Kieffer Moore was able to clear off the line.
There were other easier saves for Hladky to make as City’s bright start got the crowd fired up in a way that has not been seen at the ground for months and by being so bold early on, they kept the crowd with them when the game entered its long mundane phase.
This began around the fifteen minute mark and up to around the eighty eighth minute, I can’t remember City having a single goal attempt (actually I’ve just remembered that Karlan Grant went past two defenders and then flashed a left footed attempt high and wide in the closing stages of the first half) unless you count a mishit Siopis cross that landed on the roof of the net or an Ng dribbler that Hladky fell on which I had down as another cross.
The fact is that, with Ipswich starving City of the corners and attacking free kicks which are like oxygen to them, their defence had it probably as easy as they have all season for about seventy five per cent of the game. Even by City standards as one of the least dangerous teams from open play in the division, we were offering absolutely nothing going forward.
That said, it’s only fair to recognise that Ipswich, the highest scoring team in the Championship, offered even less until the game reached its final quarter – that has to be a testimony as to how effectively City were stopping them playing.
Moore had scored with a back healer for Wigan at Cardiff City Stadium in 2020 and he nearly repeated the feat from virtually the same spot when his improvised shot flew not far off goal, but that was the only threat City faced as a first half that had started so promisingly rather petered out.
The second half offered more of the same as Ipswich’s free scoring attack continued to look blunt against a confident defence in which Nat Phillips continues to impress.
Gradually though, Ipswich began to take control – I say that, but it might have been City let them take control because it really did look for most of the second period that the height of our ambition was a 0-0 draw. The fact that Erol Bulut left it until the seventy fifth minute to make his first substitutions (Callum O’Dowda and Rubin Colwill for Meite and Turnbull) suggests that he was happy with how things were going which was understandable in a way because we were keeping our illustrious opponents quiet in a manner that we’d been wholly unable to against Leicester and Leeds recently, but with so little happening going forward now, I was expecting changes a good deal sooner than they happened.
Ipswich, by contrast, made a raft of attacking substitutions as they figured nothing but a win would do for their automatic promotion hopes following Leeds’ win at Sheffield Wednesday last night.
Another thing the tractor boys are the best in the Championship at is scoring late goals and with the direction of play now almost exclusively towards the home goal, it was hard to avoid a feeling that the visitors were going to sneak it late on.
Ethan Horvarth was finally given a save to make when Sam Morsy’s well struck twenty yarder flew straight at him, but it was sub Omari Hutchinson who signalled a stepping up of Ipswich’s attacking intent with a shot from a similar distance that Horvarth did well to tip aside.
It was Moore, with his head bandaged following a cut sustained in a collision with Dimitrios Goutas, who broke the deadlock though in the seventy ninth minute with a low left footed shot across Horvath from the corner of the penalty area. My first impression was that Horvarth should have done better with the shot, but having seen replays of the goal, I think you have to credit the ex City striker for a classy finish which was always just out of the keeper’s reach.
City now had to chase the game and bought on Diedhiou for Bowler as Grant, who had been leading the attack after Meite’s withdrawal, switched out to the right, but, for a while, it was as if by spending so much time concentrating on keeping Ipswich out, City had forgotten how to attack.
A cross by Colwill which almost cleared the Canton Stand roof (okay, that’s an exaggeration!) suggested City were slipping meekly to one of those 1-0 home defeats seen far too often in recent seasons, but, as it turned out, I’d say the Academy product was the architect of the game’s remarkable ending.
About two minutes from the end of normal time Colwill had another opportunity to cross from the right and this time he produced a beauty of a low ball right into the Ipswich “corridor of uncertainty” which Diedhiou just missed and the stretching O’Dowda put over the bar from about eight yards out.
The effect of this close miss was that Ipswich suddenly looked nervous as City found the energy which characterised their fast start again and suddenly the idea of an equaliser didn’t seem so pie in the sky.
With Ng pushing forward, Colwill joining in and Grant still full of running, it was Ipswich’s left flank that was feeling the strain and with half of the signalled added eight minutes played, Colwill got to the bye line, this time his cross was high to the far post where O’Dowda again showed how useful he is in the air by heading down into the middle and when the ball was half cleared to Ryan Wintle stood by the penalty spot, his volley found the net with a slight deflection off a defender
So, a point rescued late on and I assumed this was the signal for everyone in blue to take up defensive duties again, but, not a bit of it, City kept on pouring forward (great credit to Erol Bulut for showing an adventurous side I didn’t think he possessed if it was at his orders).
It was as if they could smell blood as City were invariably first to every ball. Joe Ralls was brought on for man of the match Wintle in one of those added time substitutions that I never understand, but Bulut had got it right again as City were finally awarded a corner out on the right (was Leif Davis fouled by Grant beforehand as he claimed he was?) which the captain went over to take and his inswinger caused havoc in the penalty area as Diedhiou got an important touch, Ng hooked on and O’Dowda arrived on the far post four yards out to neatly turn the ball in to secure a fourth straight win for his side and what is almost certainly our best victory of the season.
So, as someone who has been critical of the attitude under this manager in recent weeks, I’ve got to congratulate him and the team for what they achieved today and I can only hope that the effectiveness we showed when we did attack today will lead to us going for a repeat of that attitude in our remaining games. I still think the Play Offs are a pipe dream, but we are now just five points off sixth place (as has been pointed out to me after publication of this story, our inferior goal difference effectively makes it six) and I’d say we need to maintain the attacking intensity we showed at times today to get the six wins or so which could well end up proving me wrong.
By contrast to the pandemonium in the main stadium, it was all pretty quiet at Leckwith this lunchtime as Charlton dealt another blow to the under 18s’ Play Off hopes by winning 1-0.
It was a good day for the clubs I follow in the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier Division though, Treherbert Boys and Girls Club are right back in the title race following a 2-0 win at Pencoed Athletic BGC and Ton Pentre are putting any thoughts about relegation behind them as they head up the table after their recent revival which they continued with a 3-1 home win over Tonyrefail BGC in a Rhondda derby.
I’m a Ninian Stand ticket holder but live in London and what made the hotel cost of the Friday night, made necessary by SKY choosing 12.30 for kick-off, worth paying was that at half-time I had watched more City attacking play, going forward and not passing across and back, than I had in half a dozen earlier games. And what joy to see O’Dowda back! Perhaps I will renew my Season Ticket after all!
Masterful analysis as always, Paul. A few weeks ago I prayed for O’Dowda’s return, and I think he produced his customary energy and footballing knew-how in his previous game, and so I felt disappointed he was not in the team from the start yesterday. He has always been my favourite player at the club, and in the interview he gave to the CCFC interview after the game he is clearly highly intelligent and amicable by nature. I hope he he will be in the game from the beginning against Swansea.
I think Grant, for all his willingness, proved yesterday that his best performance is as a winger, and a very capable one, too.
I expected Keiffer Moore to receive the wrath of our fans, but in fairness, I think he realised that Cardiff (up until yesterday) would not perform in a manner helpful to his style of play. However, I noticed that he did not celebrate after his goal, and I wonder what are the odds that he will be a Cardiff City player next season.
Good morning Paul and others – Now that really was more like it, a performance from all that proved that we do have a team worth watching, and worth watching until the very end. As you rightly report, the start was comfortably the best this season by some distance and had we scored twice in the opening minutes it would not have been undeserved. The fact that we didn’t may have caused some concern, but from my vantage point, we were playing so much better due to a functioning mid-field of Wintle, Siopis and Turnbull. Probably as good as any in recent times.
Kieffer Moore’s goal I suppose was inevitable and well taken and like most thought that would be the end of the matter. But the energy, and determination not to lose the game was as encouraging feature of the match as any and two sort of scrambled goals were as unexpected as they were welcome. And how pleased was it to see O’Dowda back and his goal expertly executed.
In recent seasons, many of our best players have been those on loan. And yesterday, we had five such players on the pitch at some time or other. If I am honest, there are perhaps just two I would wish to sign permanently, Phillips and the young Man City full back who is growing in confidence, and I could be persuaded to add Grant to those two if he comes at a bargain price and to feature on the right wing.
After the past two seasons, play off aspirations are not too much of a concern to me, but how I would wish us to match yesterday’s efforts next Saturday lunchtime and achieve our first ever double over Swansea. Everything is crossed for a repeat performance.
Hi Paul,
Thanks – you have captured it all perfectly again.
24 hours on and I am still smiling after that performance. Massive surprise and what a way to win.
Around our part of the Ninian stand think we all would have settled for a point before Ipswich scored and then feared the worst, with the irony of Moore scoring just rubbing it in!
However, did not factor in that barnstorming last 10 minutes. What a way to win and full credit to all the team for such collective spirit.
Definitely felt that Colwill and O Dowda made a huge difference although they all played a part. Another great defensive shift from the centre backs, Wintle andSiopsis chased down everything and I can finally see how good Turnbull can be for us – always looking to go forward and linking in nicely in that advanced role.
As you said, why couldn’t we come out of the blocks like that against the lesser teams we have faced in recent months? Funny old game?.
Onwards and upwards – final push against our old friends next week and then see where we are for a very unlikely push for the playoffs.
I’m sure I’m not the only one who initially thought that Ralls introduction in the 98th minute was a time-wasting substitution designed to manage the game out and make sure we held onto the point we’d just earned. However because of the momentum shift towards us near the end, it was no surprise that Ralls took that last attacking corner into the middle instead of a short one to eat up time. I heard Jason Perry say on Radio Wales after the game that players can feel how a game is going, and so will make decisions based on that.
I heard Ipswich boss Kieran McKenna say after the game that after making 4 of his 5 substitutions by the 76th minute looking for the win, he was left with a very attack-minded team on the pitch, which wasn’t the best for having to deal with Cardiff’s attacking onslaught at the end. To be fair I thought he was very philosophical, saying that Ipswich have won several games this season with late goals, so to be on the wrong end for once was just something they’d have to deal with and move on.
I have to pay credit to Ipswich for their style of play in making it one of the most entertaining games this season (I can’t imagine it happening against teams playing the styles of Blackburn or Preston). I also thought that the referee did his best to let the game flow. I can’t remember any bad/cynical fouls, and it was good that the only yellow card he gave, rightly, was to the Ipswich keeper for time-wasting after they’d taken the leave.
On a similar point I also supported the ref who gave Wilson-Esbrand a yellow for time-wasting against Bristol City, after we’d taken the lead.
I’m not even thinking of a possible playoff position, even after four wins. My only focus is on doing well at the S Wales derby next Saturday. We’ve done well on our two recent 1230 Saturday kick-offs, so let’s hope we can make it a hat-trick.
Form goes out of the window for such games. Despite their recent poor run, Swans coach Luke Williams previously worked under Russell Martin at Swansea, when they delivered some horrible beatings to us, so I’m sure their performance will be very different to the tame performance they produced here under Michael Duff earlier this season. Having said that after the Ipswich win against a team who were second in the league the day before, we shouldn’t fear playing anyone in the Championship, and should be full of confidence.
Morning everyone and thanks for your replies – it’s great to see some positivity after much of what’s happened with City since the Covid lockdown. Graham, you’ve captured what made Saturday so different and so encouraging there, we need more of the same now that we’ve deservedly beaten one of the four sides the automatic promotion places will come from.
Anthony, I’m glad you mentioned that Callum O’Dowda interview, I’d recommend it to anyone because, forget about football, that was an impressive young man speaking – I don’t think our players are too bad at interviews, but that was on another level again and he loves dogs!
I think if Ipswich go up Kieffer Moore will sign for them, but, if they don’t, I think him coming here in the summer is a possibility and watching him on Saturday, I think we would be getting a player who is a bit better than the one we had back in 20/21 – besides his fine goal, I was impressed by his hold up play against what is one of the Championship’s better cenreback pairings on recent evidence.
Brian, sorry to ruin the mood of positivity somewhat, but I think it has to be doubtful whether we’ll see any of the trio of Phillips, Wilson-Esbrand and Grant playing for us next season – they all have at least one year left on their contracts and while I feel Phillips could be bought for a reasonable price, his wages a Liverpool (rumoured to be well above £50k a week) makes him agreeing to fit into our wage structure unlikely – especially as his performances so far will have go clubs who can pay more in wages than us taking an interest in him. The same applies to a lesser degree to Grant, but West Brom, who need promotion to get their finances back on track, will, no doubt, have been keeping an eye on how he’s done for us and I’d say overall Grant’s done well enough to make the Baggies think they can get more of what they paid for him now if they decide to sell than they would have done last summer. As for Wilson-Esbrand, Man City have given him a contract until 2027 so they clearly rate him and I think it’s a little bit like the situation we were in with Tommy Doyle in that they’ll want a step up from us even if his next loan is still in the Championship – in that respect, I suppose we improve our chances if we can finish close to the top six or even in it because there wouldn’t be too many teams who would be seen as the step up from us I mentioned earlier if we finish, say, between sixth and eighth.
Huw, I think Turnbull is beginning to show what he can give us, he is more of an understated player than someone like Colwill, but he doesn’t give the ball away cheaply as often as most of his team mates do and if he can add a few goals to his game in the last nine matches, then he’ll soon be getting the same plaudits as Phillips and Wilson-Esbrand are. Siopis was good on Saturday, but I thought Wintle was a little better as he followed up another good performance of his against Huddersfield – O’Dowda is very interesting in that interview when talking about Wintle, he clearly rates him highly.
Blue Bayou, having spoken about an impressive Irishman in Callum O’Dowda, you mention another one in Kieran McKenna. I saw the interview you talk of and was impressed , but not surprised because everything about him shouts out that he’s not going to be in the Championship much longer – if Ipswich don’t go up, I think it’s very likely a Premier League side will target him during the summer. On the face of it, McKenna messed up on Saturday by leaving his side open to the sort of onslaught they faced in the closing minutes by making too many attacking substitutions, but it’s what he’s done all season and they’ve not been caught out like that before last weekend.
Continuing the theme of opposing managers, I agree with you about Luke Williams – he saw at close quarters what Russell Martin did to ensure Swansea were comfortably better than us in the four derbies before last September’s Swansea loss and I’m expecting a big improvement in attitude to the one we saw at Cardiff City Stadium six months ago.
I watched the City podcast they have live on You Tube every Monday evening last night and thought it was pretty good, but I didn’t understand why they portrayed Swansea as a team in crisis with a “toxic” atmosphere around the place. True, they are too close to the relegation places for comfort and have only taken one point from their last two games, but they’d won the three before that – if you offered me a point from Saturday’s game now, I’d take it.
Paul compadre and all MAYAns,
Yes an enjoyable game… and one so well reported on by you Paul.
I would echo everything you said, but would perhaps suggest that your INITIAL feeling re Kieffer’s goal was in fact the right one. Our keeper did alas get his angles wrong: had he been one step to his left, he would have tipped the shot around the post. But I think for all that, that he is a good acquisition and even a shade better than Alsopp.
Back a few months ago, I recall one of our esteemed brethren opining that we did not need Kieffer as his first touch was not good enough. I responded by saying that, au contraire, he was too good for us and our style of play.
And after last Saturday, I still stand by that, despite the euphoria that has resulted from our win.
Yes it was indeed good to see us not passing back all the time, nor even passing square… (although we have some true masters of a square pass on our books), but Paul you were so right in pointing out that we did not really test their keeper from the 15th to the 88th minute. So let us keep things in perspective … for although there were some positive signs, one swallow does not make a thirst quencher…!! What I mean is that it was hardly a Damascene moment when we decided to throw negative Bulutball out of the window once and for all.
Blue B makes a great point regarding Ipswich not parking even a minibus in front of their goal… let alone the three double deckers that some teams bring to the CCS. (As for his view re McKenna’s magnanimity in defeat, whilst I share it, I would add that all of Ipswich knew that they were a shade fortunate to have got three points in the reverse fixture in the early autumn, and so a certain karma was to be expected… and when it was delivered by O’Dowda’s coup de grace, Kieran knew it would not look good if he moaned while City fans were all O.Deeing on O’D.
But here’s the thing boys: ask yourselves what was the nature of those two last-gasp miracle goals. Answers on a virtual postcard please.
I will give you a clue: and that is the nature of Ugbo’s mini spate of goals for The Owls.
Give up?
Well don’t… the answer is easily found in the teachings of the great Charles Hughes. It is of course my favourite four letter ‘word’…
POMO…
The ball is played into their box, gentlemen…!! QED, eh…?
The saddest thing about all this is Bulut has, all this season, been hellbent of seemingly encouraging wingers like Bowler, Méïté and Tanner to not try to beat their man on the outside (although all three have proven themselves capable in the past… the first two at Blackpool and Reading respectively, and Tanner showed against The Swans that he too could do it… if only he had the encouragement of his boss).
If the wingers got the ball to the byline and then delivered into the penalty box, it could have been a whole different story this season, with the likes of Ramsey, Grant, Colwill (not to forget Ugbo) to pounce.
I would like us to look at our outstanding record of goals from set plays this season. What does it tell you? I know what it tells me… it screams out POMO again. We get these goals from corners and free kicks because the ball is delivered into the box.
A child of six can see this.*
As it is, because of his negative style football from mid November to nearly mid March, Bulut has surrendered any realistic possibility of being in the top 6. Four months wasted.
The saddest thing about the ‘miracle ending’ of last Saturday, is that it has probably guaranteed that EB will get an extension on his contract.
But hey, if it is the wish of the MAYA community, then I should not be a sourpuss. So I wish him a fair wind… starting this coming weekend.
*as Grouch famously said…’somebody send for a child aged six’…
TTFN,
Dai.
Thanks Dai, I’d still prefer to give Kieffer Moore credit for a very good finish than blame our keeper for the Ipswich goal. After an unconvincing first game or two, I think Hovarth has done well even if I feel he has say, three or four errors in him a season, which will probably cost us goals, when he’s got the ball at his feet – you may well say that’s three or four too many and I’d not argue with that, but it’s what teams do these days.I daresay the coaches will point to some statistical analysis somewhere that shows that goalkeepers playing out from the back typically provide a net gain in terms of goals scored through that method against goalkeeper cock ups through it, but I’d need more convincing.
I mentioned below that I wouldn’t rule out the chances of Kieffer Moore playing for us next season if Ipswich don’t go up. Normally, I’d be a bit cautious about a player in his early thirties coming here, but Moore is a late developer who I believe had only played fifty or so matches in the EFL by the time he was twenty five and, watching him on Saturday, I think he’s still improving.
As for our manager, I think he will always be someone for whom defence will always be his first and overriding option, but my hope is that we are entering a phase where his team will show that he isn’t as defensive as I thought he was. I listened to that interview with Jason Perry which Blue Bayou referred to as well and think he was probably right when he said players get a sense of how a game is going and react accordingly, but I also believe that if a set of players “did their own thing” and it went against what the man in charge wanted, most managers would make sure the same thing didn’t happen again.
As I mentioned in my piece, the best thing about Saturday for me was our positive attitude at 1-1 – for now at least, I’m going to believe that Erol Bulut was happy with that at the time, even though I do find it surprising.
Finally, I’ll steer clear of POMO for now and go back to Kieffer Moore type target men. It’s a source of mild frustration to me that in the sixty one years I’ve been watching them, City have always played with a big centre forward – it’s as if it’s in the club’s DNA there must be one. Fine, but, having made that decision, you have to play to the target man’s strengths and one of them should be getting on the end of high or low crosses into the box.
One of the consequences of the modern day fad of “inverted wingers” is that, unless you’ve got full backs bombing on outside these wingers all of the time (something City have never been that hot on doing), your target man is not going to get the ball into the box that the likes of Steve Morison and Neil Harris (okay, I know he was a different type of striker) used to thrive on when they were playing very often. Another feather in Moore’s cap is that he scored the goals he did while at City in a team which largely played without wingers who knocked in the type of crosses he would thrive on, but all of our other strikers (with the possible exception of Sory Kaba) since we last got relegated have been labelled as “crap” at one time or another because they were not scoring the goals you’d expect from the leader of our attack. However, to defend the likes of Glatzel, Watters, Hugill, Etete, Ugbo and Diedhiou to some extent, I’d hesitate to be so critical of them until they had played in a City team with wide players who provided plenty of crosses of the type a target man is supposed to thrive on.