Cardiff’s inconsistent form continues as sending off changes the game.

One Response to Cardiff’s inconsistent form continues as sending off changes the game.

1. Dai Woosnam says:

   March 18, 2026 at 9:42 am

   Paul compadre,
   Good report as usual… not sure I would be as tough on the referee though, but I do agree that the Osho ‘red’ was probably a yellow. But guess who are to blame for it becoming a red… apart that is from Osho himself and that crazy 100 mph lunge?

   Why… the home crowd of course. That mass gasp made the ref’s mind up for him.

   As for Osho: he is clearly BBM’s pet love. After all, he is the only player he has paid money for… and alas has been a waste of money from the start. Three decent performances do not a season make. And how sad to see BBM reassuringly pat Osho’s back as he undertook his walk of shame down the tunnel.

   I was expecting a close game after our earlier game with them at Adams Park, and that kamikaze tackle made it even tougher. For BBM then made things worse by not bringing on Fish, the one true centre-back we have. [Eh? What about our golden boy, Dylan Lawlor? He was playing centre-back, was he not?] Oh for sure Lawlor is very talented, but he is – in modern parlance – a ‘number six’ for me.

   Wintle is a pretty decent midfielder, but loses too many 50-50 tackles to make him effective as a centre back.

   So, that crucial mistake from BBM just compounded matters. Wycombe proved beyond a peradventure of a doubt that when BBM’s team confronts big strong physical opponents, he has no answer. He’d better get one quick, because Bolton and Huddersfield lie in wait… not forgetting a big Blackpool side who will want to give us more of the same on Saturday and perform the double over us.

   This Saturday we will need to SHOOT. I lost count yesterday of chances to shoot that were spurned. I recall in the first half the ball coming to Wintle who was standing in the exact spot he stood when he crashed in that goal against Plymouth… and what did he do this time? He decided on an extravagantly optimistic pass to Ashford at the far post that predictably did not come off.

   As for Ashford, comfortably our best player on the night, I can’t help but lament his miss after that outstanding searing break, early in the second half. But you could see he was going to miss by the way he clearly tries to bend it inside the far post… a mistake that Robbo duplicated with almost the last kick of the game.

   Look, if BBM is such an ace coach, why cannot he tell players not to do this, but instead play a soccer equivalent of ‘percentage tennis’?

   Take the Ashford’s miss. Now you will note that their keeper, unlike our keeper whose positioning for their opening goal – not for the first time in recent games – was highly suspect, (showing far too much of his goal to the scorer), gave Ashford no easy finish. All the more reason then for Cian to hit it hard and aim at the keeper’s left hand… percentage tennis if you like. Don’t look for glory goals.

   But at least the boy did shoot. I credit him that. Far too often we tried little flicks when inside their third, instead of walloping the ball.

   And then we let ourselves down with silly little passes in midfield, like the quite unnecessary 8 yard forward pass from Lawlor to Robertson, when Dylan could see that Alex had an opponent almost glued to his back… and what happens? Robertson who should never have received the ball in the first place, fails to control it and pulls back his man… and is rightly booked.

   And as for the Joel Colwill ‘foul’… I agree with you Paul… it was never a yellow card. We have a specialist at using hands to pull back opponents, and that is the aforementioned Alex… this wasn’t your bog standard pull back.

   Indeed even giving a foul seemed a harsh decision: one that was sadly to have fatal consequences, in that it led to the killer second goal. But we need a coach who will instruct his players not to use their hands to even momentarily try to brush opponents off… which is more or less what Joel did on this occasion.

   Okay, Blackpool next. They will have watched a recording of last night’s game by the time they arrive at the CCS… and will surely be wanting to test Trott with their corners by crowding him and will be hoping he will flap at the ball as he did last night.

   TTFN,
   Dai.