I think I’ve created a personal lifetime record today as I’ve just finished watching my third game of the day and they’ve all finished 0-0!
The first one was more a case of a match being on the background really, it was Sky’s lunchtime fare as Exeter took on Lincoln in League One and, from what I saw, it was pretty turgid stuff with little at either end to grab the attention of the neutral watcher.
I was far from a neutral in the next game, Newport County have always been my “second” team and, if City aren’t playing on a Saturday afternoon, I always try to find a way of watching County’s game. Today’s match at Rodney Parade was against a Grimsby team that had won their last five away matches. Lord knows how they managed to do that on this evidence – County are out of form with just one win in their last eight and were lacking confidence, but they should really have won what was a pretty awful match.
Newport were given a very dubious penalty midway through the second half which was saved by the diving keeper and then contrived to miss from five yards out with no defenders near the ball and the goalkeeper helpless – it was their third consecutive home league game without a goal (City have seemed to go on such runs two or three times a season recently, so it’s pretty sobering to learn that it’s the first time County have been on such a barren run since 1980!).
Obviously, goalless draws tend to be dull watches, but a certain percentage of them (maybe 20 per cent?) are exceptions to that norm. Thankfully, the third of the trio I watched was such a game as Turkey were held at home by Wales in an absorbing and entertaining encounter which matched the excitement of September’s goalless encounter at Cardiff City Stadium in September in Craig Bellamy’s first match as Wales manager.
Turkey were impressive Quarter Finalists in this summer’s Euros and so to play out two high quality 0-0s with them is the clearest sign yet that Wales are progressing under Bellamy’s management – it’s also five games unbeaten for the new boss as the record he created for making the best start of any Welsh manager in terms of avoiding defeat is stretched by another match.
Two months ago, in the “first leg” against the Turks, the only thing Wales might have disappointed about was the absence of a goal to round off a game in which they were clearly the better team, but, this time, the boot was on the other foot as a very energetic Turkey backed by a big and raucous crowd kept Wales on the defensive for long periods.
However, with centre backs Joe Rodon and captain Ben Davies immense, Wales were able to keep the Turks at arm’s length most of the time. Sometimes, there was some luck involved in the defending, such as when Turkey became the second side I’d seen waste a penalty on the day and, when they were opened up thought the middle for just about the only time in the ninety minutes, Karl Darrow came to the rescue when he rushed off his line quickly to deny Yunus Akgun who looked suspiciously close to being offside anyway.
Wales, again missing important players through injury, played intelligently and, in the first half especially, suggested they could come up with a goal of their own.
In fact, in the ten minutes before half time, they could have stunned the locals into silence on a couple of occasions as they came closer to breaking the deadlock than Turkey, for all of their pressure, could manage.
Ex City man Mark Harris was heavily involved both times, first when his clever bended run took him clear it seemed, only for him to fall victim of what looked a very marginal offside decision – Jordan James finished really well from Harris’ pull back and he clearly thought he had scored his first Wales goal, but Turkey escaped because of a hesitantly raised lineswoman’s flag.
Shortly afterwards, Harris burst past a couple of defenders and fed Harry Wilson only for the in form Fulham man’s shot from the edge of the penalty area to bounce wide off the post.
I’d say the one concerning trend with Bellamy’s management so far is that for, all of its positivity and tactical intelligence, it has a second half issue in that, in each of his five matches, the standard of play after half time has fallen away- we’re still to score a second half goal under Bellamy.
Today, the difference between first and second half was less marked than it had been previously, but, although positive substitutions were made, all Wales did after the break in their attempt to grab the win that would have taken them to the top of the group was have a few nearly moments.
In truth, Turkey also fell away somewhat after the break – there was a miss from very close in by Ukgun, but most of the home side’s shooting was too wonky and from too far out to worry Wales too much until Ukgun went down under a challenge from Neco Williams in the eighty seventh minute and the Spanish referee pointed to the spot, Wales were on course for a point.
Replays of the penalty incident confirmed what I’d suspected on first viewing – the ball rolled in exactly the direction you’d expect it to if a clean tackle had been made – it was a close call, but Williams played the ball first and you wonder why VAR didn’t intervene as it was exactly the sort of situation it was designed to avoid.
In the event, it felt like justice had been served when Kerem Akturkoglu rolled his penalty wide via the outside of the same upright Wilson had hit earlier.
It was a very good result for Wales, but, in reality, it’s, almost certainly, not enough. Turkey are two points clear with a visit to the group’s whipping boys Montenegro in their last match on Tuesday while Wales will be entertaining Iceland who are two points behind us. Despite us being undefeated up to now, defeat against Iceland will see us taking part in a relegation Play Off with one of the runners up in one of the Section C groups. On the other hand, avoiding defeat and second place will see us into a Play Off for a return to Section A.
Elsewhere, Wales Under 19s have been beaten 2-1 tonight in their qualifying group for the Euros. They’ve been drawn with the French, Scotland and Lietchtenstein – the Scots beat Liechtenstein 4-0 today, but Wales have a 1-0 win over their Scottish hosts already and so a win in their final game against Liechtenstein on Tuesday will see them almost certainly qualify for the next phase in second place – Ronan Kpakio, Luey Giles, Dakari Mafico, Cody Twose and Dylan Lawlor all started tonight with Trey George coming on as a substitute to take the City representation to six.
Treherbert Boys and Girls Club drew 2-2 at Clydach today to remain in mid table in the Ardal Leagues South West Division, while Tonyrefail edged a 1-0 win over Ton Pentre in a game between the bottom two in the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier Division.
Paul compadre,
The game in Turkey was exactly like you said. A cracker. Proof that MotD has been barking up the wrong tree for years by AUTOMATICALLY relegating goalless draws to the last item. Yes, they can be snorefests, but sometimes can be quite the reverse… like yesterday.
Craig Bellamy is really impressing me. Obviously not in his insistence on playing out from the back (!) but with his footballing NOUS which is so evident in his post-match interviews.
Hello Dai, it’s funny, I’ve seen Wales go away from home and get defiant 0-0 draws against teams I thought were better than them, but this one had a different feel to it. I’d rate Turkey as a good side, but not a top draw one, yet with that crowd behind them and the intensity they played with, it was by far Bellamy’s toughest test yet and, although I’ve read and heard a few critical comments about the Welsh performance, I thought the test was passed with flying colours.
That said, if I was to be critical of the Welsh display, I’d say that we lacked precision from players you’d expect better from when in promising positions. Although I made it sound like we didn’t have many goalscoring chances, we worked our way into positions from where a good opportunity could and, in some cases, should have arisen. Sorba Thomas, Harry Wilson, Brennan Johnson and David Brooks were all in a position where a bit more precision with a pass and we’d have been in – Turkey were quite careless at the back at times in both games with them and, although they could claim, with some justification, that they should have scored against us over the two matches, the same applies to us.
Thanks for that reply Paul.
On days when my ‘aphasia fog’ lifts, I would far sooner comment on Wales than on the City… who I cannot help but feel are doomed… even were they to have Craig Bellamy take over the managerial reins.
Talking of Bellamy – as I did in my earlier posting – I really do have to eat humble pie here. Sure he has acute Vincent Kompanyitis – insisting Karl Darlow play the ball out from the back with that wonderful insane crowd howling and whistling to wake the dead… well, it was close on footballing suicide, but we got away with it – however Bellamy somehow has grown immensely in my estimation.
I recall going to Bellamy’s restaurant for the best steak in Penarth… it rivalled the steak in Caesar’s in Efail Isaf – and his staff there were (when I questioned them) genuinely fans of him… not as a footballer but as a human being. Pier 64 was the restaurant’s name as I recall. On the Penarth Marina. Alas I believe the restaurant burned down a year or so after I visited.
And the last time I was in Cardiff I dined in Valentino’s, a fine Sardinian restaurant in Windsor Place. And there the owner’s son told me his favourite customer was… yes, you’ve guessed – a certain Mr Craig Bellamy. “Such a gentleman” was his epithet.
Anyway… one thing I am grateful to Craig for is his selection of Karl Darlow. Amazing to think that Karl is the grandson of the late Ken Leek from Ynysybwl.
I was on the Bob Bank in October 1964, watching a clueless Wales apparently lose 1-2 to a superior Scottish team in the Home Championship. Fans started streaming out around the 82nd minute mark, … but then miraculously and totally against the run of play, Ken Leek popped up with two goals three minutes apart… both in the last 5 minutes. The Scots players were crestfallen.
Talk about ‘smash and grab’? It was daylight robbery… and remains the most curious ending to a Welsh international game that I can ever recall. I got on the train at Ninian Park Halt still in a daze… and all the way home to Porth, all the fans in my compartment could talk about was ‘how the dickens did that happen’?
TTFN,
Dai.
It must have been about ten years ago Dai when I was at Treforest watching City’s under 18s play one Saturday morning and there was a ritual where I’d walk a hundred yards or so to another pitch where the under 16s were playing (under 16s games were 40 minutes each way, so there was a period where you could watch a few minutes while the half time break was going on for the under 18s).
On this day, the first person I got within speaking distance was a short guy with his back to me and I muttered to him “what’s the score?”, he turned around and I saw it was Craig Bellamy.
Just for a second after he faced me, I felt a pang of something like fear because such was his reputation as a player, I thought for a very brief moment he’d started shouting and bawling at me about something or another. Of course, all he did was say something like “1-0 to City” in. anon descript fashion and I thanked him. Nothing else was said between us and that remains the extent of my personal contact with the Wales manager.
On one level, my brief sense of panic was daft, but I think others may well have felt something similar to what I did if it was their first encounter with Bellamy. Yet, watching him both on the touchline and with the media as Wales manager and you’d mark him out as one of the calmer bosses. Apparently, he was booked on Tuesday and, as I was watching S4C, I didn’t understand what was being said by the commentators. at the time, but, based on what the pictures showed, it was a very harsh decision.
Bellamy was always a mass of contradictions as a player when you think back to his football schools in Africa and contrast it with the Graham Souness stream I watched on You Tube this week where he mentioned Bellamy by name as one of the reasons he gave up management.
I think there was just such a will to win with Belalmy as a player, it was well above normal and so ruffled the feathers of team mates who were no shrinking violets themselves, yet, somehow, he has managed to keep it in check it seems since he became involved in the coaching and managing of senior players (maybe the claims made against him while he was coaching at Academy level at City led him to reassess his attitude?).
Paul, compadre…
Just read your wonderful anecdote on Bellamy and Treforest. Gosh… it is so beautiful and self-effacing on your part. And hence it rings so true.
Nice also to see your spelling of Treforest: the last time I took someone to show them the first house on the right hand side in Laura Street, I said to my English friend ‘try telling Tom he should use a double F in his spelling… you’d be a braver man than me, for he is a man who would have a few choice words for the language police from Cymdeithas yr Iaith Gymraeg’…!! He would tell them – in the immortal words of the late Dr Glyn Jones – ‘the Dragon has Two Tongues’.
And talking of language… why do you watch the games with a Welsh commentary? … no need. You can now always watch the same live S4C screening on YouTube with an English commentary pair… monoglot Dave Edwards does the ‘co comms’ on home games… and bilingual Malcolm Allen recently did brilliantly sitting in at an away game (I think it was Montenegro in the monsoon… but I stand to be corrected, as my short term memory is starting to go haywire at 77)…
TTFN,
Dai.
I’ve tried, but can’t get the English commentary on either one of my tellys for some reason Dai. I’m not too bothered, will have a look on You Tube next time we play in March, although it’s be either a World Cup qualifier, a friendly or some combination of both and so the contractual situation regarding broadcasting rights may be different from the one for the Nations League.
Huw, yes I think the scoreline flattered us (2-1 would have been about right I’d say), but, when you consider that our midfield centred on a League One player and we only have one Premier League regular starter in the line up, to come from. behind and win was impressive, but to go to Turkey and draw a week ago was even moreso. Player for player, this is one of the weaker squads we’ve had over the last decade I’d say, so when they win a group that, while not being top quality, I’d say deserves the description “tricky” in the manner they did, you have to look at the manager’s role and, for me, Bellamy has created a team that is better than the sum of its parts in his first six matches. Also, I’d add that while it’s easy to look at a side that’s winning and automatically believe they must have a strong team spirit, it really does appear to be the case with Wales.
Finally, although it’s not fair to ask this question and impossible to answer it, I can’t helping wondering if we’d have beaten Poland in the Play Off game under this manager?