Cardiff City making survival harder for themselves with all of their spot kick failures.

There are those who maintain that a penalty was not missed if it was saved by the goalkeeper, the shot was on target, so it cannot be called a miss. Therefore, to partly acknowledge that, I’ll say that the four penalties Cardiff City have failed to score front this season have all been saved – having got that out of the way, I’ll never change my opinion that a penalty that does not result in a goal has been missed!

Surely a professional team playing in a good quality League (the Championship is stronger than many European country’s top divisions) should do better than score from just twenty per cent of the league penalties they are awarded in a season? City’s spot kick failures have come in two games we lost 1-0 in and now there’s today’s miss in a 1-1 draw – the other was in a match we won 1-0, so that one doesn’t matter so much.

Now, I accept that I’m over simplifying things a little here, but we score our penalty today and the two in the single goal losses and that’s four more points we’ve got – we’d now be on fifty points, the mark which traditionally means safety and todays results mean that it will do again this year.

Today’s miss was by Sory Kaba who, to be fair, did net the one spot kick we’ve scored from in last weekend’s 4-1 loss at Sheffield United and, as he got the goal which gave us a home point against Stoke City today with his eighth strike since joining us, I’m not going to be too critical of him. However, it is pretty typical of this squad that they have consistently been unable to take advantage of the gilt edged chance a penalty represents.     

In truth, City, with Romaine Sawyers in for Andy Rinomhota in the only change from Wednesday’s win at Watford, did not deserve to win today, but, in the position they find themselves that’s even more immaterial than it normally is.

Still, when you look at the bigger picture and consider our pathetic home record since the end of the 19/20 season, along with the number of games at Cardiff City Stadium where we’ve slipped meekly to defeat after going a goal down inside twenty minutes, like we did today, then you have to be happy with a draw I suppose. Although we’ve been pretty good at winning after conceding the first goal in away games over the past three seasons, it has hardly ever happened at home.

Yet again, City made a slow start to a game – there was no pressing, no energy and very little possession. It wasn’t as bad as at Watford and in our previous two home games, but a Stoke side with just a point from their last four matches were given a nice, gentle introduction to a game in which a City win would have come in very handy.

Sabri Lamouchi would say there is a factor which goes a long way towards explaining why there was so little urgency early on today and I’ll come to that later, but the truth was that although City were presenting the ball back to Stoke almost as soon as they got it, the Potteries team’s tempo was so slow that we were in no great danger as long as we kept our shape and maintained our concentration.

For all Stoke’s possession, nothing of note had happened when Mahlon Romeo headed a cross which had been flashed across City’s goal behind for the visitors first corner on eighteen minutes. However, it was here that City’s concentration wavered as an unmarked Josh Laurent, who City, apparently, tried to sign in the summer, back headed into the net from about eight yards out.

Of course, any goal scored from an unmarked header from a set piece will have management and coaching staff for the defending team playing the blame game. As far as I can tell, City do not employ a zonal marking system (if they do it went drastically wrong today) and, given the space Laurent had, it’s hard to be certain who was supposed to be marking him. But I think that person was probably Kion Etete. whose overall performance came up some way short of some of his recent ones I’m afraid.

Throughout most of the game, City were having one of those days where they make ball retention look almost impossible, one of those days where they might occasionally string a couple of passes together, but don’t expect any more than that.

Joe Ralls did manage to slide Kaba in with a neat ball which the main source of our goals lately pulled across the face of goal (Kaba was adamant goalkeeper Jack Bonham had got a touch on his shot and he may have been right), but, that apart, there was no sign whatsoever that City had an equaliser in them.

However, ten minutes after falling behind, City were level with a goal straight out of the route one playbook as two Stoke defenders went for Ryan Allsop’s big boot down the middle and barely got a touch on it to leave Kaba with a clear run in on Bonham – City’s top scorer calmly knocked the ball through the advancing keeper’s legs to bring his team level against the run of play.

The main talking point of the rest of the half concerned Ralls, who must have come close to seeing a red card for a lunge at defender Connor Taylor right in front of the away fans, but referee Andy Davies decided that a yellow one was sufficient punishment.

Stoke’s Dwight Gayle had what looked like a decent chance to restore his side’s lead, but Kipre’s fine block snuffed out the danger (the goal apart, City defended well today) and half time arrived with Stoke perhaps feeling hard done by not to be in front in what remained a slow paced affair.

As it turned out, Laurent’s goal was Stoke’s only on target effort of the game, but, despite the lack of goalmouth action at either end, the second half proved to be a better watch and, with City finishing the stronger of the two teams, they were worth their draw, but no more than that, by the end.

City’s two former Crewe players were able to come up with two passes that rose far above the general level of City’s attempts to find a team mate this afternoon and these provided the best chances the team had to win the game.

First Perry Ng’s lovely cross found Kaba in acres of space on the far post, but he was unable to make a clean contact with the ball (as it was, the linesman had his flag up for offside, but I must say it looked okay to me on the replay I saw of the incident).

Then, just after Lamouchi had made a couple of attacking substitutions by bringing Mark Harris and Jaden Philogene on for Etete and Ralls, Ryan Wintle played the pass of the match to send the latter into space down City’s left and when he tried to cut back from the byeline, he was brought down by Taylor for an obvious penalty.

Kaba’s penalty against Sheffield United went straight down the middle as the keeper dived out of the way. This time, he opted to go low to Bonham’s left, but the keeper guessed correctly and was able to save . It was a good save, not brilliant as I’ve seen it described by some, but, if you’re going to hit a penalty low to either side of a keeper, I’d say you need to make sure it’s hitting the side netting as a Championship standard goalkeeper will have a very good chance of saving it if he goes the right way – while Kaba’s penalty was heading for the corner of the net, it didn’t look as if it was hitting the side netting to me.

Apart from that, Callum O’Dowda, heads and shoulders above all others when it came to City’s man of the match in my opinion, drew a decent save out of Bonham from twenty yards and Wintle got back to foil Gayle when the veteran forward was well placed. However, despite a succession of corners towards the end, City don’t carry the same threat as they once did from set pieces and Stoke survived with few alarms for their point.

Generally, the results elsewhere only intensified the feeling of a missed opportunity. Blackpool and Wigan refuse to go quietly after beating Birmingham and Millwall respectively, but the real kick in the teeth was QPR’s 2-1 win at Burnley which I reckon means they’ll survive now – Burnley have been winless against three of the bottom six in the last week and I suppose the only positive emerging from that is that our game there on the last day of the season is no longer looking like Mission Impossible.

The good news came at Bristol City where the home team scored in added time to secure a 2-1 win over Rotherham and, better still, it was the same score at Coventry where Reading slipped closer to the drop. With only six points left to play for, the side that were docked six points are three behind us with a worse goal difference and with their remaining matches against Wigan and Huddersfield, they’ll be damaging relegation rivals if they were to get the two wins they should now need to stand a chance of finishing above us.

As for the matter I said I’d return to, it’s the congested April fixture list which our manager is not a fan of. I’ve mentioned the passive start City made and the generally slow pace of the game, well tiredness had to be a factor in that surely? Our manager also makes the point that we play at Rotherham on Thursday night before facing Huddersfield next Sunday lunchtime whereas Neil Warnock’s team will not have played for twelve days when they come here.

This is all a fair argument to make from City’s perspective, they’re effectively being penalised through no fault of their own by having to play Rotherham again with no consideration of what the score was when the original game was abandoned.

However, if City are feeling the effects of this gruelling last five weeks of the season, I do wonder why our manager only chose to use three substitutes today (one of those was in goal where Jac Alnwick came on to replace Allsop who it’s been reported is out for the rest of the season with an abductor injury)?

City’s under 18s are ending their season well, they followed up their win over Reading in midweek with a 2-0 victory at Wigan this lunchtime with Louis Philips and Troy Perrett scoring.

In the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier Division, Ton Pentre we’re 4-1 winners at Garw and AFC Porth were beaten 3-1 at Bridgend Street – no game today for Treherbert Boys and Girls Club in Division 1, but they did win 3-1 at Penrhiwceiber in midweek.

Finally, there are still a few signed copies of my latest book “Tony Evans Walks on Water” available from the Trust Office (near Gate 5) on matchdays at the reduced price of £9 for Trust members.

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Seven decades of Cardiff City v Stoke City matches.

Tomorrow’s home game with Stoke is a definite glass half full/empty one depending on your viewpoint, but, speaking for myself, it puts me in a quandary. As someone who has broadly tended to think we will stay up this season, I’m a glass half full merchant and if I were to go into fully optimistic mode, I could say that a win would all but guarantee us Championship football in 23/24 (especially if we can maintain our better goal difference than most of the sides around us).

The problem I have though is that, especially after our last two matches at Cardiff City Stadium, I’m definitely in the glass half empty group when it comes to playing on our own ground – three seasons of pathetic home results and miserable home performances have left me very much fearing the worst when we play at home. The occasions where I have began to think we were doomed have been in the aftermath of losses like we saw against Swansea and Sunderland. We gained nothing in terms of momentum carried into our next match from our win at Blackpool, so I find it hard to think that we will from Wednesday’s so welcome win at Watford either.

A fortnight ago, I would definitely have been tipping an away win, but, since then, Stoke’s form has dipped – they’ve not won in four and were beaten at home by bottom club Wigan in midweek, so maybe there are some grounds for hope?

Glass half full or empty, there’s a quiz to be done! Here’s seven questions on Stoke with the answers to be posted on here on Sunday.

60s. He played some of his early football in Oswestry, but his first professional football came at a capital club with a ground which brings to mind this time of year. His next move was to a now defunct club that had been top flight runners up four times and FA Cup winners once. He did well for this club (his five international caps were won during this period) and his next move was definitely an upward one to a team that would soon be winning cups and having the eyes of the world on it, but, having never quite fully established himself there, he moved to Stoke before the period of success began. He spent three years in the Potteries and played more league games for them than anyone else, but, again he never established himself to the extent that he was an automatic first choice and Stoke were happy to let him leave to play for his second London side, this time in the Second Division. Again, his stay was a pretty short one as the emergence of a highly rated regal youngster saw him losing his place after two seasons and his final transfer saw him make a short move to play besides the seaside for a season before he retired just as the sixties were ending. Who am I describing?

70s. Great things were expected of this man who became his local team’s youngest ever player back in the days when he would have been known as an inside forward. Having played a full part in attaining a promotion to the First Division, he so impressed the opposition in a 6-0 defeat for his team that they paid a club record fee for him a couple of months later. This move south and across country was a success in that he would spend a decade with them and become an inductee into their Hall of Fame. However, most of that time was spent in the Second Division and his Wikipedia entry speaks of him never quite attaining his full potential while noting that it was thought his temper held him back somewhat. His move to Stoke came late in his career and was not a success as he never made it to ten league games with a team that was in decline – indeed he spent some of his time there on loan to a Fourth Division side that were used to fighting re-election battles of their own (ultimately they’d lose one of them). He then had a season with another former Football League club from Lancashire before a brief spell as player/manager at a club which has a nominal connection with City – he ended his playing career representing one of the sides in the War of the Roses, but can you name him?

80s. Concrete over wild grassland by the sound of it.

90s. What is the link between the film Jaws, the Royal Mail and the time 11.49 seconds?

00s. Start loving caramel and wine mixture!(4,8)

10s. Can you recognise this former Stoke players by this chronological list of the shirt colours he played his club and international football in?

Red and white, orange, red and blue, blue, red and white, red and white (this was Stoke) and red and white.

20s. Indomitable Caine and/or Law role?

Answers

60s. Scottish international goalkeeper Lawrie Leslie played for his regimental side in Oswestry during his National Service days and then signed for Hibs in 1956. Three years later he moved to Airdrieonians and was capped five times during this period. West Ham was his next destination, but he was off to Stoke in 1963 before moving to Millwall three years later. The emergence of Bryan King saw Leslie demoted to the reserves at the Den and this was the cue for his final move to Southend.

70s. Alan Suddick was Newcastle’s youngest ever first team player when he represented them at the age of seventeen years and one hundred and fifty eight days in 1961. In October 1966, Suddick was in a Newcastle side which was beaten 6-0 at Bloomfield Road, Blackpool and the victors were so impressed by him that they paid a club record £63,000 for his services before the year was out. Suddick played over three hundred league games for Blackpool and was always recognised as one of their better players, but he moved on to Stoke at the age of thirty two and found himself part of a team that was going to be relegated at the end of the season. Suddick was loaned to Southport and then played for Bury for a season before dropping into non League football with the Bluebirds of Barrow – his final club was Lancaster City.

80s.Phil Heath.

90s. Former City and Stoke forward John Williams acquired the nickname “the flying Postman” after he won the £10,000 first prize at the Rumbelows Sprint Challenge which was a 100 metre sprint for footballers held prior to 1992 League Cup Final – Williams’ winning time was 11.49 seconds. The iconic theme for the film Jaws was composed by the multi award winning film track writer John Williams.

00s. Liam Lawrence.

10s. Fifty three times capped Ibrahim Afellay played for PSV Eindhoven, the Netherlands, Barcelona, Schalke, Olympiacos and Stoke before finishing his career with another spell at Eindhoven.

20.s Alfie Doughty.

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