Kipre ensures justice is done as City all but safe after winning Rotherham “replay”

Posted on April 28, 2023 by The other Bob Wilson

Well, if you’d asked me how the goal that would keep us in the Championship would come about, a goal from a centreback from a set piece would probably have been my second last choice behind a penalty (more on that later!).

I must point out that the sentence above needs qualification in two respects. First, any City fan who lived through Preston 6 Cardiff 0 and the great implosion of 08/09 should know better than to start counting chickens. We’re not mathematically safe yet – two heavy defeats by Huddersfield and Burnley combined with big wins for Reading over Wigan and Huddersfield could still see us relegated, Secondly, the goal from the centreback was not your traditional Cardiff set piece header, this, like the one at Watford last week, was a shot smashed home at the far post as the ball came to the scorer off a defender.

That said, City have to feel they’re safe now, but the motivation I’d have if I was in their camp would be to get one more point to ensure that we do not get the charge that we only stayed up because of other teams having points deducted directed at us – ensuring we finish above Huddersfield would be nice as well seeing how so many thought they were bound to finish above us after they appointed Neil Warnock – the long suffering home fans are also way overdue a worthwhile performance from the team..

To win tonight at Rotherham was especially satisfying given the abandonment of the game a few weeks back when we were 1-0 up in a game we had totally controlled. I had my doubts about this rearranged game because Rotherham’s record this season confirms that they are not as bad a team as they looked in their 1-0 loss at Cardiff City Stadium and in the half of football played before the  hit  Rotherham have won at promoted Sheffield United this season and drawn at Middlesbrough besides thrashing Blackburn 4-0.

In the event, Rotherham were better than they’d been in their two previous encounters with us against us and may have felt they deserved to be ahead at the break, but, over the ninety minutes I thought we were the team who were able to show a bit more quality in an atmosphere and occasion that you wouldn’t expect fantastic football in and, very unusually for us this season, we carried more of a goal threat.

Whether this was enough to merit our 2-1 win is arguable – we certainly didn’t deserve to lose, but maybe a draw would have been the fairest outcome? In saying that, you have to praise the team for taking us to the very brink of safety by winning away games at Blackpool and Rotherham which were being flagged up weeks in advance as the sort of matches where our Championship future would be decided – thrown in the win at Watford eight days ago as well and virtual safety has been achieved on other team’s grounds, not in our own stadium where, for a third successive season, we’ve been largely feeble.

Sabri Lamouchi was forced into a change in goal as Jak Alnwick came in for Ryan Allsop who it seems may just make the season finale at Burnley after going off injured against Stoke and the only other change from the weekend saw Jaden Philogene selected in place of Andy Rinomhota.

 It took Rotherham less than two minutes to come closer to scoring than they had done throughout their two previous encounters with City as Jordan Hugill headed against the crossbar (this was the only occasion I can remember where he was jumping against our smallest central defender Perry Ng) and it was looking like another dozy start by us as the striker we had on loan last season raced clear shortly afterwards only to go down dramatically on the edge of the penalty area under challenge by Cedric Kipre. At the first viewing it looked a likely red card, but the replay of the incident showed that Hugill had lost his balance and went down under his own steam so to speak with Kipre not much more than an onlooker in the episode.

For a few minutes after that, there were signs that City were finding their feet – Mahlon Romeo (an effective right wing back going forward tonight) forced home keeper Viktor Johansson into his first save of the night with a low effort from the corner of the penalty area.

It still came as a shock though to see us take the lead on eleven minutes with another early goal on the ground where Philogene had scored inside five minutes a few weeks earlier. This time Philogene played a minor part in the goal as, with help from Romeo, the ball was laid back to Ng who flighted one of those excellent crosses he seems more capable of supplying as a right sided central defender than a wing back. This latest one found Kion Etete who stooped to guide a good header beyond Viktor Johansson from eight yards out for a second goal in three games for the young striker who had only managed one in City’s first forty one.

Just for a while, City suggested it could be as comfortable for them as it was in the abandoned game, but referee Oliver Langford’s eccentric decision making soon made it clear that it wouldn’t be because his failure to even penalise what was a rugby tackle on Philogene and two clear fouls on Etete (my City man of the match despite Sky, understandably, awarding the prize to Cedric Kipre) showed Rotherham a way back into things as they upped the physicality and started to win far too many fifty fifties.

The home side were also tending to get the first touch on most set pieces into our box and, increasingly, City we’re forced back. Quite how they did not concede an equaliser when a corner flew beyond Alnwick to the far post where two red shirted players waited to get the decisive touch I’m not sure, but Romeo was able to somehow clear the danger.

Rotherham’s strong spell suggested an equaliser was on the way as City struggled to get out from   the oppressive pressure they were under and when Joe Ralls was left up against two home players following a throw in, Wes Harding’s fine cross was nodded in on the far post by Chiedozie Ogbene for a goal similar to Etete’s. However, City were left questioning why a free kick had not been awarded for a foul on Kipre who went down under challenge from home skipper Richard Wood and the replays of the goal showed that there was what looked like a push on our defender as the cross came in.

Apart from a crisply struck Sory Kaba shot which Johansson was able to block, City were now offering little in attack and it looked like a question of making it through the eight minutes until half time intact against a home team that were now outbattling us.

However, from nowhere, City we’re awarded a penalty as Philogene was grabbed just outside the penalty area by ConorCoventry, but as there was still a foul being committed as the two players moved into the penalty area, it seemed that, unusually, Mr Langford had made a correct decision.

As soon as you see a ref point to the spot with your team attacking there is always that initial celebration because it should mean a goal for them, but, given City’s lamentable one from five record from the spot in league matches this season, there is now almost a sense of resignation that it is going to be missed or, to be more accurate, saved by the keeper.

This time it was different though, Kaba’s penalty was not saved, instead it smacked against the crossbar and flew over – having seen his low penalty saved on Saturday, Kaba went for lifting the ball this time and it’s now five from six missed now which, apparently is almost twice as many as the next worst team from the spot in the EFL

One last comment on this latest City miss, the way JKaba lined up to take it, it had to go the keeper’s left and so it did.

A Rotherham win looked more likely to me than a City one at half time and it felt more that way when it was confirmed that Jack Simpson was replacing Callum O’Dowda as left wing back – to be fair to Simpson, after being beaten by Ogbene in their first duel, he performed pretty well, just like he has done on all of the recent occasions he’s been called into action

Given that a draw wouldn’t have been a bad result for either side, there was some speculation beforehand that we might see a cagey affair with a suspicion that there’d been some sort of agreement between the teams to do each other a favour, but nothing could have been further from the truth in a very lively first period.

As for the second half, I’m not going to accuse anyone of a carve up (the result is all the proof you need to show that there wasn’t one), but I think it would be fair to say that both teams played as if they were more influenced by the consequences of defeat and so there was not a great deal from either to suggest the game’s third goal was coming anytime soon.

Certainly, I spent much of the first half thinking Rotherham could well score, but not much of the second period feeling the same way. By the same token, I couldn’t see another City goal coming – or at least I couldn’t until the last ten minutes or so when we started to earn ourselves some free kicks and corners for ourselves.

Sky had flashed up a stat showing that City had only scored once from the two hundred plus corners they’d been awarded this season (Kipre headed one in against Watford at home) so there was never any great hope of much happening from that avenue, but on eighty seven minutes, we earned  free kick on our left some forty yards from foal which eventually lead to the winning goal. What followed was a scramble which went on for ten to fifteen seconds with headers from Connor Wickham (on in place of Kaba) and Mark McGuinness playing a part the goal. Wickam’s contribution ensured that suddenly, the ball was at Etete’s feet ten yards from goal. It probably should have been a second goal for the striker, but his low shot was too close to Johansson who got down to save well. Again, the ball bobbed about for a few seconds before McGuiness headed on and a rebound off a defender sent the ball to Kipre who smacked a fierce volley into the net via the under side of the crossbar from the same sort of area he’d scored from against Watford last week..

This was the cue for wild celebrations from the team with the nine hundred City fans behind the goal and, although there were seven extra minutes signalled, the truth was they went by with hardly a threat to our goal as City, no doubt full of adrenaline, we’re able to stay calm enough to ensure there were no late giveaways.

With so many fixtures to come between sides in trouble where someone has to drop points, it’s hard to see City being dragged back into the middle of the relegation battle now and, with Reading entertaining Wigan on Saturday, it’s guaranteed that at least one team in trouble will have dropped points by the time we entertain Huddersfield on Sunday.

Away from the first team, one of the better under 21 team games I’ve seen this season ended with a 3-1 win over Barnsley at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday afternoon. The entertainment quotient was much higher than you get at the ground for a first team match and the bonus was a sublime side footed volley from twenty yards by Ebou Adams, playing just his second competitive game of the season which put us a goal up.

Barnsley equalized on the stroke of half time, but Isaak Davies, giving a second successive performance which makes his absence from too many first team squads these days a complete mystery, cashed in on a poor back pass soon after half time to regain the lead and City ensured the win they deserved when sub Cian Ashford, getting the benefit of the doubt when it came to a possible offside decision, ran clear to calmly score our third.

There’s only one Cardiff City team that’s going to win an silverware this season though and that’s the women’s team who secured a league and cup double by retaining the Welsh Cup on Sunday with a 4-0 over Briton Ferry Llansawel with goals from Eliza Collie, Catherine Walsh, Ffion Price and Rhianne Oakley – congratulations to all concerned for bringing about a shift of power in the Women’s game in Wales.

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

Posted on April 23, 2023 by The other Bob Wilson

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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