Cardiff City mauve and yellow army.

As City have begun to open up a bit of a gap at the top of the table in League One over the past six weeks or so, there has been talk about how the substitutes they can bring on have made the difference in games. I agree with that view, whether we generally are the best team in the division or not, I look at our substitutes bench for most matches and think there’s not one stronger than that in League One.

Tonight, City are probably feeling like a few League One teams beaten by us recently must have felt – it was anybody’s match while it was the two starting eleven s against each other, but once their substitutes came on for the opposition they started to get on top.

For almost an hour, tonight’s League Cup Quarter Final against Chelsea was in the balance – Chelsea were having the better of the early stages of the second half, but I thought City could genuinely feel that they had edged the first half against a team that showed eleven changes from the one which beat Everton on the weekend.

Chelsea’s unease after forty five minutes showed as Alejandro Garnacho, who ended up scoring two of the goals In their 3-1 win, and Jaoa Pedro were introduced and they were followed by fellow first teamers Pedro Neto, who scored the other goal, Trevoh Chalobah and Malo Gusto as the second period went on.

I don’t think City could have any complaints about the eventual outcome because they were clearly second best after the interval, but the third goal scored in added time gave the visitors a victory margin that was harsh on a City team who played with energy, intelligence and skill and it would have been very interesting if that edge we enjoyed in the first forty five minutes had transformed itself into a 1-0 lead.

In that first half City, who brought in Perry Ng, Dylan Lawlor, Joel Colwill, David Turnbull and Callum Robinson, ruffled the feathers of what might have been a Chelsea shadow team, but with their huge and very expensive squad, it was a starting eleven that would probably survive in the Premier League easily enough.

The visitors did little to threaten the City goal though while Isaak Davies wasted a good early chance after being put clear by a lovely pass by the impressive Joel Bagan, but, looking at the TV pictures of the incident, it seems that there might have been a slight bobble of the ball before Davies hit it and his shot flew so far wide that it went out for a throw in.

Davies came closer after a fluent move left him in space and his intended cross got a deflection which looked to be going in on the near post only for keeper Jorgensen to get down quickly to turn it aside. Robinson, starting in place of top scorer Yousef Salech, also forced the keeper into action as did Calum Chambers with a header from a Bagan free kick.

City had been organized out of possession and their press troubled Chelsea at times, but they never really established the element of control they had at times before half time in the second forty minutes despite the opening few minutes offering hope the pattern of the game would not change.

The change that was to come was signposted though after Chambers lost possession just inside the Chelsea half and within seconds Nathan Trott had been forced into his first serious save of the night. 

A more serious blunder was to cost City much more dearly on fifty seven minutes though. Given the way he plays, it was inevitable that we’d concede at least one goal this season from Lawlor losing possession or giving the ball away as last man. Sadly, it happened for the first time in front of a 33,000 crowd at Cardiff City Stadium in a Cup Quarter Final as he passed straight to Buanonotte to leave Chelsea with a three on one. A well judged pass to Garnacho gave the winger to hit a shot past Trott which went in off the post.

To Lawlor’s credit, he recovered well from his error and it was his only one of the night, but, nevertheless, the concession of the goal left us hanging on for a while with Trott making a great save to deny Buanonotte and Bagan only inches away from turning the ball into his own net.

City, with Salech on for Robinson, we’re doing little to suggest they had an equaliser in dthem, but a great left footed cross from Ng of the type you would have thought Salech would really have fancied was met instead by Turnbull, scorer of just one goal as a Cardiff player, who buried a diving header from ten yards to send the capacity crowd wild.

With just fifteen minutes left, penalties or even a City win was a possibility, but Chelsea raised their game and were in front again on eighty two minutes with a good goal by Neto although his shot got a slight, but important, deflection off Bagan which may have sent the ball just out of Trott’s reach.

Turnbull’s mishit shot had Jorgensen worried but it landed on the top of the net and with that went City’s last real chance of getting level as Garnacho completed the scoring with a neat finish as City left themselves short at the back as they chased a leveller.

So, it’s league action all the way from City from now on and watching them tonight you can’t help feeling that they have a good chance of getting the promotion that was the first priority when the season started. Furthermore, performances like this one, plus the ones at Burnley and Wrexham suggests they have the players to survive in the Championship if they get there.