Seven decades of Cardiff City v Stoke City matches.

Posted on November 3, 2023 by The other Bob Wilson

Maybe it’s just me, but, especially after the last two seasons, I’m still expecting it all to go wrong for Cardiff City at any moment. We may be three months into the campaign with almost a third of the regular season fixtures played, but I still think the bubble is going to burst any time soon.

This season has been like our first Premier League one (13/14) in reverse Ten years ago, I can remember spending much of the first half of the season thinking (or, to be more accurate, hoping) that we were in a false position because we’d had such a tough set of home fixtures – the games against teams nearer the bottom of the team we’d be facing at Cardiff City Stadium in the New Year offered more than enough opportunity for us to pull clear.

This time around, we’ve got a very good home record with five wins and a draw in seven matches, but, unbelievably, the highest placed side we’ve played on our own pitch has been thirteenth placed Swansea. Of course, it should be said that our easy home programme is compensated for by an away set of fixtures which has already seen us play the top three, with only Huddersfield of the seven sides we’ve faced currently in the lower half of the division.

Am I right in thinking that when presented with conflicting evidence about your team, most opt to believe the more pessimistic option? In this case, I’m disregarding the fact that our away record is reasonable despite such a tough start which has seen us comprehensively beat the one team from the lower half of the table we’ve met and, instead, accept the flimsy premise that our home record, which has generally seen us overcome all of the challenges put in our way up to now, will fall apart as soon as we face anyone decent!

Something which will go a long way towards me accepting that we could be a top half team would be for us to return from Stoke with a point or three tomorrow. Winning three consecutive games is not that amazing in the modern day Championship and before Stoke did it, they were probably being seen as the division’s biggest under achievers, but, it’s the teams they’ve beaten (Sunderland, Leeds and Middlesbrough) which makes their recent run particularly impressive – we’ve a good recent record at what I still call the Britannia Stadium and extending it tomorrow would be something of a statement to the rest of the league in my opinion.

Here’s seven questions about Stoke dating back to the sixties, I’ll post the answers on here on Sunday.

60s.Good enough to score an international hat trick against Spain, this forward started off in first team football by scoring the only goal of the game in an away win at Liverpool – whether he was wearing his club’s distinctive colours at the time or a change strip is unclear. Stoke were his second team and, if he’s remembered at all these days, it’s for his contribution over a long period for his first club which was much more highly regarded at the time than it is now. His one encounter with City as a Stoke player saw him make a significant contribution before he moved the shortest possible distance from what was then the Victoria Ground to continue in the Football League. By now, restricted to only playing on softer pitches because of a persistent knee problem, he finished his playing days in non league football with a team which it seems to me could never make up its mind whether it was in England or Wales. Who am I describing?

70s. The arrival on the scene of a supremely talented showman with too much of a liking for a drink saw this defensive midfielder move on from his first club, but not before he had been part of a team which made it to the Semi Finals of the European Cup. Cup success and a league title followed at his new club, but the signing of someone whose name sounded like he was not English again saw him surplus to requirements and his next move took him to Stoke where he spent six, injury hit, years before a return home of sorts to play on a peninsula. Next he crossed the sea to read poetry of a sort and then he crossed an ocean to wear pale headgear, before finishing with a team which had two spells in the Football League, the second of which helped finish them off. Who am I describing?

80s. What is the mid 80s link between the following Stoke players? Sammy McIlroy, Phil Heath, Ian Painter, Carl Saunders and Paul Dyson.

90s. Wonder if ace could recapture his youthful promise? Not in this case. (4,5)

00s. For all but 123 of his 559 league appearances in a career lasting twenty one years, this thirty one times capped international represented three teams that played in variations of a red and white shirt, yet it’s very possible that he never once wore one throughout those twenty plus years. Who is he?

10s. Eleven years after his goal deep into added time denied City a 1-0 away won, this thirteen times capped international was in a losing Stoke squad at Cardiff City Stadium during this decade, can you name him?

20s. Indicate cross by the sound of it?

Answers

60s. Jackie Mudie’s career started in the forties with Blackpool, but the next decade had, just about, started when he got his first chance in the senior team as his goal secured a win at Liverpool. Mudie played an important role in the “Matthews Final” in 1953 and three years later gained the first of what were seventeen caps for Scotland. Moving on to Stoke in 1961, Mudie continued to score his goals at a rate of around one every two and a half games and his last minute effort secured a 1-1 draw for Stoke at Ninian Park in November 1962. Mudie later played for Port Vale and then Oswestry.

70s. Willie Stevenson’s Rangers career was, to all intents and purposes, ended by the arrival of Jim Baxter, but he landed on his feet when he signed for Liverpool as FA Cup and First Division winners medals followed. The signing of Emlyn Hughes saw Stevenson lose his place though and he moved on to Stoke in 1967. Injury stopped Stevenson playing a full part in what might be called Stoke’s best side (they won the League Cup in 1972) and in 1973 he signed for Tranmere. Stevenson later played for Limerick, Vancouver Whitecaps and Macclesfield Town before retiring in 1975.

80s. Stoke had a disastrous time of it in the 84/85, they finished bottom of the First Division, winning just three, all at home, of their forty two games. McIlroy and Heath were the scorers in a 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday in September, Painter and Saunders got the goals which beat Manchester United 2-1 on Boxing Day and Painter again and Dyson found the net to secure a 2-0 triumph over Arsenal in March – the five were the only players to score a goal in a winning Stoke City team in 84/85 (they also won none of the four Cup games they played that season).

90s. Dean Crowe.

00s. Besides Chelsea, Netherlands international goalkeeper Ed De Guoy played for Sparta Rotterdam (red and white stripes), Feyenoord (Red and white halves) and Stoke (red and white stripes) between 1985 and 2006.

10s. Australian international goalkeeper Adam Federici secured a 1-1 draw for Reading when he scored in the ninety sixth minute against us on Boxing Day 2008. He was also an unused sub for Stoke when they were beaten 1-0 here in Neil Harris’ first home game as City manager in November 2019.

20s. Mark Travers.

Posted in Memories, 1963 - 2023 | Tagged | Comments Off on Seven decades of Cardiff City v Stoke City matches.

Bulut’s Bluebirds continue to defy the odds as Colwill comes to the party.

Posted on October 29, 2023 by The other Bob Wilson

It was probably somebody at the EFL’s idea of a great wheeze to appoint Bobby Madley as the fourth official for today’s Cardiff City match, but the joke was lost on me – haven’t we suffered enough already and shouldn’t the pain be spread around more evenly?

When you consider as well that the game against Bristol City marked the return of Darren England to refereeing for the first time since his notorious stint as the VAR official for the recent Spurs v Liverpool match, the scene was set for another occasion where all of the post match discussion would be centred on the officials.

However, City came through another ordeal by Madley unscathed this time as they, first, continued their complete transition in derby games in the past seven months by recording a third successive 2-0 win in such fixtures as Bristol went the same way as they did back in March.

Second, with not far short of a third of the season played, City stand fifth in the table tonight. That’s an incredible transformation for a team which looked certs for relegation in a year’s time based on their performance in their last home game of 22/23 when Huddersfield murdered us.

What had to happen for this prediction not to become fact was the Board had to get the decision about the manager right and then recruit cannily while under an embargo which meany they could not pay transfer or loan fees.

Given the club’s record when it came to managerial appointments and player recruitment in recent years, the chances of this happening appeared to be less than zero, but, credit to all concerned, especially Mehmet Dalman, because it would appear that they got both of the tasks right.

Of course, it’s still relatively early in the season and it cannot be said for certain that the relegation I feared and expected won’t come to pass, but it would take a spectacular fall from grace on the part of the manager and the players, on an individual and team basis, for us to end up in League One next season now.

Indeed, there will be plenty who will say that we can start thinking in terms of the Premier League, not the third tier, for 24/25. After all, although West Brom will probably overtake us if they win at Coventry on Monday night, we are going to be in the top six going into November.

I don’t see us as a top six finisher, but the rise up the table has come about to a great extent without the player you would have thought would have had to be having a stormer of a season to put us in top six contention – if Aaron Ramsey can, first, come back in about a month’s time as is hoped and, second, continue to play as well as he was doing before his injury, then you would have thought he and the team would be more effective with the upturn in confidence that our recent form must have given the rest of the players.

Today’s winning margin flattered us I thought because a Bristol side with twelve first team squad members out injured and a patched up back four in particular gave us a real test in the second half after we’d largely dominated the first period. I reckon we were worth our win, but we weren’t two goals better than the wurzels.

One person who was not impressed with us was Bristol manager Nigel Pearson who came out with the following after the game.

 “There wasn’t much in the game. We conceded two goals from our own possession but we didn’t create much. Cardiff might be doing okay but I wouldn’t put them up with the best sides at all.”In our recent games against Leeds, Ipswich are going well, Leicester – they’re all games we lost by the odd goal.

It’s a competitive league and if you don’t make good decisions on the pitch, sides will turn you over. It’s more difficult when you’ve got a young and inexperienced bench.

They (Cardiff) have not really created anything in the game. Most of their stuff has come from us turning the ball over.

No-one here will look at that game and think Cardiff are a really good side compared to Bristol City. I don’t think it was a game of a lot of a quality. It was a game with a team in a good seam that capitalised on our mistakes. They didn’t outplay us.”

There is a whiff of sour grapes to that, but he has a point, because, apart from something which happened late in the game, there wasn’t a great deal of real quality on view, but then when is there ever in derby fixtures in a division where the top two seem a cut above and the bottom three are in danger of being cut adrift already (tonight’s news from QPR may give them a chance now mind) but the rest seem so closely matched? When nineteen of the clubs involved are genuinely capable of beating each other, matches are going to tend towards the tight and tense type without the relaxation and swagger that enables dominant teams to turn on the style.

Anyway, the Bristol manager was again forced to use the crutches he’s had since September as he awaits the results of neurological tests that should identify what the problem is. He also faces a back operation for a different problem and it would appear that his relationship with the Bristol City Board is not in good shape – reading this, perhaps you get an indicator as to why he spoke like he did today.

As for the game, an unchanged City side were forced on to the back foot early on as Bristol took the game to us on a pitch made lively by pre match rain. Harry Cornick shot about a yard wide with an effort from ten yards which seemed all of his own work, but referee England ruled that Jak Alnwick got a touch to it. A very good save if he did, but I didn’t think he did and, more importantly, our goalkeeper didn’t think he did either.

Soon after that, Rob Dickie, the wurzels’ only fit senior centreback swung at a loose ball about twelve yards out, but knocked it well high and wide and, in doing so, he signalled the end of Bristol’s attacking involvement for the first forty five minutes.

After that, without offering too much of a threat themselves, City were able to take charge to some degree. Goalmouth action was rare though,Visiting goalkeeper Max O’Leary comfortably dealt with a Perry Ng free kick from about five yards closer to goal than he was on Tuesday and then he made something of a meal of Karlan Grant’s shot from ten yards after a cross from Ng made its way through to him.

The closest City came to scoring in the first half an hour had little to do with anything of their own making when makeshift left back Mark Sykes (he usually plays on the right wing) chested a Jamilu Collins cross about a foot wide of the far post, but this close escape may have had something to do with the visitors coming under increasing pressure in the face of a short period during which City were as fluent as they were at any time in the whole game.

It wasn’t that they were looking dangerous every time they attacked like they did at Huddersfield, but it did feel like a City goal might be coming and it duly arrived when Joe Ralls swung in another in the string of quality corners he’s delivered in the past week and Ng nodded in his third goal of the campaign from no more than five yards out.

Ng was my City man of the match and his fine performance today ends what has been a very good October for the former Crewe man – could it be that he ends up being chosen as Championship Player of the month?

The rest of the half passed off quietly and, apart from those first ten minutes or so, it was shaping up for a comfortable City win. However, the visitors had to be less passive after the break surely and, with striker Tommy Conway on for winger Sam Bell, it was City who now had to do the defending as the trend of play being more at the Canton end of the ground continued.

The closest the visitors came to equalising during the third quarter which represented their best period of the game was when Jason Knight took aim from twenty five yards and forced Alnwick into his best save of the game, while the keeper would have been concerned a few seconds later by another shot from about the same distance by Knight which hit the side netting.

Captain Andreas Wiemann flicked a cross just over and he wasn’t too far off either with a header in a period when all City had to offer in response was a shot from Josh Bowler which went a couple of yards wide and a chance for Callum Robinson after maybe our best move of the second half which saw the Irish international denied by a good block by Cameron Pring.

In truth, it looked like a question as to whether City could hang on to record a 1-0 win or not and the chances of that happening were improved by the contributions of subs Ryan Wintle, Rubin Colwill, Ollie Tanner and Ike Ugbo for Ralls, Robinson, Yakou Meite and Bowler,

The last three replacements mentioned above all did their bit defensively as they were able to win the ball high up the pitch as the visitors lost possession in the manner which frustrated their manager.

Slowly but surely, the balance of the game changed as City began to just about look the side more capable of getting the game’s second goal.

Darren England had refused to penalise Sykes for what looked to be an obvious back pass from within the six yard box which O’Leary had to pick up and so got the crowd on his back, but I was relieved and a little surprised when he did not give a penalty when Bristol’s speedy seventeen year old substitute Ephraim Yeboah went down under challenge from a combination of Dimitrios Gouas and Manolis Sipios, but the replays I’ve seen of the incident suggest the official got it right.

The moment which ensured that the game moved a notch above the lacklustre came a minute into added time when Collins fed Colwill on the left about ten yards from the corner flag. Cornick and Knight got back for the visitors to cut out the danger and there seemed nowhere to go for the City man until a lovely bit of skill enabled him to flick the ball between the pair of defenders and then burst through the gap himself.

With both defenders now out of the game, Colwill took the ball infield about ten yards and then shot so hard from about twelve yards out on the angle that O’Leary was left flailing at thin air as he was completely beaten for pace.

Just as with the first one, the restart was delayed as Madley walked on to the pitch to give England a list of possible reasons why he could disallow the goal, but the ref was happy enough to let the goal, a candidate for our best of the season surely, stand (N.B. there is one paragraph in this piece which is a total lie, can you spot it?).  

It was a tremendous goal by the player who I’d say provokes most discussion on the messageboard I use and I’d like to hope it leads to a real step forward for someone who I feel is playing his best football for City in the near three years since he made his debut.

Erol Bulut has made it clear that he wanted more defensively from Colwill and Robinson and I think he’s getting it. However, as a fan who is, of course, far more concerned by what our players do with the ball when they’ve got it, those two players add things to our attacking play that we would otherwise be incapable of – unless Aaron Ramsey was fit.

This afternoon’s game was the second part of a City v wurzels double as the under 18 sides met each other on the other side of the Bristol Channel this lunchtime. The game finished in our favour as well as goals by Will Speirs, Trey George and Japhet Matondo were enough to give us a 3-2 win.

In the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Premier Division, Ton Pentre’s woes continued with a 2-0 home defeat by Pencoed, while leaders Treherbert Boys and Girls Club were in FAW Amateur Cup action as they ran out 4-2 winners in a Third Round tie at Abertillery Excelsiors.

Finally, the start of the season is the time I ask readers to show their support by making a voluntary donation towards the blog’s running costs and to help towards things like book projects that I’m working on. Back in 2018, the blog would not have survived without the contributions of some of its readers as I just did not have the financial means to pay the web hosting bill I received that summer.

Since then, my finances have improved and, with me now receiving the state pension to go with my works one, I can say that there is no longer any need for anyone to donate towards running costs – touching wood, the blog will never ever be in a position again where it’ll need help from readers to survive.

So, with nothing in the pipeline in terms of new projects this year, I can say to all readers, and especially those who do still donate towards the blog, there is no need to do so this year at a time when many need every last penny to make it through the cost of living crisis.

That is not to say you cannot still make a contribution if you want to – they can be made through cash, bank transfer, cheque and PayPal. Many of you who do contribute will already have my bank details, but anyone wishing to make their first contribution can contact me at paul.evans8153@hotmail.com for more information.

As always a big thank you to all those who have made donations in the past and especially to those who still do (particular thanks go to the Owl Centre for their continued very generous sponsorship), a happier Cardiff City season than last time around to all of you!

 

Posted in Football in the Rhondda valleys., Out on the pitch, The kids. | Tagged , , | 4 Comments