Seven decades of Cardiff City v Swansea City matches.

Posted on October 15, 2021 by The other Bob Wilson

I don’t know how many of you take part in this quiz, I suspect not too many, but someone who I know did was Tony Holloway who used to post under the name Cardiff 55 on one of the Cardiff City messageboards I use. Tony would often post messages in the threads I’d start on the board that featured the quiz and I’d say that 90 per cent of the time, at least, his answers were right.

Besides his quiz answers, Tony was a regular contributor on the messageboard and in many cases, what he said was backed up by the large collection of Cardiff City memorabilia he had built up down the years – memorabilia which he was happy to offer as help in my research for The Journey Back and Real Madrid and all that.

Although I’d only met him once or twice, it still came as a real shock to learn about Tony’s sudden death on Monday and I pass on my condolences to his family and friends.

RIP

So, sadly, there’ll be one less person trying to get the answers to this week’s quiz about our next opponents as Championship fixtures resume after the latest international break – in recent years, South Wales derbies have tended to be matches with a bearing on the top of the table, but, although it’s too early to be talking about relegation six pointers yet, the outlook will be pretty bleak for the losers on Sunday.

Here’s seven questions dating back to the sixties on Swansea City, I’ll post the answers some time on Sunday or Monday.

60s. Name the one time Arsenal man whose mood must have matched his surname following his one and only appearance in a game against City in the short period during this decade when he was with the jacks.

70s. Having provided an unwitting assist for one of the great Cardiff City goals, he went on to be transferred to a team of blues and he was to play in the same colour at his next club as well. His time with the first blues was infinitely more successful than his one with the second and he was to leave them under something of a cloud. Swansea were his next club and he renewed acquaintances with City, not too successfully, while he was with them during this decade, who am I describing?

80s. He was the first English born player to captain Wales and was twice in a Swansea team that played against us during this decade, name him.

90s. Vet, osprey and Spielberg film in collision somehow produce a derby regular for Swansea during this decade (5,6).

00s. Man who took the wickets of, among others, Viv Richards, Carl Hooper and David Boon in test cricket while playing for England, also turns out in south Wales derby? Surely not?

10s. Enliven a Stone?

20s. He has type one diabetes, has scored ten international goals in nearly forty international appearances and saw a loan spell at Swansea terminated after injury, can you name him?

Answers

60s. John Black never played for Arsenal but was a regular in their side which won the old Football Combination in 63/64. In December 1964 he returned to the country of his birth to sign for Swansea and stayed with them for a year before signing for Worcester City. One of his fifteen first team appearances for the jacks came at Ninian Park when he was in goal for their 5-0 defeat in April 1965 which did them no favours at all in their unsuccessful attempt to avoid relegation from the old Second Division.

70s. George Smith was playing for Middlesbrough when his mishit, very high, clearance was volleyed into the net from out on the touchline by Peter King in City’s Frank Parsons inspired 4-3 defeat at Ninian Park in October 1970. Smith later signed for Birmingham and was a regular in their team which won promotion to the old First Division in 71/72. City signed him for what was a big fee by their standards of the time of £45,000 just before the start of the 73/74 season, but his two year stay with us did not go well and in one of the last appearances for us he reacted badly to being substituted in a dismal 0-0 home draw against relegation rivals Sheffield Wednesday. Both teams went down and Smith was released in the summer of 1975 to join Swansea. A few months later he returned to Ninian Park as part of a jacks team that drew 1-1 in a Welsh Cup match, but he couldn’t prevent his side being beaten 3-0 in the replay a fortnight later.

80s.Paul Price won twenty five caps for Wales between 1980 and 1984 and was captain of his adopted country from 1982 onwards. Price was in the Swansea side beaten 1-0 at Ninian Park on Boxing Day 1985 and when they gained revenge with a 2-0 win at the Vetch in March 1986.

90s. Steve Torpey.

00s. Steve Watkin was a Glamorgan seam bowler who was in winning teams against the West Indies and Australia in his three cap England test career, his namesake was in the Swansea side beaten 1-0 at Ninian Park in the Final of the TAW Premier Cup in May 2002.

10s. Jazz Richards.

20s. USA international winger Jordan Smith saw his loan spell with Swansea for the second half of last season end early when he suffered an ACL injury at Huddersfield in February.

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Moore ends goal drought to edge Wales to victory, but ridiculous booking means he misses the Belarus game.

Posted on October 12, 2021 by The other Bob Wilson

It was slipshod, scrappy and, in the end, lucky, but at least Wales got the three points as they edged to a 1-0 win in Estonia tonight while the Czech Republic were winning their match in Belarus 2-0 which means that the advantage they enjoyed in goal difference and goals scored beforehand has stretched slightly.

We now finish next month with home games against Belarus and Belgium and, with the first named looking like the weakest team in the group, perhaps the goal difference can be improved enough to mean that combined with Estonia, hopefully, proving to be as difficult a nut to crack for the Czechs as they have been for us, we may have the edge going into what will be a very tough encounter with the Belgians.

However, given that we don’t win big these days, the far more realistic scenario has to be that we’re going to have to avoid defeat against the Belgians to take second place and, given our general level of performance in this qualifying campaign, that seems too tall an order to me.

Granted, we’ve done well against the Belgians in home qualifying ties down the years and there is certainly evidence that Belgium’s golden generation is getting towards the end of the line, but, unlike Wales teams during the second half of the previous decade, we’ve become a side with a big mistake in us and this together with our poor scoring record makes me think it’ll be a third placed finish for us.

The good news for Wales and Cardiff City is that Keiffer Moore got himself on the scoresheet. The old line is about how an out of form striker can get back in the groove by the ball hitting him on the backside and rebounding into the net, well, it wasn’t quite like that tonight with Keiffer, but his goal certainly wasn’t a thing of beauty.

It came in the twelfth minute and, in truth, Wales offered little going forward after that. Before the goal, Harry Wilson had sent a free kick narrowly over the bar and Connor Roberts had seen a twenty yard left footed effort turned around the post by Estonia’s impressive young goalkeeper Karl Hein.

From the resultant corner, Chris Mepham got in a. header which Moore got a touch to and the clearance which followed was nodded on by Aaron Ramsey only for a defender to knock the ball off the line into the path of Moore, who took a touch before stabbing home unconvincingly from about a yard out.

Soon afterwards, Moore had a near post flick from a Roberts cross which was probably going wide even though Hein dived on the ball and was left with a bloody nose and eye injury, which eventually forced him off, in the second half when, in a bizarre incident, the Swiss referee Sandro Scharer penalised Moore, yet booked home defender Kuusk when his arm made contact with the striker’s face in the Estonian penalty area.

I wasn’t convinced that it was a penalty, but then Scharer saw fit to yellow card Moore later on, thereby ruling him out of the Belarus match because of a suspension, for a “foul” that was nowhere near as bad as Kuusk’s. The booking was yet another example of why Moore would have found it impossible to have had any sort of successful career on mainland Europe because the officials on the continent are completely intolerant of how he plays.

That apart, I thought the ref was poor overall. As the saying goes, Estonia we’re not taking any prisoners in the early stages with a series of blatant fouls that Mr Scharer decided did not merit a caution, yet once he did show a first yellow card, six more followed, many for offences that weren’t as serious as the home side’s early clogging.

The home side were dirtier than Wales, yet only had three men booked to our four, but, in fairness, I must add that they were worth at least a draw on the night

In a game where so many Welsh players were a long way from their best, the villain of the piece on Friday, Danny Ward, was one of not many at all who could feel satisfied with his display. Ward was called into action inside a minute as he dived to keep out a Teniste effort from the corner of the penalty.

That incident was an early example of Welsh defensive slackness and it was soon followed by a dreadful error by Harry Wilson who passed straight to Zenjov who was presented with an open goal, but Rodon was able to get back to clear the resultant shot off the line.

The second half began very poorly and sloppily for Wales with Sorja being one of two home players left completely unmarked from a free kick and he should certainly have done better than head narrowly over.

Rodon and Mepham going for the same punt forward by Hein was another example of how what started off as all out attack according to Rob Page gradually turned into a case of hanging on to a narrow lead. Kail sent the chance created by the centrebacks’ blunder straight at Ward, but the keeper later made a great save to deny sub Siniyaskiy as he curled his shot towards the corner of the net.

As I mentioned before, Ward was one of very few Welshmen to play well. I thought Sorba Thomas, making his first start, did pretty well at left wing back, Joe Allen did okay and, that one mistake apart, Rodon was pretty solid, but the attacking vibrancy of Prague was missing and captain Ramsey was, understandably given how little football he’s played this season, quiet.

Meanwhile, the Under 19s came a cropper in their mini tournament in Norway on Sunday I’m afraid as they were beaten 5-0 by the hosts following their goalless draw against Georgia in their opening game. Taylor Jones and Caleb Hughes both started the game for a Welsh side which conceded four times in the second half.

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