Very unusually for this level, Cardiff City’s Development side played on a Sunday this week, as they followed their 1-0 win over Wigan at the main stadium almost a fortnight earlier with a 3-1 victory over Peterborough across the road at Leckwith yesterday afternoon.
I’m guessing that the upcoming international break may have had something to do with the change of day from the usual Tuesday, but with only George Ratcliffe (Under 21s) and Tom Davies and Taylor Jones (Under 19s) involved in Wales squads this week out of those who took part, I might be wrong there mind – Ciaron Brown played the full ninety minutes in his first competitive action of the season, but I’m assuming his injury kept him out of the Northern Irish squad.
Maybe Peterborough had some squad calls ups, I don’t know, but, just like their Under 18s last weekend (they lost 2-0), the newcomers to the league structure had to make the long journey home after a fruitless ninety minutes in south Wales.
The visitors would have been hoping in the early stages that they would get something out of the match because they were slightly the more impressive side for the first half an hour or so as City confirmed an impression that I had formed watching their first game – what is effectively our reserve team are playing more like the first team this season.
This, of course, is a sensible decision on so many levels, but speaking as someone who enjoyed the goal laden matches at this level from the second half of last season a lot more than many of the offerings from their seniors, it’s a bit of a bummer from a selfish point of view.
What wasn’t helping early on yesterday was that the first team comparison was too accurate as we spent long periods without the ball maintaining our discipline and shape against a side that was very much possession based and, when we did have it, we seemed eager to give it straight back to the other team as too many balls played from the back bounced harmlessly out for goal kicks or found their way through to the Peterborough keeper.
This was something of a misleading beginning though, because, although our back three passed the ball like their counterparts in the first team do for a while, they soon began to show that, at this level antway, at least two of them had ability in the passing department that the first teamers are unable to show in the men’s game.
City were always the more direct of the two teams, but, by the end of the game, no one could deny they were the more effective and also that they were so while playing some good football at times. Peterborough had competed well for around three quarters of the match, but, having, got an equaliser early in the second half, they had little left to offer once we regained our lead.
Brown’s passing was regularly criticised in his first team appearances last season, I could understand why this should be on one level, because he does have limitations in that department. What I never though got is why he was singled out when he seemed no worse at passing the ball than the regular first teamers he was playing alongside.
Although I set out my reservations about their defensive displays this season in my piece on the Bristol City match, Flint, Morrison and Nelson are generally decent to good defenders at this level. However, none of them are by any understanding of the term, footballing centre backs and, watching, the Under 23s yesterday, I found myself thinking that one of the primary reasons why the first team can be so dull to watch at times is down to this lack of passing ability from the back.
Brown did okay in the passing stakes yesterday as he eased himself through what couldn’t be called a gentle reintroduction to the game, but one which he was generally in control of. Alongside him, new captain James Connolly, recruited from Blackburn in the summer, and Ollie Denham, after his largely satisfactory first team debut against Brighton in midweek, showed they were better at passing the ball than they looked in the first quarter of the match.
Indeed, Denham showed late on that he could have a lot more to offer in this part of the game with a high tariff effort, which found Chanka Zimba I think it was, which a “cultured” midfielder would have been proud of.
Zimba, fresh from signing his three year contract, was a central figure in this game. Based on what I saw of him last season, I must admit to being surprised at the length of that new deal he’s signed, but he looked a better player in his pre season games and here he was as effective as I’ve seen him. By the end of the match, he had clearly won his personal contest against the defenders he was up against and he had two goals into the bargain.
However, Keiron Evans was, as is often the case, the player who provided the X factor at this level. After Peterborough had created and then missed what was a very good chance to open the scoring, Evans was denied a goal by a fine clearance off the line by a defender and it was he Zimba had to thank for his first goal as Evans saw his shot turned on to a post by Peterborough keeper Blackmore, collected the rebound and calmly found Zimba who scored easily from six yards.
Evans almost caught out Bkackmore with a cheeky forty yard free kick soon afterwards as City ended a well contested first half in the ascendancy. This was due in no small measure to Keenan Patten and Eli King who, without doing anything spectacular, began to become more influential in central midfield.
The one blight on Zimba’s afternoon came soon after the break when he somehow managed to balloon his shot over from no more than three yards out after an Evans cut back back from the byeline. That looked like it could be an expensive miss when, just as has been the case with the first team too often recently, City’s defence was opened up by a single pass and visiting left winger Oluwaboni was suddenly through on goal. I’d not been impressed by Oluwaboni in the first half as he often ignored better placed colleagues while trying some very optimistic long range efforts that never remotely troubled Ratcliffe, but here he made scoring look a lot easier than it actually was as he sped clear of the defence and gave the keeper no chance with a beautifully placed drive into the roof of the net from the corner of the penalty area.
City took a while to recover from this blow, in fact they didn’t really do so until they made their first substitution. Like Brown, Isaak Davies was making his first appearance of the season and, although he had some nearly moments during the hour or so he played, he wasn’t really the influence he can be at this level. It was probably predetermined that Davies would only play an hour or so and he made way on sixty three minutes for Cian Ashford who, I presume, was another who had been injured because I’d not seen his name in the various line ups for pre season games.
Ashford made a spectacular impact as, within sixty seconds of coming on, he had had restored our lead, with a combination of some lovely movement and a composed finish when Zimba played him in.
Ashford showed why he is so highly regarded at the club in the next half an hour as he showcased the talent that persuaded City to give him a three year pro deal at the age of just sixteen in the summer.
It needs to be repeated mind that Ashford was one of a few attacking players who enjoyed freedom that owed much to the hard work of the likes of Patten and King in the middle of the park (the latter made way for Taylor Jones in the closing stages, prompting a reshuffle which moved another debutant against Brighton, Tavio D’Almeida, into his original position from the right wing back role he’d occupied earlier).
Zimba made sure City would take the points on eighty three minutes with an emphatic volleyed finish from around the penalty spot after his first shot had been deflected back to him and there could have been further home goals in the time that remained, but that would have been harsh on Peterborough.
Next up for the Under 23s are fixtures against both Sheffield clubs after the international break and a real positive these days for the youngsters is that, for the first time in years, they can go out on to the pitch thinking that if they perform week in, week out at this level, they can see that there is a route into the first team squad for them – my sympathies go out to the hundreds of young lads that this did not apply to for so much of the 2010s.
