Seven decades of Cardiff City v Birmingham City matches.

Posted on April 29, 2022 by The other Bob Wilson

The last three City v Birmingham matches in Cardiff have produced three home wins with an aggregate score of 10-6 in our favour. Furthermore, Birmingham have only taken one point from their last four matches (that’s one more than us mind), conceding fourteen goals in the process, so everything points to a goal fest to bring the 21/22 season to an end at Cardiff City Stadium!

The reality will, almost certainly, be very different. To be fair to Birmingham, they’ve managed to score five times while all of those goals have been flying into their net, but we’ve been very poor in front of goal lately – even if tomorrow does live up to the goal laden recent history of the fixture, it won’t alter the fact that it is has been a second consecutive thoroughly miserable home season for Cardiff City.

If the game turns out to be as bad as our recent ones have been, maybe attempting this quiz will be able to take your mind off what’s being played out in front of you – I’ll put the answers on here on Sunday.

60s. What unwanted record relating to all but the first decade of City’s Football League existence was created at a game against Birmingham at Ninian Park early in this decade – as a bit of a clue to identifying the game, a City player scored a hat trick in it.

70s. He played for Birmingham against City during this decade and was sent off over twenty times in his career for club and country – who?

80s. A few beers mend midfielder – plus a right lead! (3,7)

90s. Professor’s equal?

00s. Born in a place which sounds like, but isn’t, a capital city, this competitive midfielder was first a Rover before moving on to Birmingham for most of this decade. He once angered supporters when, as captain of the team, he threw his armband and shirt on the floor after being substituted. More typical of him though was the time when he carried on playing despite having his jaw broken in two places after being elbowed by West Brom’s Paul Robinson. Another injury eventually led to him heading south west for a short while before a move to Yorhshire had him wearing the third variation of blue and white in his career. He finished by helping ensure a force of fishes introduction into the Football League was an acceptable one and on the international front he played fifty six times for his country without scoring – a record in keeping with what you’d expect from someone who only scored nine times in his nearly three hundred and fifty league appearances. Who am I describing?

10s. He sounds like a writer and was beaten in his one encounter with City as a Birmingham player. Today he’s back home playing for the Glorious One – who is he?

20s. He’s played international football in front of crowds of 90,000 and been sent off in an international Semi Final. On the club scene, he was once loaned to the Tanners and, since records on this subject have been kept, only an Omani and an American have bettered what he did in a Premier League season, who am I describing?

Answers.

60s. Derek Tapscott scored all of our goals in the 3-2 win over Birmingham at Ninian Park on 21 April 1962 in front of a crowd of just 8,608. Although attendances of less than ten thousand at Ninian Park for First Division fixtures in the 1920s were fairly common, this is the only instance of it happening in a top flight home game for City since then.

70s. Scottish winger Willie Johnston played in Birmingham’s 2-1 win over City at St. Andrews in December 1979, a year and a half after he had been sent home from the World Cup In Argentina for failing a drugs test.

80s. Des Bremner.

90s. Dean Peer.

00s. Lisburn born Damien Johnson played fifty six times for Northern Ireland and turned out for Blackburn, Birmingham, Plymouth, Huddersfield and Fleetwood during his club career,

10s. Jota was in the Birmingham side beaten 3-2 at Cardiff City Stadium as we closed in on promotion in March 2018. Currently, he plays for Alaves (nicknamed the Glorious One) in Spain.

20s. Since records were first kept on the subject in the mid noughties, only Ali Al Habsi of Wigan and Brad Freidel, with four each, have bettered Neil Etheridge’s three penalty saves in a Premier League season.

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On and on 21/22 staggers, where it stops no one cares.

Posted on April 28, 2022 by The other Bob Wilson

As Cardiff City’s season drags on and on (I’d swear it’s getting longer), my thoughts have moved beyond the will we get another point stage to the will we score another goal stage. On the evidence of this latest going through the motions defeat, by 2-0 at Middlesbrough, you have to think that the answer to both questions might well be no.

Tonight was quite like Saturday’s loss at Sheffield United in that we were at what I’ll call our best in the first half before having a second period where we got increasingly poor, with the difference being that our “okay” first half was worse than Saturday’s and our miserable second half on the weekend wasn’t quite as bad as tonight’s.

Another point worth making is that Sheffield United looked a pretty good side on Saturday, but the same could not be said about our opponents tonight. Middlesbrough were not a patch on the team that won so comfortably at Cardiff City Stadium back in October, albeit against a City side reeling from a club record losing run which Boro stretched to eight games, but they didn’t need to be that good to beat a team that are proving ideal late season opponents for any side which still has something to play for.

Middlesbrough began like a team that had lost their last four home matches in all competitions without scoring a goal and this, along with an edgy crowd that were quick to groan at any home mistakes, would have offered hope to any visiting side worth their salt. However, City, who had more opportunities than Boro in the first half, were feeble in front of goal with both strikers missing from decent positions following passes from Rubin Colwill who was easily our best player before the break, but caught up in the general malaise which affected the whole side after it.

It was noticeable that when Boro upped the pace a bit, City struggled to cope as Steve Morrison continues to alternate between three centrebacks and a flat back four on a game by game basis.

The home side’s first goal arrived midway through the first half after some quicker passing just outside the penalty area created the space for Marcus Tavernier whose low shot from twenty yards was both accurate and well struck, but, having got his hand to the ball, you have to feel that Dillon Phillips would be disappointed not to have kept it out.

The second goal arrived eight minutes after half time when captain Curtis Nelson gave the ball away cheaply in the sort of diffident play out from the back approach which came more common as the game went on and a quick home break ended with a shot from Riley McGree which was unlucky deflected in by the covering City skipper.

After that, City did hit the woodwork, but it tended to prove a point about our lack of quality in front of goal when it came from a mis hit cross by Max Watters.

There’s really not much else I can say, it was a nothing performance from a team who are giving the impression that, in essence, their season ended when their win over Reading nearly three weeks ago made them mathematically safe.

It was left to City’s Women’s team to provide what, arguably, could be called the high spot of this miserable campaign on Sunday as they beat Cardiff Met 2-0 to win the Welsh Cup – City were without a win over Met in their five earlier meetings with then this season.

 I only watched the second half of the game, but, on that evidence, City we’re definitely worth their win.

City broke the deadlock around the hour mark when a well placed shot from Seren Watkins from around twenty five yards found the corner of the net. Five minutes from time, City added a second when sixteen year old Lily Billingham, named as the Player of the match, scored a superb goal with a shot high into the net from twenty yards.

The fact that the two scorers had a combined age of thirty four tells of a side with a lot of promising youngsters coming through and, with a couple of recent wins over Champions Swansea as well, there seems to have been some definite forward steps from the team in the second half of the season.

The under 23s were able to record what is a rare win in the second half of the season when they won 2-1 at Coventry on Monday with an own goal and a late strike by Isaac Jefferies clinching a win that has probably come too late to get the team into the top two and qualification for the end of season Play Offs.

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