Ninety minutes of attack v defence as City pass the fifty point mark.

Posted on January 5, 2026 by The other Bob Wilson

The number and range of post game statistics you get these days makes it impossible to say for certain that today’s game with Wigan at Cardiff City Stadium was the most one sided statically in our favour we’ve played in the sixteen and a half year existence of this blog, because you didn’t get the volume of stats you get now back in 2009.

However, it’s hard to believe there has been one that was more one sided – I struggle to come up with any realistic candidates. 

Here’s the BBC’s stats for the game

https://www.bbc.co.uk/sport/football/live/ce3k1030dqpt#MatchStats

Those are remarkable figures, I know I say that possession statistics are not as important as I once thought they were, but when you consider that for about ninety per cent of Mauve and Yellow Army’s existence, we never placed that high a priority on possession, 82 per cent possession is something I never thought I’d see from a Cardiff City team – even one which wants to be on the ball as much as this one does.

There’s been a claim on the message board I use that Calum Chambers played more passes today than the whole of the Wigan side did. I’m not sure about that because the figure given for Wigan passes in the message making this claim was lower than the one on the BBC site, but the fact such claims are being made and are not being dismissed as rubbish tells its own story.

Whether Wigan set out to be so passive and defensively minded is a matter for debate. For the first quarter of the game they were like recent visitors Exeter and Stevenage but even more defensive in their attitude. For a while, it seemed that away sides came to Cardiff with the attitude that as they always gave you a chance because of the way they play at home, we may as well have a go at them. Hence we had two 4-3s, a 3-2 and a 2-1 where Reading the visitors had 26 goal attempts in quick succession. Now we’ve had three sides come here with a plan to stifle us – it’s not made a different to the outcome of games (we’re still winning them), but the consequence of restricting our attacking intentions by almost doing away with any of their own is that Exeter, Stevenage and Wigan have scored once between them.

Wigan were like Exeter and Stevenage times five though. Even after going behind in the twenty fourth minute, nothing changed with their approach – it was still like one of those games of attack v defence you played as a kid.

The thought occurred to me that Wigan were playing like they were because they were knackered after a taxing holiday period that always gets managers complaining about too many fixtures. However, if that was the case, you have to praise City because they were always relentlessly pressing their opponents on the rare occasions they had any worthwhile possession.

I also wondered whether Wigan’s plan was to keep the score down until the last ten or twenty minutes and then give it a right go, but, if it was, it was foiled to a large extent by us just keeping possession comfortably for most of that time, so, again, you have to praise City’s fitness levels for being able to do that after four games in nine days.

City therefore go past the fifty point mark with just over half the season played – if they were to keep that rate of progress up for the next twenty two matches they’d probably end up a point or two short of the century mark.

Lincoln won impressively by 5-2 against an in form Peterborough and Bradford recovered from their mauling at Mansfield by winning 2-1 at Blackpool,  so they can both still think realistically of a top two finish at our expense, but below that, the gap we have on the teams in fourth place downwards is big and got bigger today as Huddersfield dropped home points in a 2-2 draw with Exeter, Bolton played out a goalless draw against visitors Northampton and Stockport were beaten by a late goal at Reading.

I said today’s game was one of the most one sided statistically I’d seen, but it wasn’t just one way traffic according to the stats, it was possibly the most one sided one we’ve had this season, so the obvious question arises, why did we only win 1-0?

Others may disagree, but I thought that after letting our standards drop somewhat on New Years Day, we were spot on today and I also didn’t see too many easy chances being missed by us.

I reckon it was one of those days when the ball just wouldn’t go in for us apart from the superb twenty five yarder rifled in by Calum Chambers after he’d come close with an effort from a similar distance inside the opening two minutes. Chambers reminded the media after the match that it was a year to the day since his goal gave us a 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough and the captain was probably City’s man of the match on a day when many in the side played well.

Another reason we were restricted to one was Wigan goalkeeper Sam Tickle who has his admirers in the Championship and maybe even higher. He made a string of saves to deny us the second goal including an amazing one to keep out a deflection off Wigan captain James Carragher during a period when opposition defenders looked like they were trying to show us how to put the ball in their net!

I could try to catalogue all of our close misses, but I wouldn’t do us justice because there were so many of them – it was a frustrating afternoon in many ways, but I think we played well and I’m confident about how the season will end if we can maintain the standard we showed today.

An apology next as I barely ever mention City’s women’s team these days. It doesn’t justify my failure to do so, but the fact that virtually all of their games are played on a Sunday means that I’ve posted my piece on the weekend’s senior men’s team game a few hours before the women kick off and, especially when we don’t have. a midweek match, it seems a bit pointless posting something about a game that had been played seven days earlier.

No such problems this week though with City playing on a Sunday, so a few words to finish about the women’s game at Leckwith this evening against a Wrexham team that went into the match with a five point lead at the top of the table (although they had played a gamer more than City).

Wrexham were unbeaten in the last four matches between the teams and looked good to extend that run as the game went into added time with the score 1-1, only for City to get a winner well past the ninety minute mark which puts them in charge of their own destiny again – win all of their remaining games and they’ll be Champions for the fourth successive time.

City, who hit the woodwork three times in the first half, led at the break through an own goal by Wrexham’s Erin Lovett but they equalised early in a more even second half through Faye Hillier-Knox only for sub Fiona Barry to win it for City at the death.

Posted in Out on the pitch, Women's football | Tagged , | 18 Comments

Seven decades of Cardiff City v Wigan Athletic matches.

Posted on January 3, 2026 by The other Bob Wilson

We seem to be going through a run of games against opponents that are very hard, or impossible, to set seven decades quizzes for. Wigan are always a challenge when it comes to the days before they joined the Football League in 1978, but, so far anyway, I’ve managed to get questions for all seven decades for them and, although you could say my sixties and seventies questions are more suited to other decades, I’ve done so again today.

Wigan are unusual when it comes to League One this season in that they are perhaps the only team in the division you could say have been mid table throughout with no great promotion aspirations or relegation worries to get excited or worried about.

I daresay Wigan fans reading the last paragraph will point out that inn this barmy league they’re only three points above Plymouth in the last of the relegation places, albeit with a much better goal difference, so there is every chance that they could go down. I’d counter that though by saying I’ve not heard them mentioned as relegation candidates on any of the League One podcasts I regularly listen to. Now, I accept that this might be a dangerous situation for Wigan as my mind goes back nearly fifty years to when we lost to Orient in our final game of the 77/78 season – a result which kept the London team up and sent down a Blackpool side which had been thought of more as promotion challengers for about eighty per cent of the campaign.

I don’t see Wigan as relegation candidates, but, by the same token, I don’t see them bridging the eight point gap to the last of the Play Off places unless they bring more goals into the team during this month’s transfer window. As it is, Wigan’s record is one of an archetypal mid table side – they’ve won and lost the same number of matches, but they’ve drawn more than they’ve won or lost. Also their goal difference is zero with them having scored and conceded goals at a rate of just over one a game.

So, all of that makes it a game we should win tomorrow, but with six of their twelve away matches ending all square this season, Wigan like a draw on. their travels and I believe we’ll have to improve our play in the final third from last Thursday if we are to stretch our run of consecutive home league victories to eight.

On to the quiz then, the answers to which will be posted on here on Monday.

60s. Valentine is a middle name which hardly suits the rugged defender who bore it. He began his first team career at one of his home city’s clubs towards the end of this decade and had done so well that a power in the land, which was undergoing something of a rebuilding job at the time, had snapped him up before it was out. I’ve always thought that he never really established himself at his new club and was more of a back up, but 150 league appearances in the five years he was there says otherwise. When he moved on, it was to the Midlands for a club record fee. His new team were still something of a novelty in the top flight at the time, but they would establish themselves and their stay in what was then Division One lasted decades. However, our man never really settled there as he lost form following an injury and his next move looked to be a real downward step which, in the event, turned out to be anything but that as he added another international cap to the three he had gained eight years earlier. As far as I can tell, he played against City twice and lost them both with the first time being with his fourth club in what turned out to be a very notable result. The second time he faced us was when he was with the fifth, and final, club of his playing career, Wigan, but can you name him?

70s. Butchery involving a soldier?

80s. How are a footballing knight, Gary Bennett and the number 4.447 connected in the context of Cardiff v Wigan games?

90s. Oi, waddle v Wigan! (5,4)

00s. Alliterative and 110 times capped.

10s. Can you identify this player from the following clues? He’s only ever had three clubs, Wigan were his second one and he only played eleven times for them, while he played just twice for his first club who wear a different shade of stripes to Wigan. However, he was loaned out to six teams from his first club during which he played a total of seventy two matches – he was also loaned out once by Wigan, playing a further dozen matches this time. He has made a total of 367 league appearances for his third permanent team, scoring ninety eight times despite playing as a defender for most of that time.

20s. Time traveller at number six?

Answers

60s. Larry Lloyd was signed by Liverpool from Bristol Rovers in 1969 and made his debut for England in a 0-0 draw against Wales in 1971. Lloyd was signed by Coventry in 1974, but his time there was blighted by an injury and he dropped into the old Second Division when he signed for Nottingham Forest early in the 76/77 season. Despite a 1-0 home loss late in the campaign to City which turned out to be their last loss at the City Ground in forty nine games, Forest were promoted that season and, incredibly went on to win the First Division title the following season with two European Cups and League Cup triumphs following. Lloyd’s form won him an international recall, but it did not go well as England were thrashed 4-1 by Wales at Wrexham in 1980. Lloyd was appointed player manager at Wigan in 1981 and steered them to promotion from Division Four the following year. He was still registered as a player when his team visited Ninian Park early in 82/83 and they were defeated 3-2 in the Billy Woof match.

70s. Tommy Gore.

80s. Gary Bennett was sent off in a game at Wigan in April 1983 as City closed in on promotion from the Third Division. There was a crowd of 4,447 at Springfield Park to watch the match which finished as a goalless draw and Wigan were managed by Bobby Charlton who was doing the job in a caretaker capacity after Larry Lloyd had left to become Notts County boss.

90s. David Lowe.

00s. Kevin Kilbane.

10s. James Tavernier was loaned out to six different clubs while at Newcastle and then to Bristol City after he had joined Wigan. Tavernier went on to sign for Rangers in 2015 and has since become the highest scoring defender in the history of British professional football.

20S. Matt Smith plays as a deep lying midfielder for Wigan and shares his name with the actor who played the eleventh Doctor Who.

Posted in Memories, 1963 - 2023 | Tagged | 3 Comments