Cardiff City are a club that could do with some good news at the moment. Yes, Lee Tomlin has signed a two year extension to his contract in the last few days and, for me at least, the release of expensive flop Gary Madine has its positive aspects, even if it does reflect badly on the club in that we seem to be back in the territory of having to pay players we paid a lot of money for to leave the club – that was a stage I hoped we had ;left behind for good..
However, we really could do with something positive happening on the pitch. Of course, what happens to the under 23 and 18 teams is of no great impact in the grand scheme of things, but, with the first team shipping six and then drawing at home in the FA Cup to a team of League Two strugglers who were beaten 3-0 on their own ground today, in their two games so fat this year, it rather ties in with the downbeat mood that the Development team were beaten at home last Monday in a miserable match in miserable conditions and the under 18s were beaten at Leckwith this lunchtime by a goal scored in added time after the ninety minutes.
Today’s match with league leaders Millwall was a far more watchable affair than the under 23s’ 1-0 loss to Coventry mind, but, in the end, the outcome was the same and, in truth, City could have no complaints about the result because Millwall were the better team almost throughout.
Despite this, City were 2-1 up at half time and had their chances to increase that lead in the early stages of the second during what was their best period of the game.
However, my comment as the ball hit the net for us to go ahead was that this was like watching the senior team’s home game with QPR where I found myself scratching my head trying to work out what I was seeing – Millwall could easily have been three or four up in twenty minutes.
Credit to the visitors, they looked a good side and had that confidence and belief which comes with the momentum winning games gives you. Their late, late winner did not surprise me in the slightest because that is the sort of thing that successful teams do, whereas Cardiff as a club are in danger of becoming the sort of team that these things happen to.
Millwall were impressive, but it has to be said that, in the opening stages, City were as poor at this level as I’ve seen them in some time, with basic mistakes abounding from players who have shown over a period of time that they are better than they looked today.
Goalkeeper Jamie Cogman rescued City on five minutes after they had got into trouble trying to play out from the back. There would be other good saves by Cogman who could not be blamed for any of the three goals he let in, but his early good save only delayed matters for a few seconds, because City defended the resultant corner poorly as Millwall won the initial header and then Oli Bate nipped in to score from close range while home defenders stood around watching.
Cogman made four saves of varying quality with City continuing to fly by the seat of their pants defensively as their passing and skill levels fell a long way short of acceptable.
Essentially, it was just a question of trying to stay in the game during the first half an hour, but, with their two best attacking players, Isaak Davies and Taz Mayembe, not starting (Mayembe was on the bench after missing the past month or so, presumably through injury), it was not going to be easy for them to make an impression on the Millwall defence.
Centre forward Siya Ligendza did at least offer some hope though as he was just about the only bright spark during the torrid opening as he showed strength and pace to inconvenience Millwall at times, but it was a complete shock when he came up with an equaliser on thirty minutes.
It was a distinctly odd goal as well – Ligendza letting fly from about twenty yards and, as the shot got a bit of a deflection, goalkeeper Jordan Gillmore let it roll into the net seemingly in the belief that it was going wide.
The goal brought about an improvement in City as the game became very open. They were now stringing one or two promising moves together, but Millwall still looked the more dangerous as evidenced by a Bate shot which rattled the crossbar.
Three minutes after that though, City took the lead with the goal of the game as Rubin Colwill was worked into space and he hammered a shot past Gillmore from all of thirty yards. There was time before the interval for Colwill to guide in a lovely low cross from the right which a jittery visiting defence just about survived, but, given that 2-1 at half time was incredible, 3-1 would have been a complete travesty!
Keiron Evans on the left wing made a strong start to the second half as he dribbled past three or four defenders to suggest we were about to see a goal to rival Colwill’s, but Gillmore foiled him with a good diving save and then Evans had the ball in the net minutes later, only for it to be correctly ruled out for offside.
Even though Millwall were still suggesting they had more goals in them, City were definitely growing in confidence and it was this which played a part in the equaliser as Harry Pinchard, unusually playing at centreback today, burst forward to launch an attack which looked threatening until the visitors regained possession and broke quickly to capitalise on City’s shorthandedness.
The other centreback, Taylor Jones, was left exposed by what was virtually a two on one and Briscoe burst past him to score impressively with a fierce shot which gave Cogman no chance.
Mayembe, so impressive in his last appearance at this level against Ipswich, replaced Ligendza, but struggled to get into things as both sides rather ran out of attacking steam for the remainder of the game. However, Millwall still had that one incisive break left in them and when Mayembe lost the ball on the edge of the penalty area in what seemed to be a possible scoring position for City, the visitors again broke upfield in a matter of seconds as Briscoe was played in to net his second.
Play continued for about a minute or so after that, but City were never going to come up with a third goal of their own and so their defence of the title won last spring, which looked to be as good as over before the leaves started falling off the trees, limps on with this season having been all about what happens in the cups and development of individuals for months now.
As for the Rhondda teams I keep tabs on, it was good news for both of them, with Blaenrhondda coming out on top 3-2 at Cefn Cribwr to put themselves in a “best of the rest” position behind the five sides that are possible winners of the South Wales Alliance Premier League title.
Meanwhile, Ton Pentre maintained their recent improvement with a 3-0 home win over another of the sides in trouble at the bottom of the league, Monmouth Town. Seven points from their last three matches puts Ton into what I believe is a season’s highest tenth position in the Welsh League Division One, but they have played quite a few more games than all but one of the six teams below them.
