Seven decades of Cardiff City v Luton Town matches.

Posted on February 7, 2020 by The other Bob Wilson

Seven more questions on forthcoming opponents with the answers to be given on here on match day.

60s. Is this the sort of player people are talking about when they say there are no personalities left in the game any more I wonder? Who is he?

“Starting off at his home town club, he was soon attracting First Division attention, but would be buyers were frightened off by his lifestyle. He failed at Luton’s fiercest rivals and an M4 corridor town before dropping into the non league game. Luton gave him another chance though and his night before match day drinking sessions became legendary in the town, but that didn’t stop him scoring what many regard to be the club’s best ever goal in a game against Mansfield. However, that lifestyle caught up with him and he was “unavailable for selection” for some years. When that situation changed, he was unable to repeat his earlier form and left for some confectionery makers and then America, before resurfacing years later at the home of a coastal town’s former Football League club.

70s. Name the three players in this photo, when was the game played and what was the final score?

80s. AA dry line in Luton and Cardiff during this decade?

90s. English trees seen north of the border it seems.

00s. Although you wouldn’t have guessed it by his name, Wales had no claim on this defender who played for Luton against us during this decade. Starting off in the city of his birth, he created a good impression and Luton won a race with a few other clubs for his signature. The move south worked will for him initially, but a manager, who, until recently, worked for City didn’t fancy him and he was loaned out to busy insects where he did his cause no good by missing a match after claiming he had got lost on the M25! He would have become a mischievous child if Luton had not entered administration and as the club declined, so did his career as serious injuries bit. Left without a contract as Luton dropped out of the Football League, a trial with Oldham came to nothing and he turned down the chance of one at a Grimsby team managed by one of his former bosses Mike Newell. In the end, he was offered another chance at Luton, but a long standing injury flared up after one match and when he didn’t turn up for pre season training months later, the curtain came down on a career which promised a lot, but didn’t deliver much – can you name the player I’m describing?

10s. The next move for the player in the picture after leaving Luton was to go to Welling United, can you identify him?

20s. Cheesy sounding import from the Midlands?

Answers.

60s. Shrewsbury born winger Graham French played less than thirty times for his town club, but he attracted the attention of Tommy Docherty at Chelsea who decided not to bother when he learned of his off field activities. Luton took a gamble on him and were repaid with nearly two hundred games and twenty two goals. The latter period of French’s eight years with the Hatters saw him jailed for three years for his part in a shooting incident in 1970 in a pub. Returning to the club after his release in 1973, French could not regain his first team place and he left for Reading and then Boston Minutemen – he turned out for Southport in 1976 under the assumed name Graham Lafite.

70s. On 16 September 1978, Luton beat City 7-1 at Kenilworth Road. In the photo, future City man Bob Hatton is scoring one of the goals with Keith Pontin unable to stop him, the goalkeeper is Keith Barber who was making his second appearance on loan for us from Swansea – Barber spent seven seasons with Luton, but this game marked the end of his Football League career.

80s. Ray Daniel.

90s. Scott Oakes.

00s. Lewis Emanuel looked a fine player in the making when he broke into the Bradford side as a teenager. He did well too initially at Luton, but the arrival of Keith Blackwell dfd him no favours and he was loaned to Brentford to get some game time. Cruciate ligament injuries and a recurring toe injury took their toll as he struggled to reach previous standards in a badly struggling team – he left the game after only playing once in 09/10.

10s. Alfie Mawson was loaned to Luton and the Welling from Brentford during 13/14.

20s. James Bree is on loan to Luton for the season from Aston Villa.

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Not the ending an exciting game deserved as City depart FA Cup with a whimper.

Posted on February 5, 2020 by The other Bob Wilson

It makes a change I suppose to say that Cardiff City departed a cup competition in a game they had a right good go at winning, but, even so, it must be said that the manner of their dismissal from the FA Cup tonight was typical of their season.

Two up early in the second half, they allowed Reading to score twice to force the extra time which always seemed inevitable and then after they hit the front again in the first period of the additional thirty minutes, they again couldn’t see things out, so the tie went to the equally inevitable penalty shoot out.

We can all remember the three dramatic shoot outs (two won and one lost) that were highlights of our 2012 league Cup campaign – Leicester, which finished up at something like 11-10, the thrill of making it to a fourth Wembley date in four years to see off Palace and the heartbreak of losing the Cup after a great fight against Liverpool which included the unforgettable Ben Turner equaliser, but I’m afraid Cardiff v Reading 2020 will only be recalled in any list discussion about the most anti climactic penalty shoot outs ever.

The, very, abridged version of how the shoot out panned out is that Reading went first and scored easily from their four attempts, while we took three, one of which just about made it in, while another was smashed against the crossbar and another was easily saved.

To add a bit more detail, Will Vaulks, who was good otherwise, was the villain when it came to the spot kick whacked against the bar, while, bafflingly, Aden Flint was the choice to take our first attempt in the mini competition which forced a decision in a tie which probably would have gone on for weeks in the days where sides just kept playing replays until there was, finally, a winner.

Credit to Flint for volunteering to take a penalty, but was anyone really surprised at what happened? I’m sure Danny Gabbidon on Radio Wales wasn’t the only one who was saying they weren’t a fan of centre halves taking penalties once it became clear who was stepping forward.

Such a damp squib of an ending was harsh on City in many ways because their performance showed that, perhaps, the much talked about change of approach under the new manager may not be quite as demanding a task as many expect it to be.

City, with Academy team captain Joel Bagan enjoying a polished first team debut at left back until he was hit by cramp, played some nice stuff in dominating a first half where it could be said they were worth more than the single goal scored by Josh Murphy after Reading had been sloppy in playing out from the back.

Murphy’s low shot from not far short of twenty five yards was the clearest evidence of a far better contribution from the team’s wingers than the one we saw four days earlier when the sides last met, but both he and Gavin Whyte prospered on the back of a better than expected service from Vaulks and Marlon Pack which must have come as a shock when it was seen that that they were up against three opponents in the middle of the park.

Reading reacted by changing their shape to the something like 4-4-2 that we had started with and while they soon went 2-0 when a lovely, outside of the foot pass by Vaulks picked out Robert Glatzel who went on to net in a manner which suggests he’s got the ability to score consistently for us with a service which suits him more, they improved after that with City’s defensive work being undermined by a lessening of its denial of room from which crosses could come in. Omar Richards’ powerful near post header got the visitors back into things and sub Rinamhota levelled things with a snap shot which flew past Neil Etheridge before he could move.

Reading would have had momentum going extra time, but City, with Tom Sang doing well on his debut after he was introduced for Whyte, had the better of things for most of the remainder of the match. They were ahead again when blunders by defenders Blackett and Oshi gave Murphy the chance to nip in before keeper Walker and make it 3-2.

When Reading had got back their two goal deficit, it could be claimed that they were suggesting that a goal was coming, but City were looking pretty safe at 3-2 when Meite got his third goal against us within the space of eight days from nowhere with another snap shot type finish to set up that non event of a shoot out.

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