Cardiff City dropped their first home points since 30 September as they were held to a 1-1 draw by fourth placed Stockport in a game which included a serious looking injury to striker Yousef Salech who was treated for thirteen minutes for what looked like a neck injury.
I’ll return to Salech’s injury later, but, as I type this, City’s position at the top has improved as Bradford were beaten 1-0 at Huddersfield and seventh placed Luton went down by the same score at Plymouth in the other lunchtime kick offs.
Lincoln’s 2-1 win on Thursday over Burton means that the six point gap over second position we has last weekend has been cut to four, but with the three o clock kick offs just starting we’re ten points ahead of Bradford, albeit we’ve played a game more than them and seventeen points clear of Luton with them having played one more match than us.
I’ve tried to steer clear of the subject of League One referees recently because the standards are generally so low that you end up sounding like a stuck record. However,I cannot apply my recently acquired more tolerant approach to them after Paul Howard’s inconsistent showing today.
That said, I would say that, albeit only on the one viewing, the incident that led to Salech’s injury was an accident which did not merit any further action from Mr Howard in terms of a card being shown. What happened as I saw it was that Stockport Centre back Brad Hills challenged for a high ball with Salech and the striker landed awkwardly, possibly on his neck, with Hills then landing on top of him. It was a forceful challenge with a possibility that Hills’ elbow made contact with Salech, but it did not strike me as deliberate. It was the sort of challenge which may have been penalised by a foul, but it would have struck me as harsh.*
Maybe I’ll feel a bit different when I see a few replays of the incident, but, by playing on (and then booking Ryan Wintle a few seconds later), I thought Mr Howard got it right.
If I would criticise Mr Howard, it would be for not recognizing the possibility of a serious injury of a type which could have serious consequences for the player concerned.
So, rightly or wrongly, I’m not too critical of the referee on the game’s main talking point, but I fail to see how in a match which saw Stockport penalised seventeen times for fouls to our eleven, we ended up with three players booked to their two.
I’m not saying that the yellow cards issued to Wintle, Joel Bagan and Omari Kellyman were wrong – they were all for cynical “take one for the team” fouls (including two shirt grabs on a player who had got the wrong side of the three of them). If Mr Howard did not caution the three City players, he would have been marked down by the assessor for not interpreting the laws of the game as current guidelines say they should be. However, something is wrong when Ollie Norwood is not shown a card for a late diving tackle on Callum Robertson – Norwood seemed genuinely contrite after the foul on a former Sheffield United, but it was a poor tackle and a yellow card, possibly a red one, all day long.Â
Worse still was the elbow to Wintle’s face by Josh Stokes which Mr Howard did actually show a card for, but, for me, it was the worst of a few occasions when Stockport elbows were raised when jumping for the ball and was worthy of a red card – especially as Stokes looked to check where Wintle was before jumping with his elbow raised.
Also, Stockport scorer Kyle Wootton who had already been booked was penalised for a shirt pull by Mr Howard, but no further card was shown – there were one or two other fouls committed by Wootton after his caution as well.
Hills, of course, was treated by the crowd as very much the villain of the piece after the Salech injury and he was another one who could have seen a card for persistent fouling following that incident.
The ref was definitely inconsistent and poor, but were Stockport as dirty as I’m sure many City fans are accusing them of being? I’m not sure about that, I thought they were physical and played with an aggressive forward press in what I felt was an impressive first half showing.
In fact, I’d say Stockport were bettered only by Bradford in terms of the best visiting sides to come to Cardiff City Stadium so far this season and it was easy to see why they possess the second best away record in the division. However, on another day and with a better referee, they could have easily have been reduced to ten, or even nine, men.
David Turnbull missed out because of the illness he’d been suffering with all week with Joel Colwill replacing him and Cian Ashford came in for Chris Willock in the two changes BBM made from last week at Bradford. There was also a late change on the bench when Dylan Lawlor sustained an injury in the warm up which at least meant that we had a keeper among our subs as Harry Tyrer got his first call up into the first team squad.
I found the game a good watch, but looking back at it now, It’s difficult to recall too many events in either goal mouth worth recording.Â
In very dull, wet and windy conditions, it was the visitors who settled first to take the lead inside ten minutes as Josh Dacres-Cogley, an influential player in the first half especially, got clear of Wintle to create plenty of space for him to run into as a three on two in his team’s favour was created. The Stockport player decided to hit a low twenty yarder which Nathan Trott dived to keep out, but the ball bounced straight into the path of Wootton who tapped home from six yards.
City struggled to respond until Wintle’s chip presented Salech with a diving header half chance which was directed too close to visiting keeper Ben Hinchcliffe.
That was to be Salech’s last meaningful contribution and his injury seemed to affect City, but in the seventh of fourteen additional minutes at the end of the first half, a fluent move ended with Tanner, who had a Curate’s Egg of a game, claiming another assist as his good pass found Colwill who worked himself some room on the edge of the area before beating Hinchcliffe with a shot which may have got a very slight deflection off a defender.
City went on to have the better of the second half as they passed the ball well until they got into the final third where they struggled to find the creativity to unlock a stubborn visiting defense. Kellyman replaced Tanner, but proved to be more erratic than Ollie was, while Willock did supply some creativity on the left after he replaced Colwill. However, while our results since he sustained his injury at Northampton suggest we haven’t missed him that much, this felt like a game where we could have done with a fit Rubin Colwill.
Isaak Davies came on for Alex Robertson as City chased the win and they finally had the chances to get the three points in the last fewminutes as Willock picked out Ashford whose shot flew over after a Stockport defender got a touch on it – Ashford didn’t really have the time to take the touch which came before he shot. Then it was Willock again who set up Robinson for what looked to be the winner only for Hinchcliffe to get off his line quickly to block the close range shot.
Elsewhere, Bolton moved up to third on goal difference when a penalty in added time secured them a 2-1 home win over Leyton Orient. Stevenage drew 1-1 with in form Mansfield and Peterborough won 2-0 at Wycombe.
After the game, BBM said that Salech had gone to hospital to have a precautionary scan on his neck, but he sounded positive about the outcome and there was even a suggestion that he could be available for Tuesday’s game with Barnsley.
While our manager would not comment on the incident which led to Salech’s injury, he was critical of the way his striker has been treated by officials this season with all sorts of fouls going unchecked virtually from day one back in August as yet another interpretation of the laws which favours defenders has been applied.
It was a draw as well for our under 18s as it finished 2-2 away from hone against a Bournemouth team we’ve tended to struggle against in recent seasons at age group levels – Leo Papirnyk and Hayden Allmark were our scorers.
In the Ardal South West League, things are looking really bleak for Treherbert Boys and Girls Club after their 5-0 home defeat by Evans and Williams FC, while in the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Championship, Ton Pentre ended their poor recent run with a 5-2 home win over bottom of the table Bettws FC.
*I’ve now seen the Hills/Salech incident a few times on video and the Stockport man’s elbow does make contact with Yousef’s neck, but, for me, it’s because the momentum of Hills getting up to continue with the game causes the contact to be made. I should say that there are plenty of City fans who’ll think I’m being over generous to the Stockport player there, but I just feels that the images aren’t conclusive to maintain that Salech’s injury was caused deliberately.
Salech apparently unscathed then, thank heavens. He missed another sitter yesterday, but he makes up for it. I can’t help thinking how many a Rob Earnshaw would get alongside him. After a couple of games when he made surging runs into the box, Kellyman has gone back to his previous unimposing self, Isaac Davies has yet to impress and hangdog Ashford’s ‘moments’ have become far too few and far between for my liking.
A fair draw in the end. A game we could have lost. Our attacking game assumes – quite rightly so far – that teams in this league aren’t good enough to exploit the defensive gaps we leave. Stockport were though on one occasion, and were a hair’s breadth from catching Trott with the ball at his feet, too. Our defence is never exactly rock solid, but we don’t concede many so I won’t be joining Dai on his goalie soapbox.
Every player on both sides put in a good shift. Stockport were vibrant. It was an entertaining game, only spoiled – I totally agree with you – by a a ref who was probably the worst of the bad bunch we’ve had in this league. As you suggest, at least two red cards should have been shown to Stockport players. He just didn’t get a grip on the game.
Anyway, we’ve emerged from the congestion of Christmas with a handy lead at the top, and the way we are playing now is a very pleasant change from the pre BB-M chow we got served up.
I can understand the bias you have shown in this report, do you think we should have just laid down and give you the 3 points? If you had seen the replay of the Hills incident before commenting you would see that Hills won the header fairly it’s not his fault that Salech fell underneath him and ended up being injured. The way us County fans are feeling this morning is how we feel about Wrexham and it’s been well documented how we feel about them!
A very fair report Paul on the Stockport game… also Chris’s comments were balanced too. He was so right about Salech missing a sitter… and what a sweet pass that was from Wintle. And you are both right; Wintle’s assailant deserved a definite red for that elbow (provoked or not by Wintle’s dig in the kidney just two seconds before); and Norwood was a lucky boy to escape a red for that crazily aggressive two-footed lunge.
Right also about Davies, Kellyman and Ashford pulling up no trees.
But hey… to happier matters.
Just having watched the Arsenal game, all I can say is…
Oh heavens… my cup runneth over… true delight is what I felt at Man United’s three fabulous goals at The Emirates. (And me formerly a hardened ABMU man.)
Some now tip Man City to win the EPL… claiming Arsenal are choking. I say both the Mancunian teams have no chance. I silently begged Antoine Semenyo, my favourite player, not to go there. Pep will set him back ten years… with that blinkin’ sideways/backwards football.
And as for Guehi… not sure he is all he is cracked up to be. What Man City want is a centre half with presence… they have never properly replaced Kompany. And methinks, gee, that boy Bradley Hills, still only 21, is some centre half, eh? What a player…!! And what a performance for Stockport. No centre half has impressed me quite as much for a very long time. And it is 20 minutes in the car from Edgeley Park to The Etihad.
Sure Bradley was helped by a referee who let’s say missed some of his jiggery-pokery. But by gosh… this boy is going all the way.
Yes he has the dark arts in his game just like a Don Murray did on a good day: but he can really play too. Players like him will get away with what they sense they CAN get away with, and adapt their game accordingly. You are right Paul in saying that the Salech injury was no foul… and let us hope Yousef is back to 100% soon.
Yousef incidentally is a bit of a dark arts performer himself: he too tugs his opponent’s jersey… but only when he knows he is on the blindside of the ref.
Interesting re Mr Hills to see that shortly after Accrington Stanley fans chose him as their Player of the Season, he gets selected for the England Under 20 squad. One wonders when the last time was when an Accrington player (admittedly one then on loan) was selected for England squad at ANY age group level…?
This kid has it IN SPADES… he passes the ball so well also. I wonder what Stockport paid for him? And he looks such a WARRIOR to boot. All he needs is a Willie Nelson/Pat Cash type bandana round his head to give him a true piratical look.
Fantastic. I would swap our two centre backs yesterday* for one Bradley Hills… and throw in a million quid on top.
*oops… make that the day BEFORE yesterday… I note the clock has now well passed midnight.
DW
Thank-you, Paul, for your considered report on the Stockport Co (h) game. I didn’t envy your job writing about that game do soon after its conclusion when emotions were running high. Even 36 hrs on I’m still of the view that there were incidents that occured during the match that have no place on a football pitch. For me I wouldn’t shed a tear if Stockport Co or a Dave Challinor team never faced us again.
I re-read my post on MaYA following our Stockport Co (a) fixture last September. I have provided the YouTube link [ https://youtu.be/QB_kuPKVN-o?si=X63wQ2BRcJhr_O0h ] featuring Challinor’s post-game comments. I draw your attention to his words at 3 mins 35 secs. Salech, you will remember, scored an equalising goal (a header from the 6 yd line) deep into added time. It is worthwhile quoting his words:
“When that ball is coming into our box we have to defend that, and listen, if we don’t defend it then the lad who scores has to GO OFF THE PITCH WITH LESS TEETH THAN HE’S CURRENTLY GOT because you can’t be heading the ball from the middle of the 6 yd box and not expecting someone to MAKE YOUR FACE LOOK A DIFFERENT SHAPE. And we didn’t do either of them.”
I wrote last September that Challinor should have been censored by the EFL. I still stand by that. If he is saying that in public I shudder to think what he is saying to his team privately in the dressing room. What he said to his team prior to this weekend’s game I don’t know but I think we saw evidence of it during the game. It has been said that teams play like their manager. Stockport Co, on the evidence of yesterday’s game, certainly have the Challinor DNA. The visitor’s modus operandi was a diet of constant shirt pulling and questionable challenges and elbowing.
I do not think they were the second best team (behind Bradford) to visit the CCS this season. They might have been had they focused more on playing football. They did have some good players, but under the tutelage of their manager, that was not going to happen. They were more focused on other things.
A word on Hill’s (#33) two challenges on Salech. My considered response 36 hours on following viewing them from the centre of the Ninian Stand and on film:
[1] The first (on 22 mins) after a robust challenge did result in an arm on the neck when the defender fell on the City player. Only he will know whether that was intentional or accidental. I would give him the benefit of the doubt on that one, though.
[2] The second (on 25 mins) was deliberate. He led with his forearm into Salech’s neck. I’ve also seen the challenge from behind the goals. Seeing Salech trying to get up but being unable to was heart-rending. The distressing scenes of medical attention over the next 13 mins were truly awful. Thankfully it appears that, now out of hospital, the City striker will make a full recovery. The film footage shows that referee Howard was looking directly at the challenge and gave nothing.
I could go on: the premeditated elbow in Wintle’s face on 85 mins by #28, the three challenges on Robinson, Wotton’s [#19] stiff arm into the throat of Osho and the elbow in Ng’s face on 74 mins [by #15] etc. There were times when the CCS seemed more like the venue of the Olympic wrestling finals. And yet Stockport got fewer bookings than us. Surreal.
The full game video [ https://tv.cardiffcityfc.co.uk/videos/eaacd25a-f131-4db5-a122-1183a6904921 ].
Was this the evidence of an incompetent referee or a partial one? Please do not think I’m overreacting. During Saturday’s game we came very close to an even more serious incident. Mr Paul Howard of London was not equally bad for both teams. It seemed the visitors could act with impunity from censure. It must be pointed out that a referee’s first responsibity is a duty of care to the players.
Football is at a crossroads. Money has tainted it so much that the purity of the product has been prostituted. Which way will it go? Will those who oversee the game restore sanity to it? Your guess is as good as mine. But what I do know is that teams and referees, like we saw this Saturday at the CCS, need to be called out. Silence is consent. Failure to write or speak makes us as culpable as them.
A very impressively written ‘cri de coeur’ from Steve there. A plea for the return of the Beautiful Game… where the participants were noble souls who turned soccer into a ballet for the working class. Halcyon days of yore.
Except… such days never existed.
Fans have through football history celebrated having butchers in their side like notorious centre backs Frank Barson, Willie Woodburn, Antonio Rattin, Andoni Goikoetxea, Claudio Gentile etc.
These are chaps who would laugh at the description of Bradley Hills as a hatchet man: they’d say he was wielding a toy rubber tomahawk.
My gosh… he was sooo good. Yes, he got away with fouls, but so what? Don Murray, and his even greater predecessor Danny Malloy, built outstanding careers getting away with fouls. And like Bradley, their saving grace was that they could both more-than-just ‘play a bit’…!!
No, I like blood-and-thunder football. I don’t want our football fields turned into hospital like ‘aseptic areas’.
One black mark we can justly lay at Mr Hills’ door was his apparent triumphalism after the final whistle. Immaturity at still just 21? Maybe. But silly.
That said, considering our own ‘wind-up merchant’ Perry Ng was the other party involved, the jury is still out on who started it.
DW.
Thank-you for your riposte, Dai, written as ever with eloquence. Like you say, there have always been, ‘hatchet-men,’ in the game and I’ve seen more than a few of them. My rhetorical question asked in my first post was this: ‘Against this background do we aspire to the higher or celebrate the base?’ I’ve seen many a foul committed by the likes of Dwyer and Murray etc but generally they were punished. I do not want football where players are put in hospital and referees are so weak or incompetent that no card is shown. In the Stockport game three deliberate elbows were thrown into the faces/neck of City players. I will stand to the end saying that this has no part in football of any era.
Thanks again for the replies and good to see a Stockport fan making a contribution – even if I find it a little odd.
Royale, given it had caused so much discussion, I decided to watch the full ninety minutes video on the club website yesterday and it only confirmed that, if anything, I had not been critical enough of the referee in my piece. The phrase which comes to mind most for me is “out of his depth” and I think it’s telling that in a career which, apparently, goes back a decade, he’s still not taken charge of a game above League One level. Therefore, a match between first and fourth in that division may well represent the biggest game he’s ever taken charge of and I’m afraid he showed he wasn’t up to that responsibility.
Dai, one thing that struck me watching the game again yesterday was how often the commentators said things like good defending by Hills, away by Hills etc. It all confirmed the view I formed watching the game for the first time in that the man who either assaulted Salech or accidentally injured him depending on your viewpoint was the best of the Stockport central defenders, but, after a second watch, I’d say he was one of the best players on the pitch. Time will tell whether your opinion of him is correct, I wouldn’t go as far as you as I didn’t see much evidence of him being the sort of player a side that wants to pass out from the back would want. However, on the limited evidence of two games against us and a couple of games where Stockport conceded seven goals, I’d still say I’m a bit surprised that Norwich were willing to sell him to Stockport and I would presume that if and when he leaves, Stockport will make a good profit on him. For me, Hills looks like a player who could definitely get by at Championship level, but I’ve not seen enough of him to say he could go higher than that.
This takes me on to David and Steve’s completely contrasting opinions on the nature of Stockport’s performance on Saturday. David, I freely admit to being biased (although not as biased as the writer of the Stockport blog I read on Sunday I hope). This is a Cardiff City blog after all, but I find it strange to be heaped in with the City fans that I understand have been having a back and forth with Stockport supporters on Twitter in the aftermath of the game. After all, I stated that;-
1. I didn’t think Hills fouled Salech in the incident which brought about the delay of almost a quarter of an hour as the City player received treatment.
2. I didn’t think Stockport were particularly dirty.
3. I praised them as being the second best team we’ve faced at Cardiff City Stadium this season.
4. I praised their aggressive pressing.
The tone of my piece also clearly singles out the ref as the main reason for the game turning out like it did and for the controversy we’ve seen since it ended. While I have no complaints about any of the three Cardiff bookings for cynical fouls of the type which get excused by crap such as “taking one for the team” and “a good and clever foul”, I’m making a simple statement of fact when I say that the worst fouls in that game were committed by Stockport players and it is absolutely incredible that more Cardiff players were shown yellow cards than Stockport ones. In particular, I’m referring to Norwood’s late lunge at Robinson which, for me, would qualify for an orange card if they were ever introduced, yet Mr Howard deemed it not even worthy of a yellow! Secondly, Stokes looks to see where Wintle is before his elbow makes contact with his face – that’s a huge giveaway which should have told the ref that it was a deliberate foul worthy of a straight red card – to see it as a yellow card offence, as Mr Howard did, is a clear case of the ref bottling it.I’d also add that Wootton was guilty of the sort of shirt pull which earned Bagan and Kellyman yellow cards, yet, presumably because he’d already been, harshly in my view, booked, the ref took no further action. I’ve seen accusations of another elbow to the face by a Stockport player as well, but, as I didn’t see that at the time and when I watched the game again, I can’t comment on it.
Steve, I differ from you in that I would say Stockport read the ref well and soon figured out what they could get away with in this games that they probably wouldn’t be able to in others, so, once again, I blame the official more than I do our opponents. However, what weakens that argument is your reminder of what Dave Chalinor said after the first meeting between the sides back in September. I’d forgotten about that until I read your message and that made me remember me thinking along the lines of if he’s willing to say things like that in public, then, what on earth does he say to his players in the confines of the dressing room? Challinor’s comments at least carry the hint that I may be wrong when I say that Stockport were just being streetwise after realising a weak and substandard ref was in charge and therefore changed their approach.
Finally, I have a feeling that we might be playing Stockport again next season if we go up. What I’ve heard all season virtually is that Stockport have been unconvincing and almost under performing, yet they still find themselves with as good a chance as anyone of going up automatically – if they suddenly start showing why so many were picking them for a top two finish before a ball was kicked, then they’ll take a lot of stopping.
Morning Gents One and All – Steve and Dai, thanks for a great discussion and as far as Saturday is concerned, I am totally with Steve on the “incompetence” comment, but not “partial” because I still believe that referees are “impartial” – they just have to be otherwise…..
And on the subject of incompetence, I watched and was delighted to see Coventry get their comeuppance last night at the hands (I mean feet) of a resurgent Norwich. Coventry’s first half thuggery was despicable and how, or why, Thomas Assante was allowed to continue unpunished for his deliberate, yes, deliberate elbow attack on the face of an opponent smacked of a total incompetence by the officials. EFL must take some retrospective action.
The City have certainly had some players who knew the dark arts. Anyone remember Stan Montgomery a stalwart of our late 40’s and early 50’s. He is alleged to have said to a youth player, and a friend of mine, who had made him look silly “do that again and I’ll break your leg”. Welcome to the professional game!
Just a quick line re Brian’s final para…
I recall being in correspondence in these pages with that much missed MAYA regular, the late Colin Phillips, a proud son of Ystrad Rhondda, and discussing our love for that fine Ton Pentre team of the late 1950s. Several times during 1958, I would walk down a thronged Ton Row with my Uncle Jimmy Davies from 5 Clara Street, and watch that fabulous team’s exciting brand of football. And the towering centre back was Stan Montgomery the player/coach.
In my correspondence with Colin, I also mentioned that Stan still held the 5th wicket biggest partnership record for Glamorgan… I seem to recall that he had set it over SEVENTY years previously… when we were corresponding circa 2021…just before Colin left us.
Unbeknownst to me that record was to be finally broken within months of me posting my comments.
Anyway, that’s not really why I write…
I write because I have yet another reason to be wondrous of the internet. Oh for sure all these years of feeling no longer a citizen of this parish, but instead now a citizen of the WORLD… has led me to sometimes add these words to my signature line on my emails…
‘…
“Bliss it was that Internet dawn to be alive, but to get YouTube, Spotify, FaceTime, Google Maps, the iPad, Grokipedia and AI-powered Search added, was the very stuff of Heaven”
–Â Dai Woosnam (“with apologies to William Wordsworth!”)
…’
And here is my latest reason to be stunned…
Well, Grokipedia’s page on Stan, included in references, this link…(see below my words)…
And gee, (a) how good a page was this? and (b) how one man’s love for his club (in this case, for The Tigers across the Humber from my Grimsby home) can lead him into such a magisterial labour of love…!! My goodness…!! The work and man-hours that must have gone into this site. Truly mind-blowing.
As for Stan, it seems he was a very decent fellow… and the total antithesis of a thug who wanted to harm opponents. Quite a cerebral chap, as well as a jovial guy, judging by the two comments at the bottom of the page from his players of the university team at Cardiff which he coached.
But he was a product of his time… and the game was yet to be polluted by genteel tiki-taka. You tackled to win the ball… you gave your everything.
Is it a case of nostalgia colouring my judgement? No. Recalling LP Hartley’s famous opening line of The Go-Between…’The past is a foreign country: they do things differently there’.
Yes they certainly did… and in soccer, (playing surfaces and stadia apart) they did things BETTER.
https://tinyurl.com/yvdt2w8f
TTFN,
Dai.
Re the title of that amazing Hull City site, I just asked AI mode if the phrase ‘on cloud seven’ MEANT anything? It was a phrase new to me. Surely it was ‘on cloud NINE’…?
And gee, before you could say Jack Robinson, AI Search results came up with this…
‘…
AI Overview
“Cloud seven” (or wolke sieben in German) means the same thing as “on cloud nine”—a state of extreme bliss, euphoria, or happiness. It is considered an earlier or alternative version of the phrase, often linked to the older idiom “seventh heaven”.Â
Key details regarding “cloud seven”:
* Origin: It likely stems from the theological concept of “seventh heaven” (found in Jewish, Islamic, and Christian traditions), which represents the highest, most blissful state.
* Usage: While “cloud nine” is more common in modern American English, “cloud seven” is used interchangeably to describe being perfectly satisfied or in a state of joy.
* Cultural Difference: In German, the phrase auf Wolke sieben schweben (floating on cloud seven) is the standard, popular idiom for being blissfully in love or happy, rather than using the number nine.Â
Note: While “cloud nine” is often associated with the 1896 International Cloud Atlas (where cumulonimbus was cloud type 9), “cloud seven” predates the common usage of “cloud nine”.Â
…’
Gosh… how does it do it in a nanosecond? Pinch me please.
As for the comprehensive answer: ‘Seventh heaven’, ouch! I should have guessed. And the reference there to cloud types takes me back to my early 20s when I was a lighthouse keeper for Trinity House and every 4 hours we had to go out on to the landing and note the cloud cover in its various numbers… and this info was collated by The Met Office.
DW