Cardiff City’s season continues to have a one step forward, two steps back feel to it when it comes to the absence of important players through the spine of the team.
BBM confirmed yesterday that Yousef Salech is available for tomorrow’s home game with in form Birmingham City some five weeks after sustaining his shoulder injury in the win over Charlton. If you had told City fans then that our one target man type striker would be unavailable for that length of time, it would have been seen as a disaster, but, with eight goals scored in the three matches that Salech missed, his return to the starting line up is by no means guaranteed.
However, the two steps back are that, having got Krystian Bielik back from suspension, we now lose Gabriel Osho for three matches as the club’s appeal against the straight red card he received last weekend was, predictably, turned down. Yes, Osho was asking for trouble with a tackle like that, especially right in front of the dug outs the fourth official, and it seems that he’s always going to have a mistake and/or rush of blood in him, but three games out for a tackle which I feel warranted a yellow card seems very harsh.
The other step back could be said to be mixed news. Dylan Lawlor clearly picked up a hamstring injury in only his second appearance of his disrupted season, but my fear was that he would be out for a lot more than the six weeks or so which should see him returning after the international break next month.
BBM also confirmed that Joel Colwill’s half time withdrawal last weekend was down to him being concerned that the younger Colwill was suffering with the same virus that had hit his brother. Rubin was the sicker of the two apparently, but it’s not illness which is almost certain to keep him out of tomorrow’s squad – he’s not far away from fitness, but BBM confirmed that, even when he played a few games earlier in the season, he wasn’t fully over the injury which has held him back in recent months. Certainly, after good showings against Derby and Sheffield United, Rubin looked like someone who was not quite right fitness wise against QPR and Portsmouth.
There are injury issues on the flanks as well, but Perry Ng, who missed last week’s game with back spasms and Ronan Kpakio, withdrawn at Middlesbrough with a dead leg, will, hopefully, be fit enough to be included.
I should also mention the under 17s’ excellent 2-0 win over Arsenal in the Premier League Cup on Tuesday – Leo Papirnyk followed up his two goals on the weekend with another brace to decide a game which saw Axel Donczew return to Cardiff and miss a late Arsenal penalty.
On to the quiz then, seven questions dating back to the 60s with the answers to be posted on Sunday.
60s. Clever individual from the 70s followed by German drink and then what sounds like a useless sentence starter mainly used in Yorkshire – apologies for this one!
70s. Born in West Bromwich, this midfielder often had the word “elegant” added to his name when it appeared in the media. Making his debut for Birmingham at 17, he became a regular starter until a new manager decided he wanted more of a physical presence in the centre of the park and so he was involved in a straight swap which saw him move north to wear red with the other player involved in the deal eventually going on to play for us. The move wasn’t really a success despite our man usually being in the squad at his new club and after a year or so he was signed by a struggling team to the south of Birmingham. His debut for his new club was a success with him scoring a novel goal in a victory and he went on to play a significant part in them staying up. His next two seasons weren’t as successful and he left the full time game at 28, going on to play non league football close to home and also in America. Can you name him?
80s. First Russian stabber appears in film noir. (5,7)
90s. Rapid, by the sound of it, Saint.
00s. This defender played 120 minutes in a winning Champions League Final despite the original plan being to withdraw him for tactical reasons at half time, he also scored a famously bad own goal while playing for the same team. One of his other clubs had also won the Champions League before an ignominious decline long before he played for them. He also had a loan spell at Birmingham during this decade although most of his time there appears to have been spent on the treatment table. Who is he?
10s. He played for Birmingham during this decade, scored a couple goals for Wales and is known for his “independent thinker” type opinions on social media about things like COVID. Who is he?
20s. Harry Wilson’s hat trick in our win at Birmingham in 2021 overtook Michael Chopra’s against Leicester as the best hat trick I’ve seen by a City player. Who was in goals for Birmingham that day?
