After his Leyton Orient side had been unluckily beaten 4-3 at Cardiff City Stadium a fortnight ago, Richie Wellens said you won’t see another opponent come to the ground and win the possession battle (54 to 46) while having 26 attempts on the Cardiff goal.
Mr Wellens was not proven wrong in the first league game after that seven goal thriller because City had 56 per cent possession to 44, but today’s opponents, Reading, matched the 26 shots Orient had.
Cardiff were doing so well prior to the first international break and then appeared to lose their way between the first and second break when they had five home matches to play and just four away ones.
Three wins and a draw from the away games was perfectly acceptable, as indeed were the performances at Burnley and Wigan, but Bradford, Burton and Newport all won in Cardiff and Orient should have done.
It certainly felt at the time that City had lost their way as October replaced September and, yet as we go into the spell between the October and November international breaks, we see that one win has taken us to the top of the league again!
Make no mistake about it, I’d say that only at Wigan have we played remotely like a top of a table side in recent weeks. It’s a concern that all too familiar doubts are resurfacing at home, but, on the other hand, we’ve turned losing positions in three home games this season into wins.
Of course, being a level lower than we’ve been used to being in the last couple of decades makes it easier to recover deficits, but, I saw nothing but defeat looming when we trailed 3-2 around the hour mark against Orient and it was the same again at half time today when it was Cardiff 0 Reading 1.
I mentioned after the Orient match that I don’t getBBM’s almost obsessive desire to change his centreback combination from one game to the next. I think the start he’s made here has earned him a fair bit of latitude , so I’m not going to call for his sacking or anything like that, but, I would welcome some sort of explanation as to why his tinkering extends to our centrebacks.
Today, having decided to go with Gabe Osho and Calum Chambers at the back, There was a further change at half time when the former was replaced by Will Fish.
Sadly, Osho was continuing a trend begun on his debut against Bradford when he gave away a daft penalty, then, against Orient, his poor back pass conceded us a goal while today he gave Reading an easy chance to score the game’s first goal and then conceded a really soft corner under no pressure.
The reaction when we signed Osho was that we’d bought someone who was too good for League One and when you consider that he’d played in the Premier League and Ligue A without making the sort of mistakes that he’s making every week for us it seems, something!g needed to done.
Bringing Fish on made sense, he improved our defending and made a brilliant block on the line to maintain out 2-1 lead. However, soon after he came on, Fish completely lost Jack Marriott and we were, yet again , indebted to Nathan Trott for getting us out of trouble. Fish was playing week in, week out earlier in the season and he had a consistency to his game which, hardly surprising ly , is not as clear now as it was.
That said, I thought the other three members of our back four all improved after Fish replace ed Osho.
Reading had the chances to be well clear at the break. Lewis Wing had a free kick deflected on to the cross bar, Trott denied Doyle and then the keeper was slightly at fault when Wing’s effort from thirty five yards flew into the net in a central position with Trott unsighted by Calum Chambers.
All City could offer in response was a scramble in front of goal which saw Yousef Salech and Joel Colwill denied from close range by desperate defending and goal keeping and they left the pitch to the sound of boos at half time.
City needed a quick response and got it with a first goal for the club by Omari Kellyman. At first viewing , it looked like the result of weak goalkeeping, but replays showed a deflection which made life awkward for Jack Steven’s.
Kpakio, City’s best outfield player provided the assist and when Kellyman’s replacement Isaak Davies combined with the young full back, Kpakio’s cross was turned in from eight yards by Salech to win the points.
City had improved, but Reading must have been wondering how they lost, particularly when Fish denied Paddy Lane and Trott saved from Charlie Savage.
An exciting afternoon then, but you can’t help thinking we cannot keep on winning like this.
The under 18s do keep on winning though- today by 3-1 over Watford at Leckwith, thanks to goals by Jack Sykes and Harry Watts (no news on who scored the other one).
In local football, Ynysygerwen beat Treherbert Boys and Girls Club 3-0 to keep them at the bottom of the Ardal Leagues South West.
In the Highadmit South Wales Alliance Championship Ton Pentre, won 1-0 at Bettws to stay top and in Division One East, Treorchy Boys and Girls Club played out a 0-0 draw with Splott FC.
Paul, compadre,
A fine report. Much thanks as usual.
We cannot keep expecting Trott to win games for us… nor for Oshi to abandon his obsession with passing back to him. (He needs psychiatric help.)
I did miss your quiz, but did NOT miss the sort of dejection it inevitably brings when I fail to come up with a full board of correct answers…!!
Am working on a dynamite packaging of words around my favourite podcaster’s astounding allegations that Ryan Reynolds is a proven arsonist… and maybe let you have them so you can get any Bluebirds in Clwyd to post them on the Wrexham FC website in order to attempt to lower their morale before our clash in a few days from now.
I will keep MAYA posted.
TTFN,
Dai.
Morning All,
A very uninspiring and passive first half today with plenty of seemingly pointless passing and lack of penetration with the lowlights being some awful mistakes fron Gabriel Gosh-Oh-No. I can’t fathom what he was thinking of when he passed under no pressure into the middle of a penalty area containing only a Reading player and Nathan Trott. Fortunately, Trott was alert and, not for the last time in the game, saved a certain goal. Fortunately, the first twenty minutes after the break won us the game before another series of brilliant saves from Trott (and one from Fish!) secured the three points for us.
Going through the team my thoughts are –
Trott – brilliant, best keeper since Dai Marshall.
Defence – Kpakio lively and a threat going forward; Chambers – cool, calm and assured, he could be moved up to the holding midfield role to accomodate Fish who was his usual reliable self after coming on. Gosh-oh-no – an accident waiting to happen. Bagan – sound but no more.
Midfield – Turnbull was neat in the holding role but didn’t achieve much because his midfield colleagues were usually awol. Both Colwills – inconspicuous to the extent that this area was dominated by reading who often looked as if they had more men in this area than us. The Robertson situation needs to be sorted urgently.
Wide men – Kellyman looks a quality player who will hopefully get even better as his fitness and game time increases whereas Willock was quiet throughout.
Striker – Salech can be a handful and was in the right place to score his goal. However, I can’t understand how defenders are allowed to rugby tackle and pull him around throughout games yet he seems to be penalised whenever he wins a challenge!
Subs – Isaak Davies was pacy and direct and caused problems for Reading after his introduction. Callum Robinson also improved things and looked dangerous but Cian Ashford had little chance to shine before being resubstituted for the sake of NG’s defensive qualities.
Clive made me smile with his clever spoof name. The best I have come across since Ange HasnaeGottaClue.
Clive also makes a good point in saying that Chambers might be useful at the base of a diamond. But I urge all MAYA readers not to get carried away by yesterday’s one decent performance at centre back. Methinks a real big strong centre forward takes him to the cleaners.
Oh, I write this 20 minutes after watching the big game at Anfield… and I will ‘fess up here and now by saying I wanted both teams to lose…!! As it was however, I took a perverse delight (as an ABMU* man) in United’s victory.
Why? Well because unlike the home team, they did not play out from the back. Good on them… football is regaining its senses.
* Anyone But Man United.
And now, as promised, the amazing way Ryan Reynolds’ life is starting to implode…
Hollywood star Ryan Reynolds is an arsonist…? Surely not?
This guy was recently given the Freedom of Wrexham for his altruism for the community, plus recognition for the millions he and his Hollywood mate have ploughed into the local Wrexham football (soccer) team…
Now his disturbing youth is catching up with him…
I adore ‘The Nerve’… Maureen Callahan, the Dorothy Parker of our day, is my number one podcast. I never miss an episode. She is nonpareil amongst acerbic yet witty social commentators… though I don’t always take her political stance, I love her spirit and unwillingness to be cowed by legal threats.
In the link below, go to 7 minutes in (-1.20.43)… and be prepared to be gobsmacked. It gets more and more amazing… culminating in very real evidence that Ryan Reynolds burnt his school down.
Was it karma that Reynolds shacked up with the physically impressive (but morally, less impressive) Blake Liveley? Clearly it must have been. Maureen calls him a psychopath… and when you look at the evidence, who can argue with her?
And then you fast-forward to his now near sainthood in North East Wales… and genuinely wonder if his desire to be seen as an altruist, is not all just an attempt to expiate his guilt at having burnt down not just a ‘wing’ of his school, but the whole large building…?!
I guess that the ‘statute of limitations’ applies now, so he cannot be prosecuted, but cannot the Canadian authorities at least insist he builds a new school for his former community?
https://tinyurl.com/2jfexw9j
Were I Maureen, I would employ 24/7 security. I cannot help but feel that someone will be employing a ‘hitman’ to get her soon. She is an astonishingly brave woman.
DW
An in teresting month or so coming up now, as we pile up the away games through November and the rest of this month with the knowledge that the visit of Huddersfield, scheduled for 15/11 will be postponed becvause of international commitments. Therefore, Filing a win at one of our bogey grounds, Peterborough, in the FA Cup an d a home Second Round gajme, ir looks like we won’t be playing at home again until we face Mansfield on 29 November. unless you count the Pizza Cup match with Arsenal under 21s, but,ms recent awazy games have seen us playing a lot better than we do at home, maybe that’s no bad thing?
Paul,
I understand that our beloved manager is lukewarm about the Vertu Trophy but there is no reason why we should. He picks 15 and 16 year olds, and the insipid team are thus beaten by Newport County.
I note you dismissively call it the `Pizza Cup’… rather than ‘the trophy promoted by the 4th biggest (200 strong) motor dealership company in the UK’.
Okay, a trivial pedantic point, I’ll grant you. But are we so blasé as a group of fans that we turn our nose up at a possible trip back to Wembley?
I suggest BBM makes the game against the Young Gunners a ‘must win’ game.
https://tinyurl.com/53jsahv5
TTFN,
Dai.
I forgot to add that I watched the whole of last season’s Vertu final on TV.
Birmingham City were the overwhelming favourites, and their owners (including Tom Brady) were there with a multitude of – very entitled seeming – Blues fans, all there to see them crowned.
Except they weren’t. Peterborough took the trophy, and deservedly at that. I was delighted… the Brum fans returned home… STUNNED.
So, c’mon Bluebirds… please take this trophy seriously. We are the highest ranking team still in it.
DW.