Cardiff found themselves behind after just two minutes. For the opening 90 seconds Cardiff had all the play and made a couple of probes towards the Burnley goal but once the home side got possession they were devastating on the counter. Cardiff left back Andrew Taylor was left chasing shadows as Kieran Trippier made the byline and his cross found Charlie Austin unmarked and he made no mistake with his header beating a stranded David Marshall. When Burnley fancied it they made Taylor's first half quite uncomfortable.
But despite having the upper hand Burnley were happy to let Cardiff have possession and for the most part they were able to defend without too much trouble. City had a tendency to hit long high balls to Earnshaw and Miller when they looked for more dangerous when Mason and Conway were allowed to keep the ball on the floor and run at the Burnley defence.
The match was quite feisty, Gerrard, Hudson and McNaughton all yellow carded in the first half, with Gerrard's challenge on the Burnley player a sliding, scything tackle that took the home man off the pitch and crashing into the hoardings. Gerrard was booked but the referee only gave Burnley a throw. Maybe Gerrard was booked for petulance as he was not happy at all with being spoken to by the referee who by this time was starting to lose control of his decision making.
The equaliser came when Peter Whittingham made a crunching tackle, Taylor picked up the loose ball and ran into space before crossing the ball into Earnshaw's lap. Earnie managed to get control before scoring past the Burnley keeper. All game Earnie was finding space and this time it was in a dangerous position and half time arrived with the score 1 - 1.
The second half saw the home side on the offensive from the start. It was Cardiff defending and looking to break with Burnley playing some good football in approach but they were woeful with their final application. Three times they looked set to score, twice the offside flag went up but the striker didn't know that and failed to get the ball into the the net and on the other occasion a header in front of the gaping goal was glanced wide.
Cardiff managed some attacks, an Earnie header was saved, Miller went close at the back post and Whittingham fired a drive just wide. Burnley were pressing for the winner and made a big shout for a penalty as City threw their bodies on the line but only a corner was given.
The final whistle was welcomed by Cardiff City and their fans and as the away team it was a good point to earn. If I was a home fan I would have been frustrated and annoyed that such an early goal could not be built on.
Both sets of fans gave the officials some stick, referee out of his depth at times. Not a bad game, City need to play through midfield to the smaller strikers rather than go long so many times, and we need to protect weaker areas like in the first half when Taylor was under the cosh.
I used a new app on my phone to take a 'panoramic' picture of the ground. The quite impressive result is below.
