Popped down to Ninian tonight to check out the latest crop of youth, a couple of whom are showing promise, in their FA Youth Cup Third Round tie to Charlton Athletic.
The match was billed as the City youngsters toughest assignment as Charlton have a nationally recognised youth academy and are top of the Premier League section where they compete against other Premier sides so the very best young players in the country.
City's Under-17 and Under-19 teams may be top of their divisions but The Bluebirds are still aspiring to an Academy set up and compete against the likes of Oxford, Bournemouth, Swansea and Cirencester. City were deprived of a couple of their better players as this was an Under 18 competition but no doubt, Charlton were too.
The crowd, in Blocks B & C of the Grandstand was a reasonable 250 or so. The entry fee was £4 and pre-match entertainment consisted of Sam Hammam handing out the team sheets to everyone already in the ground.
As for the match, it was really all over as a contest as Charlton raced 3-0 ahead inside 25 minutes. It was a throwback to watching old style City first teams as our opponents, man-for-man, all looked a couple of inches bigger and a few pounds heavier than our lads.
It was probably a combination of Charlton's status and physique that got them into their lead as City generally showed them far too much respect. All the goals were soft, all left wing crosses that were not cut out as players slotted home from close range (the opener and the third goal) or nodded home unmarked (the second goal). The goals were scored on 3, 21 and 24 minutes.
In between, City played some neat football but lacked presence and belief. Nice interplay was usually let down by wayward passing and only Stuart Fleetwood was causing any real problems going forward. One player really getting stuck in was midfielder Khallel who hit one opponent with one of the hardest tackles I've seen for a while but the only bones crunched were his own and he came off as Charlton made it 2-0.
AT this stage, it could have become more embarrassing than an English cricket display but, give credit to City, their heads never dropped and they fought back. It may have been helped by Charlton feeling comfortable and in control but Cardiff buzzed about them showing more life and pace. If anyone had walked in at this point and saw the rest of the first half, there was nothing to choose between the teams.
Heartened by that, City youth took the game to Charlton second half and dominated for the opening 25 minutes or so. The game was played almost entirely in Charlton's half of the field as Cardiff used wing backs and width very well.
They missed a couple of easy chances, still seemed hesitant in the final third which let them down but when Danny Thomas squeezed a close range effort over the line from close range, it was no more than the Bluebirds deserved.
City were very lively for a few minutes after that but Charlton were bigger and stronger and rode the pressure well before asserting control again in the final stages.
A couple of players did well for City. Byron Anthony and his centre half partner battled hard, Mike Parkins and Huggins were prominent in midfield. they were a few tidy players but a lack of real inciseiveness but the player who stood out was Stuart Fleetwood who definitely has something about him.
This was my first viewing of him and I was expecting to see a striker in the Earnie mould but he was at times on the right wing coming inside, had free licence at others and the right man in a three pronged attack in other phases of the game. He certainly has pace but no mean skill too with some good trickery and he always looks to make something happen.
He certainly had an attitude about him too. He was yellow carded late on for smashing the ball straight into a Charlton midfielder's goolies (best shot of the night!) after the ref had blown for a free-kick and when a Charlton player took at eternity to walk off in the dying moments, the whole of Ninian could see and hear Fleetwood standing there giving him a slow handclap every step of the way.
A couple of us were saying he would be worth a try in a FAW Premier or LDV game, even if it was on the bench. If City were like they used to be in the dark days of Kumar & Co, he probably would be very close to getting a first team start but times have changed and don't we know it.