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James was helpless to stop Jay Bothroyd's opener, embarrassed to see Whittingham's free kick elude everyone and bounce into the net before grasping this air as Whittingham curled a peach of a free kick to score the winner.
The England keeper also had a face to face spat with his captain Louis Carey as Cardiff overturned a two goal deficit to win and keep the pressure on Q.P.R. at the top of the table.
It was a great day for City as Rangers and third place Norwich drew and of the chasing pack both Ipswich and Watford both lost.
The game started with a bang. Unfortnately the firworks were in the City goalmouth with The Robins two up after 8 minutes. Cardiff were caught out twice in defence with Steven Caulker heading in a free kick and then Jon "always seems to score a gainst us" Stead made it two nil when he has unmarked and allowed to flick home inside the 6 yard box.
If City had one thing in their favour it was time. Almost immediately they were back in the game. Peter Whittingham got to the byline, pulled it back to Michael Chopra who picked out Jay Bothroyd and he couldn't miss from 8 yards. There was a suspicion of offside but the replays clearly show a Bristol City player slow to get up from challenging Whittingham on the byline and he's clearly playing Jay onside.
There were efforts at both ends with City twice working James who made one save for cameras and one super diving catch to deny City an equaliser. With City's defence still a bit creaky there was always a danger we could concede again.
Time and time again Cardiff players overplayed and got caught in possession. Kevin McNaughton was mugged twice near his own goal line in the second half and twice he conceded free kicks. One got him a yellow card, it could have been two. There was also a number of back heels from City players. When attacking it looked good especially between McNaughton and Burke down the right flank but doing it in defence was not clever.
Half time Cardiff 1 - 2 Bristol City.
The second half was a minute old when City won a free kick wide right. Peter Whittingham, from 35 yards, curled a nicely weighted effort into the box and no one got a touch as it bounced once and went in past the stranded James.
That was the cue to batter Bristol City for the next 15 minutes. Cardiff carved them apart with some glorious attacking football. Burke saw a deflected effort hit the bar when maybe he should have squared and Burke again was thwarted by James with a point blank save after a great move down the left.
Bristol City were never out of it but that was largely due to Cardiff gifting them free kicks around the box. Every Bristol City ball from a set piece out wide was the same, a dinked cross looking for the big guys running in. No variation meant Ctiy dealt with them after the early mishaps.
Then Cardiff got the winner. A free kick about 22 yards out. Whittingham and Koumas eyed it up before the former strocked the ball inside the post to complete a stunning comeback.
The four mins of added time was mostly played deep in the Bristol City half and the final whistle was a joy to hear. The Wurzels stay rock bottom and City close the gap at the top to just four points.
Both Jay Bothroyd and Michael Chopra picked up silly bookings, Bothroyd is now one yellow card away from a one match ban. There was no need for it.
There was no Craig Bellamy for this match but he is expected to start at Coventry on Tuesday.
External Reports
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Cardiff Official Website
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