The end of a shock, frustrating week is that City managed a measly 2 points playing Luton and Cheltenham who, collectively, gained 1 point in 9 matches before facing The Bluebirds. Both newly promoted teams will undoubtedly rank amongst the poorest teams we will play all season, it should have been 2 routine wins. If we had, we would be 1 point clear at the top of the table instead of settling into the chasing pack in 5th place. What a waste of an outstanding opportunity!
Cheltenham battled hard, clung on but, in Division Two terms, were awful. They played the entire 90 minutes as if they were the away side. It helped The Bluebirds to dominate throughout but highlight yet again that despite undoubted quality, we lack creativity and incisiveness in the final third. Cheltenham celebrated the draw and second point of the season but it said as much about City's inability as their ability.
Although shocked by the dismal home display versus Luton on Monday, City supporters took the short 80 mile journey to optimism feeling that the team would put matters right and considering our outstanding away record of 8 win and a draw in the previous 9 league/play off fixtures on the road. This 10th game unbeaten away equalled an all time record but who wants to celebrate that?
The highlight of our journey was spotting Sam Hammam driving his distinctive Audi entering Cheltenham. We tooted and ayatollahed, Sam smiled and waved back. As we went in search of a pre-match pub and drove into side streets on our quest, who followed us but Sam The Man, obviously lost and believing we were on the way to the ground!! Our hopes that Sam was about to buy us all lunch and champagne even though we weren't Soul Crew Burberry wearers ended quickly over as he noticed we were Ale Crew BeerBelly wearers. Not even his CCFC consultancy fees and expenses could pay for that!!
Several Guinness's (and a decent sausage baguette) later, we headed off to Cheltenham's Whaddon Road. The home club have had a meteoric, fantastic rise of 4 divisions from non-league obscurity to Nationwide Division Two in 7 years so it's not really a surprise that their stadium is barely adequate at best. The away end especially is torture and gives the worst views I have encountered anywhere.
Our end behind a goal is narrow. 10 yards of flat terrace followed by half a dozen or so shallow rows. It is intimate, the pitch is right up against us but that contributes to the problems as it makes it just about impossible to see either the whole of the goal and/or the whole of the pitch from any position in the away end. For those, like myself, who stood at the front, eye level is not far above pitch level so making it murder to pick up formations and patterns of play. Worth every penny of our £13 then!!
However, the portakabin in the away end last visit is now replaced by proper toilets prompting chants of "nice bogs, sh*t ground", we should be grateful for small mercies. The rest of the ground is compact. An old main stand with what appeared to be swimming pool diving boards(!) poking out of its roof in a couple of places to our left, a new small stand to our left and the end behind the opposite goal for their chanter (I'm sure they only had one) and sad drummer boy. One other highlight, each of the four floodlights were different types, height and shapes, a mix of old and new, the most bizarre set up of any league ground.
The use of 4-3-3 has, rightly, come in for lot criticism at Ninian Park but as results have been brilliant away, nobody expected change. But there was a shock as Lennie opted for 4-4-2 (sort of). Leo has been great this season but has become a large part of the problem too as City always fall into desperate Route One football searching for him. Instead, Thorne was finally (thankfully) pushed forward with Campbell (still keeping his place ahead of Earnie - why?) whilst Boland, Kav, Whalley and Leggy made up midfield with Leggy advanced on the left. Kav was also able to genuinely attack space, the excuse - sorry, reason - he has offered for recent poor performance. By recent, I mean 6 months worth of performances although Kav was excusing his last 2 matches only!
For the opening spell, it worked a treat as City assumed control and showed an obvious gulf in class between themselves and their lowly opponents. Cheltenham's ambition is simply survival in Division Two this season and that was their aim on the pitch too. They never showed an ounce of real ambition, something which made the result even more annoying.
Cardiff stroked the ball around well from kick-off, Andy Campbell noticeably benefited with a striker less as he instinctively made runs into space on the right or left. With three strikers and no width, he looked like a little boy lost and never took up these positions before today. The result was evident in the 11th minute when City opened the scoring with a well-worked goal involving three players the switch was designed to help.
Receiving the ball in midfield, Kav advanced and found Thorne. Thorney produced a superb turn and through ball into space to send ANDY CAMPBELL racing onto the type of ball that he loves. He raced away from Cheltenham's defence and slotted the ball inside a post at the furthest end from us. 1-0 City, let the party begin!
Cheltenham fans were already getting stick for being so quiet with City fans chanting "it's just like being in church" and, if it were possible, they became even quieter. The goal lifted City on the pitch too as they settled into some quality football that pulled Cheltenham apart. You sensed that a second goal wasn't far away and once it arrived, it would be game over as Cheltenham, with respect, were that poor. But, yet again, we failed to show a killer element to our game.
City threatened but never succeeded. Campbell broke clear into space again but went wide, his cross to Thorne at the far post just missed him. Then Leggy hit a stinging blaster after a Kav corner was played short to him. Book pushed the ball into the air, a defender headed in the air and a City shot was blocked for another corner. Weston was blocked after a great run and Campbell shot over from a promising position after a good move meaning that he had more shots in the opening 25 minutes than all 5 league game beforehand this season!
Cheltenham rarely broke into City's half and, when they did, City's defence with 2 clean sheets behind them were dominant. Not difficult considering their threat was ex-Bluebird Paul Brayson who ayatollahed away despite chants of "Brayson is a Bluebird, Brayson is a Bluebird but he wasn't good enough, Oi!" and ex-Jack, Julian Alsop who must have committed 5 personal fouls in the opening 20 minutes but never incurring the wrath of Premier ref, Graham Barber. Barber ref'd well overall and even found time for some banter with a few of us at one point when we queried his decision and fatherhood.
It was all rosy and cosy in the country, so being City, we had to go dozy. Just over half hour gone, Brayson broke and tried to cut inside Rhys Weston 35 yards out. As he did, Weston needlessly body-checked. No disputing the free-kick but Barber's decision to yellow card Weston angered the City support after we had witnessed all of Alsop's fouls go unpunished.
The free-kick was nothing special but Prior, who played well otherwise, headed poorly to cause uncertainty and panic. As the ball dropped on the edge of City's area, defenders went to sleep and allowed HOWARTH to shoot. The shot was nothing special either but the ball found its way through a melee of players and although partly unsighted, I thought Alexander was down too slowly as the ball crept inside his far post. A very messy, badly defended goal, which turned out to be Cheltenham's only real effort of the afternoon but that was all they needed for the draw.
It is the only goal City have conceded in more than 5 hours of football. Our biggest failing and problem is failing to create and score at the other end. That is far more worrying.
City shouldn't have been affected by the equaliser as Cheltenham were there to be beaten but it definitely seemed to knock the stuffing out of them as they finished the half looking distinctly average. Andy Campbell had another chance but couldn't keep the ball down, his shot hit the roof of the low stand.
HALF-TIME: Cheltenham 1 City 1
The second half was total frustration. It was mostly one sided with City in total control but strictly unable to do anything with the ball where it mattered. Cheltenham's attacks were confined to an easy save by Alexander and Brayson having a shot blocked. City will look back on a half of only three real chances and wonder what they managed to achieve with the ball for the other 40 minutes.
Leggy got more of the ball but it was so ironic that for a side bemoaning the lack of left footed options last season, we seemed far too dependent on attacking in that area through Whalley, Croft and Leggy today. Leggy gave 110 per cent and probably was City's man of the match again but it has to be said that his crosses were blocked or too long, his corners not as threatening as they can be and even his throws were missing their target. None of this is being critical of Leggy. In fact, it serves as a statement that we over-relied on him and the type of football we were falling into.
Peter Thorne seemed to dropped a little deeper looking for the ball. As he did, Kav dropped back too doing his routine annoying habit of sitting in front of the back four (does anyone understand what the point of this is?). The cutting edge had gone from City's game and the number of aimless balls made Duff, Cheltenham's central defender, stand out, just like we did to Russell Perrett on Monday. City's 'style' suited them perfectly. All that said, I thought Duff's display was excellent as he got in some superb tackles too, probably the best player on the pitch.
City came closest from a corner met a powerful Gabbidon header which looked in all the way but headed off the line. A scramble from it brought 1,100 awwwwwwwww's from City fans as another shot was blocked then another 1,100 as a third effort saved. Campbell again threatened to go clear but did too much then got the ball caught under his feet.
Cheltenham now slowed and stopped the game with regular stoppages as their players got "injuries" injuries from City attacks, they all bought time. We only had 2 minutes of added time (apart from the added time being less than the time taken for these stoppages, whatever happened to the guaranteed 30 seconds added on for goals and substitutions? We had 4 of them in the 2nd half).
It was upto City to alter and win the game as Cheltenham has settled for their point at 3pm. Lennie made changes after 73 and 82 minutes, the personnel involved raised a few eyebrows and a chorus of boos. The first was reasonable, Earnie for Andy Campbell, it has happened every game this season. Campbell has convinced me that he will always miss twice as many as he scores but at least was getting shots away again, encouraging to see. Thorne had faded out of the game by comparison so maybe there was a stronger argument for removing him.
The 2nd caused loud boos as Leggy went off for Leo. Nobody had a problem with trying Leo but when his likeliest source was Leggy, why remove him of all players? The look on Leggy's face said it all too. Lennie is slowly transforming into Corkie, isn't he? When he goes bald and starts wearing glasses and a wooly hat, I'll be really worried!
In between those changes, City were a fraction away from the win as a Kav shot (his only effort on an afternoon when City had all the possession and territory and Kav was encouraged to attack folks) was blocked but feel for Earnie who clipped an edge of area curler. Book (nicknamed "Slicer" by City fans for a series of mishit kicks) was beaten but agonisingly just missed the far post.
After that and the Leggy for Leo change, City huffed, puffed (most of them did anyway) but never came close to blowing Cheltenham out. Final whistle saw Book, Cheltenham's keeper, celebrate as if it was the highlight of his career, many of their fans seemed the same. Book had rapport with us, good to see, and shook the hands of many City fans behind the goal shouting, "see you again soon". No wonder he was happy, he couldn't have expected his 90 minutes to be as relatively comfortable as it was.
City now have a fortnight off which is maybe no bad thing. Those of us who watch them have felt discouraged at what have we have seen recently so I'm glad of the break (and a visit to Helsinki) too. We stayed in 5th because teams above and below us failed to do well too. We are likely to have slipped maybe as low as 10th place before we next play so this result will increase the pressure … maybe impact on crowds at Ninian.
The trouble is, the pressure is all entirely the fault of Lennie and his players and could/should have been avoided but it's now up to them all to sort themselves out and come back showing they are winners, not whingers. Lennie keeps calling us the Man United of the 2nd Division but like them or not, we all know United always beat bottom teams who play them and pack their defences. Mind you, Man United have got wingers to open defences and service forwards, haven't they Lennie???
Report from FootyMad
Promotion favourites Cardiff City were held to a draw in a fascinating match at Whaddon Road.
There cannot be two second division sides as far apart in terms of resources as the former non-league Cheltenham and big spending Cardiff City.
Yet Cheltenham grafted hard for 90 minutes and a combination of inspirational defending and a little slice of luck earned them their second point of the season.
Cardiff, meanwhile will look back on a series of missed chances after Andy Campbell had given them an 11th minute lead when he raced on to a pass from Graham Kavanagh before rolling a shot past Steve Book.
Andy Legg almost doubled the lead when he saw Book make a fine save from his left-foot drive, Campbell went close with two more efforts and it took Cheltenham 28 minutes to muster a shot at goal.
That effort from Paul Brayson was held comfortably by goalkeeper Neil Alexander, but the former Scottish under-21 international was powerless to prevent a Cheltenham equaliser four minutes later.
It started when Russell Milton delivered a free-kick into the penalty area, the ball ran loose from a challenge on the edge of the box and defender Neil Howarth drove a low shot past Alexander from 18 yards.
Cardiff applied heavy pressure to the Cheltenham goal in the second half but the Robins held firm with Northern Ireland international Michael Duff marshalling a resolute defence.
Howarth nodded a power header from Danny Gabbidon off the line and substitute Robert Earnshaw went close with a curling shot as Cardiff tried but failed to break through and claim all three points.
"I can't remember the last time I was involved in such a one-sided game," said Cardiff manager Lennie Lawrence.
"I'm amazed that we did not come away with the points."
Cheltenham boss Graham Allner said: "That was very hard work against a good side with good players. But I'm pleased with the resilience of the players and I think this game will do us good in the long run."
External match reports.
The Football Echo
BBC Wales (inc audio)
Wales On Sunday
The Electric Robin
The South Wales Echo