Picture by Jon Candy
Despite
being a Cardiff City supporter for all of my 53 years (alright - I was 8
when I went to my first game!), and despite only returning as a regular
watcher 7 years ago (when I decided it was time to put my sports kit
away and stop playing), I cannot think of an occasion that has given me
more excitement and more pride in watching my team. And we didn’t even
win!
The
team did us proud, against one of the big names in world club football,
and held them to a deserved 2-2 draw after extra time. I don’t really
care that we lost in the lottery of the penalty shoot-out, the Ben
Turner equaliser in the last 2 minutes of extra time will live with me
forever! I am so glad that I was one of the 31.000 Bluebirds fans who
were there in the 89,000 crowd.
Ben Turner - off with his shirt! Celebrates the equaliser!
Unlike
our previous Wembley appearances, this time the team played to the best
of their abilities, and nearly pulled off a really big shock. It was a
great day - but now its back to the reality of the league.
Let’s use this to boost the rest of the season!
3
losses in the 4 league games prior to the Carling Cup final means that
we’ve now slipped down the league to 8th (writing this Saturday evening
3rd March). Let’s hope this is the end of our “bad spell” which good
teams are supposed to suffer from time to time. One thing is certain -
if the team continues to play as well as they did last weekend in the
remainder of the Championship season, then we will at least make the
playoffs this year and could yet make an automatic place.
Rudi Gestede scores the second against Peterborough - nice pic by Jon Candy
Those
3 defeats - against Blackpool, Leicester and Ipswich - are all teams we
have had difficulty beating in recent years. In the middle of this run
was a slightly bizarre win against Peterborough, where we played badly
in the first half but were 3-0 up at half time, but followed this with a
second half where we played well but lost it 1-0! All in all, it was a
comfortable win though.
So,
tomorrow, its West Ham United. Probably the best team in the division,
although at times they seem to lack a little self belief. Back last
August, we began to see some glimpses of Malky’s new team when we made
ourselves hard to beat and snatched a late winner. Let’s hope for more
of the same tomorrow.
