January and sunnier climes!

Off to Sunnier Climes!

As I sit down to compose my January blog entry, the team have had a well earned rest in Dubai. Actually, that’s not true, as they were out there for warm weather training. Mind you, you would have thought they would have been better off going somewhere for cold weather training to cope with the wintry blast which has been passing through the UK recently!

2 NEW PLAYERS plus 1

Generally speaking, most observers of the club felt that we needed to sign a new striker and a full back during the transfer window, and that is just what we have done. The arrival of Frazier Campbell from Sunderland is particularly exciting, as he is a class player who has been playing regularly at Premier League level (15 games this season).

Less spectacular but equally important is the re-signing of Simon Lappin from Norwich as cover for Andrew Taylor at left back. Lappin played 2 fixtures on loan before Christmas (both wins), and when released by Norwich Malky moved swiftly to offer him an 18 month contract. It was always going to be difficult to sign a player of the right level of quality who knows that they are only going to be a back-up to the first team, and Malky seems reluctant to put the promising but inexperienced development squad player Declan John into the first team squad at present.

In addition to the above signings, the club has also signed 18 year old Rhys Healey from Welsh Premier side Connahs Quay Nomads. Rhys is seen as a hot prospect for the future, and will take his place in the development squad for the time being.

CARDIFF 0 IPSWICH 0

As a result of our early exit from the FA Cup, there have only been 2 further league games in January. This was our first home draw of the season, and the first time we have failed to score a goal at home. On a positive note, we hardly looked like losing, (although the closest the game came to a goal was an excellent shot from their number 8 which really rattled the crossbar). But, we rarely troubled them either.

Ipswich defend doggedly against the Bluebirds (Pic Jon Candy)

All things considered, it could have been worse. We weren’t at our best, and Ipswich have a good record against us in recent years. Other results went in our favour that day, and as a result we maintained our 10 point lead at the top of the table.

BLACKPOOL 1 CARDIFF 2

A Saturday evening kick off for the benefit of the TV cameras gave us our 5th win in our last 6 away matches. The pitch was truly awful at Blackpool, incredibly bumpy. However, it seemed to affect both sides equally. It was never going to be a footballing spectacle, but Cardiff showed enough class to complete their second home/away double of the season. Particularly impressive was the performance of Kim Bo-kyung, who is looking more and more a class player.

Kim Bo-kyung on the ball against Blackpool.

A late illness meant that Craig Bellamy was unable to play, and skipper Mark Hudson twisted an ankle late in the first half which meant a substitute appearance for young Ben Nugent again. A goal from Kim was followed by a quick equaliser for Blackpool from the long-serving Gary Taylor-Fletcher. But the game was won a few minutes later with a first goal for the club from Tommy Smith, a superb volley which would have gone in even without a deflection!

This was our usual workmanlike performance, with one or two moments of class which was the difference between the sides.

10 points clear at the top of the League!

FEBRUARY BECKONS

5 games now coming up in February, starting with Leeds away on Saturday. We have an amazing recent record against Leeds, and have won 11 and drawn 4 of the 15 games dating back to that FA Cup tie in 2002. Leeds have a decent side, with Neil Warnock in charge. I feel we should get at least a point here, but sooner or later Leeds will win against us. Let’s hope its not this week.

We have the new players, we are top of the league, surely we can’t mess up promotion now, can we?

Now That’s What I Call Christmas!

Let’s face it - the busy schedule of Christmas and New Year fixtures hasn’t produced a glut of points for us in recent years. That’s what makes 4 wins and 12 points over the festive period so amazing and exciting! The disappointment of losing to the team at the bottom of the league was soon wiped away, (although Peterborough have been on something of a revival since then anyway), and we now find ourselves 7 points clear at the top of the table, and 9 points clear of the playoff zone!

Although most of us fans hope for the best and hoped for 4 wins, only the most one-eyed of us thought it would really happen! I would have been happy with 7 or 8 points, but this was something special. It appears that this is the first time the team have achieved this feat over the Christmas and New Year time, although we apparently got 3 wins and a draw over the season 2007-8. Our last 10 games have produced 8 wins, one draw and one loss, and its amazing to think that we have won 18 of the 26 games played this season.

For the last 7 years, the team top at Christmas has gone on to take automatic promotion. Let’s hope we don’t break that run.

NOT UP FOR THE CUP

We followed 4 wins over Christmas with a defeat to non-League Macclesfield town in the 3rd round of the FA Cup. Malky put out the reserves and development squad, and although the team should have been good enough to win, they fell by giving away 2 late  goals.

The cup competitions have been good to us in recent years - I never thought I would get the chance to see us play in 2 Wembley finals - but our priority this year is clearly promotion. It would have been nice to win, but ultimately a removal from the cup and the extra fixtures it involves can only be good in the long run. We have 20 cup ties left this season - the remaining League fixtures!

LEICESTER 0 CARDIFF 1

There is no doubt that Leicester remain one of our closest rivals, although we are now 12 points clear of them in the table. Leicester have similar resources to ourselves, and have already been active in the January transfer window. Although doing well, they are clearly underachieving by the amount of backing they have.

Reports suggest that for the first 25 minutes Leicester were all over us, hitting the woodwork on 3 occasions. However, a sublime Craig Bellamy volley after 35 minutes gave the Bluebirds the lead against the run of play, and after that we rarely gave them the chance to get back into the game. After the defeat against Peterborough, this win was really needed and gave the team the required impetus into the rest of the Christmas fixtures.

CARDIFF 2 CRYSTAL PALACE 1

Who would have though when the fixtures were announced at the start of the season that this Boxing Day game would have been a 1st versus 3rd top of the table clash?

Despite losing their talented manager Dougie Freedman to Bolton, Palace remain a good side, with new manager Ian Holloway making his second trip to the Cardiff City Stadium following his visit when in charge of Blackpool in September. But yet again, his team lost.

Palace went ahead after 8 minutes when scoring from a corner. For about 25 minutes, we seemed to be struggling, and if League top scorer Glenn Murray hadn’t mis-controlled a golden opportunity after 20 minutes then the game might have been different. However, Malky swapped wings for Craig Noone and Craig Conway just before half time, which seemed to improve the attacking options. A minute before halftime, Craig Bellamy broke down the left and cut back a cross for Craig Noone to smash the ball into the roof of the net.

   

Aron Gunnarsonn (17) heads the winner (pic Jon Candy)

The Bluebirds continued to press in the second half, and finally got their rewards when Aron Gunnarsson headed in from a Craig Bellamy corner in the 74th minute.

Another crucial win against one of our promotion rivals, although I’m not sure whether Palace have enough resources to see them through the second half of the season.

CARDIFF 1 MILLWALL 0

Millwall had been on something of a good run in the last couple of months, but the return of their loan striker Chris Wood back to his home club prior to a sale to Leicester weakened their attacking options. This time, we took an early lead, and for much of the rest of the first half rode our luck a little.

Veteran Millwall Centre-back Danny Shittu heads away a corner under pressure from the Cardiff big men.(Pic Jon Candy)

After half time, and particularly for the last 20 minutes, we were well in control and rarely looked in danger of losing the lead. It wasn’t pretty, but it was effective, and gave us our 12th home win out of 13 games this season.

BIRMINGHAM 0 CARDIFF 1

The final match of the holiday season took place on New Year’s Day with over 2,000 Bluebirds fans travelling to St Andrews for the fourth game in 10 days.

This is another ground where we have had little luck in recent years. I was surprised to find that we hadn’t won there since 1966! It was another “grind it out” 1-0 victory, although I’m told that it was a little more comfortable than the bare 1-0 win suggests.

Remember how we all worried that our away form was going to let us down? Particularly after the bizarre 5-4 defeat at Charlton, our third consecutive away defeat. Well, since that time, our next 5 away games have produced 4 wins and a draw, and suddenly we aren’t so worried any more (I’m not mentioning the Macclesfield Cup defeat!).

A BIT OF A REST

Most of the first team players have now had 11 days break since the Birmingham game, before tomorrow’s home game with Ipswich. This means that Peter Whittingham has had a chance to recover from the knock he received against Millwall, and is available tomorrow.One of the positives to being knocked out of the FA Cup is that we now have a blank day on 26th January, meaning we only have one more game in January after tomorrow. I hope the players make the most of this as there are now 6 fixtures in February!

Also, after tomorrow, we have 3 consecutive away matches, followed by 3 home games in 8 days in the middle of February. A win against Ipswich tomorrow would certainly ease the pressure of the 3 away games coming up, but despite winning up there in September I always think that ipswich are a bit of a bogey side, and it seems a long time since we beat them in Cardiff.

The bookmakers think we are almost already promoted to the Premier League, but like most true football fans I keep expecting it all to go wrong! But it really is an exciting time to be a Bluebird!

Friday 11th January 2013 at 7.30pm.