CHAMPIONS!
Well, my idea of updating this blog every month went by the wayside on the 31st January, after 28 games of the regular season. So, is there any point in listing the scores for the remaining 18 games of the season. Of course there is! I’m not going to go into a full breakdown of each game, but I will try to put in a few key points as they come up.
02/02/2013 - Leeds United 0 Cardiff 1. Notable for a goal-scoring debut from Fraizer Campbell just 2 minutes after coming on as a substitute. Its a pity Leeds didn’t get promoted with us as that would be a guaranteed 6 points towards our season!
09/02/2013 - Huddersfield 0 Cardiff 0. Another point gained away from home. Huddersfield were on a good run at this point, so an away draw was very welcome.
16/02/2013 - Cardiff 2 Bristol City 1. Fair play to Bristol City, they were obviously trying very hard. But the lack of quality that eventually saw them relegated was evident here. Could have been a lot more than 2-1.
19/02/2013 Cardiff 0 Brighton 2. One of only 2 home defeats this season. Brighton were a pretty good side, and in fact we played quite well and should have been ahead before Brighton scored. However, we didn’t convert our chances and a late breakaway goal when we were pushing for an equaliser sealed our fate.
24/02/2013 - Wolves 1 Cardiff 2. Wolves were just beginning to show their relegation form at this point, but Malky felt that this was one of our better performances.
02/03/2013 - Middlesborough 2 Cardiff 1. Mark Hudson missed this game, and at this time we hadn’t really learned how to play without him. First defeat in 10 away games.
05/03/2013 - Cardiff 1 Derby 1. This wasn’t really a very good performance against a workmanlike Derby team. All looked lost when Derby took the lead in the 76th minute, but an equaliser from Craig Noone from an outstanding Andrew Taylor cross saw us gain a point. Not a very fluid performance, but a point dug out from a difficult position.
12/03/2013 - Cardiff 1 Leicester 1. Leicester came into the match after a dreadful run of form which had seen them slip from favourites to go up automatically with us. Another late equaliser was needed, this time from Rudy Gestede following another excellent Andrew Taylor cross.
16/03/2013 - Sheffield Wednesday 0 Cardiff 2. After a couple of home draws, this away win went a long way to calming the nerves. The game also marked the debut of Leon Barnett on loan from Norwich. Leon was to have a vital role in the run in to the season, with the team keeping 5 clean sheets in the 8 games that he played. In those games, only 2 goals were scored in open play.
30/03/2013 - Peterborough 2 Cardiff City 1. Congratulations to Peterborough! The only team to do the double over us this season. They really seem to have become a bogey team in recent years. Unfortunately, the rest of their season wasn’t so good, and they ended up getting relegated.
01/04/2013 - Cardiff 3 Blackburn 0. A very comfortable win. Blackburn were outclassed and were in danger of relegation at this point, but soon after this performance they gained some form and ultimately avoided relegation.
06/04/2013 - Watford 0 Cardiff 0. This was a big test against one of our closest rivals. It was never going to be a flashy game, and the team put up a thoroughly professional performance against the only team that could stop us getting automatic promotion.
09/04/2013 - Cardiff 1 Barnsley 1. This was expected to be an easy win against a team in danger of relegation. A game we dominated came unstuck with a Barnsley equaliser deep into stoppage time, when they threw the kitchen sink at us.
13/04/2013 - Cardiff 3 Nottingham Forest 0. For me, the most important moment of the season came in this game. 1-0 up at half time, against a Forest team in form, was always a bit nervous, especially as they were down to 10 men. But a Rudy Gestede goal on 60 minutes finally made us think “when” rather than”if” we were going up. The whole atmosphere changed in that one moment.
Rudy Gestede heads us into a 2-0 lead against 10 man Forest. This was the moment that became “when” rather “if” we get promotion.(Great pic by Jon Candy)
16/04/2013 - Cardiff 0 Charlton 0. The big night finally arrived, and promotion was duly clinched. It was a surprisingly nerveless performance. Charlton came to play football and had been on a good run of form coming up to the game. We knew that one point would be enough, but when news filtered through that Watford had gone behind at Millwall with 8 minutes left, the crowd began to celebrate. And then, the final whistle, and after a gap of 51 years we were back in the top flight of football.
Grown men cried, including this one.
We are Premier League, I say “WE ARE PREMIER LEAGUE!” (pic by me!)
20/04/2013 - Burnley 1 Cardiff 1. Off to the wilds of Lancashire where a point was needed to clinch the title. And so we did! It would have been a final away win but for a late Burnley equaliser. Grown men cried again, although this time I was at home watching the game on TV!
27/04/2013 - Cardiff 1 Bolton 1. At the end of the game, the Championship Trophy was presented. Bolton were still in the hunt for a playoff spot themselves, and I thought they may have put more effort into holding on to an early 1 goal lead. But a cracking Craig Noone free kick gained us another draw.
Grown men cried again!
Craig Noone lines up the equalising free kick against Bolton (pic Jon Candy)
04/05/2013 Hull 2 Cardiff 2. It was all done for us, but Hull needed to win to clinch promotion with us. What a finish to the game. With Hull leading 2-1 into stoppage time, they won a penalty, which they promptly missed. Still no drama for them, except we went straight up to the other end of the field and got our own penalty. Nicky Maynard, out for most of the season with a cruciate injury stepped up to score his first goal for the club. Hull had to sweat for another 10 minutes until the Watford v Leeds game was over, but Watford lost and Hull joined us in the Premier League.
CHAMPIONS!
A big celebration and open top bus tour through Cardiff on 5th May for the people of Cardiff.
Pic by Jon Candy.
Don’t Rely on me for predictions!
At the start of the season, I tried to predict the top 6 and the 3 relegation candidates. Only Cardiff and Leicester made it into the top 6, (and Leicester did their best to mess it up). Blackpool stopped performing when their manager left, and Middlesborough disintegrated in the second half of the season for the second year running. Charlton put on a good late run, but finished 3 points short, and Bolton, who I thought were certainties, only started performing late on in the season and missed the playoffs on goal difference.
I was more successful with my relegation predictions, with Bristol City and Peterborough going down. Ironically, 3 of our 10 league defeats this season came against those 2 teams! Wolves were the other team to go down, at the expense of my guess Barnsley. I don’t think anyone thought that Wolves would drop straight through from the Premier League to League 1, but after 4 different managers in the course of the season, that’s what they did.
PREMIER LEAGUE BLUEBIRD.
In honour of our promotion to the Premier League, I have started a new blog called Premier League Bluebird, which unsurprisingly can be found at premierleaguebluebird.blogspot.com .
Even if its only for one season, this is where I will be posting from 19th June 2013, when the new season Premier League fixtures are published.
