Is this really happening? We are now 10 games into the season, and the Bluebirds sit proudly at the top of the Championship table. Thats almost a quarter of the season gone. Unfortunately I have been a football fan for too many years to start counting my chickens, putting the champagne on ice or any other well known cliche yet - but at the start of every season the general consensus is that after 10 games the league tables start to settle down and some general form starts to emerge. We are now at that point.
An interesting point to note about the table is that we have played each of the 4 teams immediately below us in the table, and have beaten 3 of them (our only league defeat this season coming against Preston). The pundits are starting to take notice of us now, and no longer see us as a statistical anomaly thrown up by early season form - they are beginning to think that we are the real deal - and my naturally pessimistic football fan is reluctantly and cautiously starting to believe that fact too. Lets hope we can continue that form with a positive result against big spending Derby County next Saturday (30/9/17).
Results since my last post.
CARDIFF 1 BURTON ALBION 2 (Caraboa Cup)
CARDIFF 2 QPR 1
FULHAM 1 CARDIFF 1
PRESTON 3 CARDIFF 0
SUNDERLAND 1 CARDIFF 2
CARDIFF 3 LEEDS 1
Cardiff 2 QPR 1
After a slightly disappointing Caraboa Cup defeat with our reserve team playing Burton midweek, then came the more challenging home game against an inconsistent QPR team. During this game, we went behind for the first time in a league game this season when Sol Bamba and goalkeeper Neil Etheridge got into a mix up to allow QPR to take the lead after 15 minutes, very much against the run of play. But goals from Junior Hoillett and Sol Bamba before half time resorted Cardiff's lead which they comfortably held on to in the second half. Our 5th straight win from the start of the season, further extending our record start.
Sol Bamba heads the winner against QPR
Fulham 1 Cardiff 1
Well - something had to give eventually, and the game at Fulham saw the Bluebirds fail to win for the first time this season. However, even this game had some positives with back up striker Danny Ward coming on late to score the equaliser, after Fulham had taken the lead in the 75th minute. Ward has often been used as a late substitute for Kenneth Zohore this season and has been a valuable part of the squad, and looks like being an able backup should Big Ken get injured.
Preston 3 Cardiff 0
Well, it had to happen eventually. A poor performance and a comfortable defeat, albeit to a Preston team who are performing well near the top of the Championship table. There were individual errors, including a major blunder by goalkeeper Neil Etheridge, and an all round poor performance by the team. Even City hero Sol Bamba had a poor night. These things happen, and now al of us were wondering how the team would react to their first major setback of the year.
Cardiff 1 Sheffield Wednesday 1
A game where we struggled against a good Sheffield Wednesday side who have continued to spend big having narrowly lost out on promotion last season. Wednesday are not a flashy expansive side, but are very well organised and very good in midfield. In the first half of the game, they had the Cardiff midfield and defence completely bamboozled and appeared to be running around in circles. however, there were still few clear-cut chances and as a result Wednesday were only 1-0 up at half time.
During the second half, Wednesday appeared to stop pushing forward and decided to try to hold on to their lead. But in the 4th minute of stoppage time a Lee Tomlin free kick was parried by the goalkeeper and a cross/shot from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was turned in by hero of the hour Sol Bamba to salvage a late point. Lee Tomlin, like Danny Ward, has had few chances this season, but continues to play a vital part when called upon.
Lee Tomlin against Sheffield Wednesday.
Sunderland 1 Cardiff 2
Sunderland continue to find life tough in the Championship following their relegation from the Premier League last season. In fact, they hadn't won a home match since December 2016. And so it continued. In recent years, Cardiff have struggled against some of the teams from the bottom half of the table, but this was not one of those days. It seems that they should have had the game won in the first half hour, following Craig Bryson's 7th minute goal (his first for the club), but Sunderland then equalised later on, only for a late Joe Ralls penalty to clinch all three points for Cardiff.
Cardiff 3 Leeds United 1
And so to the biggest game of the season so far, when table topping Leeds United came to the Cardiff City Stadium. A record Championship crowd for the stadium of over 27,000, and an opponent who really fancied there chances. Despite very much being Leeds' bogey side since our FA cup victory over their Premier League leading side in that famous match in 2002, Leeds had actually won here on their last 2 visits.
But not on this occasion. Despite dominating possession, Leeds rarely threatened the Cardiff goal during the first half hour. Cardiff rarely gave Leeds much time to pass the ball around, and the persistence of midfielder Loic Damour ( in his first game for a couple of weeks) resulted in him stealing the ball off a Leeds defender, passing it to Junior Hoillett who found Zohore in the middle for his first goal since the opening day of the season. Hoillett's speed and quickness of thought often catches defenders unawares, and a few minutes later he took the ball from the goalkeepers kick-out, turned and ran at the Leeds defence and unleashed an unstoppable shot from 20 yards to put the Bluebirds 2-0 up!
Junior Hoillett
Just before half time the game was almost certainly sealed when Leeds central defender Cooper was sent off for a second bookable offence ( he was lucky not to get a straight red card for his first offence). The extra man began to tell at times during the second half, and a third goal (second of the night) for Kenneth Zohore all but wrapped up the game with 30 minutes left. Leeds managed what was only a consolation goal a few minutes later, but the night belonged to Cardiff, back at the top of the League!
Kenneth Zohore
It was nice to see him on the score sheet again on Tuesday night. There had been murmurings from some supporters that he should be dropped in favour of Danny Ward, especially as he hadn't been scoring goals. But, there is more to the play of a striker than simply scoring goals, and this season teams are much more aware of his style of play, very often doubling up on coverage of him.
Kenneth Zohore turns away to celebrate his first goal against Leeds!
This has given more space for Hoillett and Mendez-Laing to attack out wide. I really hope that the 2 goals on Tuesday will help spur him on for the rest of the season and get some of those supporters with short memories off his back.
And so to the next home game with Derby on Saturday - I can't wait!
