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.  

PRE-CHRISTMAS CHECK!

8 games since my last post - 2 losses, 1 draw and 5 wins. Surely that’s promotion form? Fixtures since my last post:-

Charlton 5 Cardiff 4

Cardiff 2 Hull 1

Cardiff 1 Middlesborough 0

Barnsley 1 Cardiff 2

Derby 1 Cardiff 1

Cardiff 1 Sheffield Wednesday 0

Blackburn 1 Cardiff 4

Cardiff 1 Peterborough 2

After the Charlton debacle, we took 16 from the next 18 points available, including 2 wins and a draw away from home. This is definitely promotion form! What I think is more pleasing is the number of different ways we are managing to win, varying from the flamboyant to the downright dour! We are the top scorers in the division, and now have 6 different players who have scored 4 goals or more - a true reflection of the TEAM effort, not relying on certain star individuals.

The home loss to Peterborough? Well, the less said the better. Every team is due a bad day at the office, and we weren’t ever going to win all 23 home games in a season. Let’s hope they put that bad performance behind them moving into the Christmas fixtures.

CHARLTON 5 CARDIFF 4

Well, this was “one of those games” for sure! I was quite happily keeping an eye on the score on Skysports and saw that they were winning 2-0. I switched on the radio to listen to the game a few minutes later when I discovered it was 2-2. By the time I switched the radio off in disgust 20 minutes later, they were losing 5-2!

I really shouldn’t listen to away games on the radio - they always seem to do badly! The proof of this is that we scored 2 late goals after I switched it off!

In general, it seems like we just had an off night. Marshall was at fault for 2 of the goals, and the defence went AWOL for the others. However, it does seem like that they got all of  their mistakes out of their system in one go, as the next 6 matches provided 5 wins and a draw.

CARDIFF 2 HULL 1

Make no mistake, this win was much more convincing than the scoreline suggests. An early Heidar Helgusson goal was quite comfortably defended until the 82nd minute when Mark Hudson got the second.

Goalmouth action against Hull - (picture by Jon Candy)

Basically, Cardiff never gave Hull a chance to score until the 90th minute, when Robert Koren scored with a high class shot from a half clearance from the defence. A classy performance against a team in good form.

CARDIFF 1 MIDDLESBOROUGH 0

This was a much harder victory. Although Boro became the 9th consecutive team to lose at the Cardiff City Stadium this season, they did look like a very good side. Yet again Cardiff had to defend an early goal, and had to do it without Ben Turner who had to limp off with a hamstring injury after 20 minutes.

However, this meant a debut for 19 year old Ben Nugent. This followed an injury to Andrew Taylor which meant that young Joe Ralls had to come on to play left back. I think a few of the fans looked on this with some trepidation, but both youngsters played particularly well and were well looked after by 

captain Mark Hudson.

Connoly scores the opening (and winning) goal against Boro (Pic by Jon Candy)

At times we rode our luck, but we hung on for a hard fought win. These are the sort of games we would have lost or drawn last year - definitely the form of a good team.

BARNSLEY 1 CARDIFF 2

Having lost our previous 3 away games, this was a big test against a struggling Barnsley who usually try to play some good football.

This game was notable for the first league goal for young Ben Nugent, starting a game for the first time in the absence of Ben Turner. A second goal,by Aron Gunarsson, after 7 minutes of the second half, should have settled Cardiff nerves. But, we never seem to do things the easy way and giving Barnsley an equaliser 8 minutes from the end put on the pressure.

Added to this pressure, loan debutant Simon Lappin, who had joined as cover from Premier League Norwich earlier in the week, was sent off for a second bookable offence. However, we held on for a valuable win after 3 consecutive away defeats.

Notably, this was the first points won whilst wearing blue this season!

DERBY 1 CARDIFF 1

Prior to the Barnsley game, no player had received a red card in a competitive match since Malky Mackay took over. Now, with the dismissal of Craig noone for a second bookable offence with 30 minutes to go, we had had players sent off in 2 consecutive matches.

An early Heidar Helgusson goal helped settle the nerves, but Derby are being built into a decent side, particularly at home. The dismissal of Craig noone put the team under extreme pressure, which eventually led to a Derby equaliser with 20 minutes left. However, the team never completely buckled and were good value for the draw (only the second draw of the season).

CARDIFF 1 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0

The return of our former manager Dave jones added a little bit of extra spice to this game. also, we were going for a record breaking 10th consecutive home win.

Ben Turner heads away (Picture Jon Candy)

Unfortunately, I had to miss this home game due to family commitments. It seems that it was possibly a good one to miss, as by all accounts Sheffield Wednesday “parked the bus”, doing their best to hold on at 0-0 and try to sneak a goal on the break. Considering their desperate form coming in to the game, it was quite understandable.

However, with 10 minutes left Craig Conway turned and shot into the far corner for a hard fought 1-0 win.

Much has been said recently about Craig asking for a transfer due to his lack of first team opportunities. He only played in this game as Craig Noone was suspended following his red card at Derby. However, it seems that he took his chance to impress. The ability to bring in decent replacements when regular first team players are missing shows the strength in depth we now have in the squad. This is something we haven’t had in recent years, and is another positive factor in our progress.

BLACKBURN 1 CARDIFF 4

It is always my perception that we don’t play well when we are covered live on TV. However, this was our third win in a televised match this season (plus one defeat), and it was a really convincing one.

Although Blackburn have been largely disappointing since their relegation from the Premier League last season, they still have a decent set of players. Quite simply, we controlled this game. It was an excellent all round team performance. The only negative was that we should probably have been more than one goal ahead at half time.

A Mark Hudson header from a Craig Noone cross gave us a first half lead, but even when Blackburn equalised early in the second half, the team didn’t panic or let their heads get down. Almost immediately we re-took the lead with a goal from Craig Bellamy (NB we seem to have a lot of “Craigs” at the club), and late goals from substitutes Joe Mason and Kim Byo-kyung (his first for the club) sealed an excellent victory.

At this point, we had really cemented our place at the top of the Championship table.

CARDIFF 1 PETERBOROUGH 2

Well, it had to happen eventually. The Championship is often described as a league in which any team can beat anyone else. This was a good example of that, where our 100% home record was lost to the team at the bottom of the table!

Cardiff go close against Peterborough (pic by Jon Candy)

In fairness to Peterborough, this game could have been 6-1 to them. Cardiff looked totally lost for long periods of the game. Basically, the Cardiff man-of-the match was goalkeeper Marshall, which gives you some idea of how bad the rest of the team were.

The absence of skipper Mark Hudson may have had some influence over this performance, but essentially it was a very forgettable performance, and surely we can’t be that bad again?

YOU DON’T WIN ANYTHING IN DECEMBER!

True, but you can put down a good marker for the rest of the season. And we remain at the Top of the League!

The next 3 matches are all against some of the top teams in the division, starting with an away game at Leicester this Saturday. Leicester have spent big over the last couple of seasons, and I feel that they could yet be one of our closest rivals for automatic promotion this year. Then we have the big home game against Crystal Palace on Boxing Day - who would have thought at the start of the season that this would be a clash between the top 2 teams in the division? (OK - I know both teams could lose matches before then, but either way its a top of the table clash!). Then its Millwall on the 29th December - who would have thought that they were going to be challengers for a playoff spot when we beat them back in September?

So - the big question is “are we going to get promoted to the Premier League this year?”. I don’t like to say yes, although we are clearly in a strong position. I will say that despite losing in the playoffs for the last 3 seasons we CAN make it this year. But the natural position of any regular football supporter is slightly negative and pessimistic, so you won’t catch me saying that we WILL get promoted until we mathematically can’t be caught.

It seems like Vincent Tan is making more money available for Malky to spend in the January transfer window, and rumours abound that there will be up to 3 signings, one of which will be a “big name”. If we are to push on, we certainly need a big name target man striker, and also at least 1 if not 2 full backs. Regular injuries and suspensions to the team over the last few months have shown that we have the squad to cover most positions, and we have (generally) kept winning despite the disruption. But a replacement for Maynard, now we know he is out for the rest of the season, is essential.   

The current Championship table can be found via the following link:-

http://www.skysports.com/football/league/0,19540,11687,00.html

A Merry Christmas and a Happy New Year to all my readers!

Red luck runs out!

RED LUCK FINALLY RUNS OUT!

Its been a mixed bag since my last post - but we are still TOP OF THE LEAGUE. Our home form continues to go from strength to strength - 7 straight wins from the start of the season for the first time in club history. Our away form hasn’t been so spectacular - 2 consecutive away defeats - but there are bound to be a few defeats through the course of a season. Our most recent defeats have come against Forest and Bolton, both teams likely to be near the top 6 at the end of the season.

The most encouraging thing about recent performances is that some of the back up players have stepped in and done well. Kim Bo-kyung made his first start against Burnley, and the fact that Malky has been patient with him  appears to be paying off - he looks to be a very classy player. Joe Mason has now made a couple more starts and reminded us how good he was last season. Ben Turner has returned after injury, although at the expense of Kevin McNaughton who has moved to the bench while Matthew Connoly has moved from Centre back to right back.

So, despite having a number of key players injured - Bellamy, Mutch, Smith and of course Maynard - the team continues to produce results and remains top of the league.

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 3 CARDIFF CITY 1

I must admit that I saw little of this game - I didn’t even watch it on the Football League Show! The message boards and newspapers were almost unanimous in saying that we were outplayed and deservedly beaten. My personal feeling is that Forest are a strong team and will probably make it to the top 6 by the end of the season. They are a well supported club who have received a good bit of investment, and a good young manager in Sean O’Driscoll - I remember what he achieved with limited resources at Doncaster. no shame in losing away to them.

CARDIFF  2 WATFORD 1

This was a night for that old cliche “a good team can win even when they play badly”. Watford were pretty negative in their intentions, and once they scored after 20 minutes you just knew that they were going to do their best to hold on to that one goal lead. For most of the first half we seemed to lose the ability to pass to each other, and even Peter Whittingham seemed out of sorts.

The second half was better, but we rarely looked like scoring. Then the fates took a hand! Firstly, Watford had a player sent off for violent play on Craig Noone. The Assistant Referee gave this decision, and I suspect that he was the only one in the ground who saw the incident! It was right in front of my place in the stand, and nobody around me had a clue what had happened! So, we were playing 10 men. Then, a fortunate penalty (although a clear handball), when Matthew Connoly’s shot was blocked by the arm of a Watford defender. The penalty was suitably dispatched by Peter Whittingham.

Whitts puts away the penalty against Watford (Pic Jon Candy)

Then, a bit more luck came our way as Watford had another player dismissed for a second yellow card. So, we had 20 minutes left against 9 men - surely we could do this now? Of course, these things never seem that easy. Again, we seemed to lose the ability to put a decent cross into the penalty area, and it was a minute into injury time when a cross was finally put into the danger area for Aron Gunnarson to head home the winner.

This could easily have been our first points dropped at home this season, but somehow it got turned into win number 6!

CARDIFF 4 BURNLEY 0

No real drama in this game - just a comprehensive win for the Bluebirds. It was a comfortable victory as the scoreline suggests. Joe Mason’s goal after following up a Craig Noone shot on 3 minutes set up an easy and enjoyable afternoon, with later goals from Noone, Connoly and Gunarsonn (again) to seal victory.

This game was the debut for Kim Bo-kyung. He looked a really classy player throughout the game, doing the simple things well and passing quickly and efficiently.

Matthew Connoly celebrates the 3rd Cardiff goal against Burnley (Pic by Jon Candy)

BOLTON 2 CARDIFF 1

Well - it finally happened - we lost in “lucky” red! This was the Saturday evening game on SKY - somehow we never play at our best on live TV!

Not that this was a bad performance. The first half was pretty even, with few chances for either side. But when Craig Noone’s shot squeezed in just before half time I thought it was going to be our day. However, a couple of inspired substitutions by new Bolton manager Dougie Freedman on the hour saw them take the lead. Although the first Bolton goal followed a questionable penalty, they had already had a perfectly good goal disallowed. They took the lead a few minutes later.

I thought we put up a good effort in the last 10-15 minutes, keeping up sustained pressure, but this time the late goal didn’t come our way. Even in the last minute of additional time, when David Marshall was sent into the Bolton penalty area, things didn’t go our way when his shot hit the Bolton goalkeeper in the head and bounced harmlessly wide.

Our first loss in red. Our next game is against Charlton on Tuesday 6th November, when we will wear our “changed” strip of blue. Lets hope we can overcome our bad luck in blue by winning!

Ssh! Don't say it too loudly, but we could have a good team here!

DON’T SAY IT TOO LOUDLY, BUT I’M STARTING TO BELIEVE!

5 consecutive home wins to start the season for the first time since 1946. Say it quietly, but I’m starting to believe that this could be our year.  I like to think I’m not too confident - any true football fan is naturally pessimistic - but the squad that has been put together could go all the way.

CARDIFF 2 LEEDS 1

How Leeds United must love playing us! They have now failed to beat us in 14 games stretching back to the famous FA Cup win in 2002 (9 Cardiff wins and 5 draws). Now managed by the man you love to hate, Neil Warnock, the latest Leeds team returned from their trip to Cardiff with another loss by 2 goals to 1. The return of Craig Bellamy proved to be crucial. The game was still 0-0 when he was introduced with half an hour left, then just 4 minutes later an unstoppable Bellamy free kick put us ahead. A Peter Whittingham penalty a few minutes later gave us a little breathing space, and despite a late Leeds goal from a free kick, we held on for a deserved win.

Whittingham puts Cardiff 2-0 up from the penalty spot (Picture Jon Candy)

MILLWALL 0 CARDIFF 2

Our first win at Millwall for 30 years was overshadowed by a serious injury to our new £2.75m striker Nicky Maynard. A torn anterior cruciate ligament means that he is likely to be missing for the rest of the season, and just goes to show that there are no certainties in sport. Maynard was starting to look really good up front, especially with his pace. However, we now have to manage without him for the rest of the season. Lets hope he’s ready for the Premier League next year! A classy Peter Whittingham shot, and a first goal for the club by Craig Noone gave Cardiff a comfortable win against a struggling Millwall side.

CRYSTAL PALACE 3 CARDIFF 2

Apparently this was a slightly subdued performance after the Millwall game. However, after 15 minutes the Bluebirds were leading 2-0, with goals from Aron Gunnarson and Don Cowie. If Craig Bellamy had converted the chance that fell to him after half an hour then the outcome of the match might have been different, but 2 Crystal Palace penalties from Scott Murray and a further goal for his hat-trick clinched a 3-2 win.

In fairness, this was probably a justified result. The reports suggest that even when we were 2-0 up, we didn’t deserve it. however, it is disappointing to lose a 2-0 lead.

Mark my words - Palace are a good side, and if they are able to hold on to Wilfred Zaha when the big clubs come calling in the January transfer window, then they are good bets for at least a top 6 position. Dougie Freedman has made a really good team with limited resources, and is another manager that could be poached up to the Premier League.

CARDIFF 3 BLACKPOOL 0

After our last defeat against Bristol City, the bluebirds followed with 3 consecutive wins. This first game back after the Palace defeat showed positively that the team was in that sort of form again.

To put it briefly - we were EXCELLENT! A 4-4-2 formation with Helgusson and Bellamy up front caused Blackpool problems all afternoon - Bellamy in particular at his best, constantly harrassing the opposition and using his speed to make space for the other Cardiff players.

This was a very good team performance, and showed that although we are going to miss Nicky Maynard, we are still a formidable team without him. Rather bizarrely, 2 of the goals were scored by defender Matthew Connoly - the 3rd and 4th goals of his career! Sandwiched between these goals was another classic Peter Whittingham free kick (although the Blackpool goalkeeper clearly got himself out of position - I think every spectator on the Bob Bank could see that he had left too much space to his left, and Whitts promptly put it in the space!

Whitts’puts the free kick in the space left by Gilkes in the Blackpool goal (Pic by Jon Candy)

Connoly scores his  second. Amazingly, 3 of his 4 career goals have come against Blackpool! (Pic Jon Candy)

CARDIFF 2 BIRMINGHAM 1

On then to the following Tuesday night. Mercifully, the rain stopped for the walk to and from the stadium, so the spectators at least were dry However, during the game it absolutely p--d down for much of the time, and the weather meant that it was hardly a night for flowing football.

A more workman like than spectacular performance, the Bluebirds thoroughly deserved their win against a rather disappointing Birmingham side. Our former player Chris Burke had one or two good runs, but was largely kept under control by Andrew Taylor who has been playing well recently. A first half Craig Bellamy goal following a flowing move and a second half winner from Mark Hudson saw the City home - our 5th Consecutive home win, and our best start to a season since 1946!

Celebrations after the first goal. This picture does not do justice to the torrential rain! (pic by Jon Candy)

IPSWICH 1 CARDIFF 2

An away game in Suffolk where we have only won once in 60 years. Well make that TWICE!

This was the teatime game live on SKY. It was hardly a spectacular look at the new Cardiff team - a combination of injuries and Malky’s natural tendency towards a 4-5-1 formation away from home meant that this was essentially an outing for last year’s team, with Helgusson instead of Miller up front and Connolly instead of Turner in defence.

We ground out a win here when we could quite easily have lost. Ipswich are a side near the bottom of the table and lacking in confidence, particularly in defence. A couple of useful loan signings - Wellens and DJ Campbell - made them a slightly more difficult proposition.

An outrageous Campbell goal just before half time, when everyone saw him blatantly handle the ball into the net except the referee, was cancelled out and then beaten by 2 Helgusson goals in the second half. Both of these goals came from  Ipswich defensive errors in the 6 yard box which were thankfully put away.

If winning when playing badly is a sign of a good team, then we are a good team!

Onwards and Upwards?

Let’s hope so. After almost a quarter of the season we are top of the league. If we carry on taking points at the same rate then we will get automatic promotion easily.

Malky has been promised further investment for the team in the January transfer window - he acknowledged today that we need more defensive cover and another top class striker to make up for the loss of Nicky Maynard. I hope he has his dossiers ready.

What about the red? I can honestly say that I keep forgetting about it, although it was a little strange to see Birmingham play in royal blue against us at home! Our only 2 defeats have come in games when we haven’t worn red - let’s hope we can overcome that with 3 points against Forest tomorrow!

Still Excited!

If you think I was excited before........!

...then I’m probably 10 times more excited now!

The season started quietly enough, with a loss in the Capital One cup (formerly the Carling Cup) to Northampton. I know we probably shouldn’t make excuses for a competition that we reached the final of last year, but a team made up essentially of reserves and under 21 players nearly pulled it off. To use a well-worn phrase, we have bigger fish to fry this season!

Then, on Friday 17th August we had to start the season proper against newly promoted Huddersfield Town. Not only was it our first league game of the season, but it was the first league game in the whole league, as we were moved forward to the Friday night so that SKY TV could see us in our new red kit!

The game itself soon took on a familiar pattern though. Malky had the team lined up in a 4-5-1 formation that he used for much of last season, with Helgusson the lone striker up front. Huddersfield’s star player from last season, Jordan Rhodes, was not even amongst the reserves, and as a result they lacked a little cutting edge.It wasn’t really much of a spectacle, and Huddersfield probably had the better chances, but after making ourselves hard to beat, skipper Mark Hudson appeared in the penalty area one minute into stoppage time at the end of the game to snatch the late winner.

Cardiff attack against Huddersfield (Picture Jon Candy via Flickr)

3 points to start the season, so no complaints. Its easy to win when you play well - winning when you are not at your best is a sign of a good team!

AWAY DAYS.

The following Tuesday saw us play away at Brighton. By all accounts, this was an entertaining 0-0 draw (my American friends can’t believe that a 0-0 draw can be “entertaining”). The match could have gone either way but the draw seems to have been a fair result.

As the end of the transfer window approached, Malky was busy, and by the time of the Bristol City game away another two former QPR players had joined the Bluebirds - Tommy Smith and Matthew Connoly. Both started against the Wurzels, but a combination of bad luck, individual mistakes and a team getting used to each other resulted in a 4-2 defeat to our local rivals. There were few excuses though in what was essentially a bad day at the office. However, this match proved to be quite a wake-up call.

THE TRANSFER WINDOW CLOSES

Just for once, the club was active right up to the end of the end of the transfer window. In the last two days, Malky finally got his man when he signed winger Craig Noone from Brighton. A deal had been organised in the last transfer window in January, but Brighton called off the deal at the last moment.

And finally, during the last hours of the window, Nicky Maynard was signed after only half a season at West Ham United. This was the signing that I really wasn’t expecting, although there had been rumours for a number of weeks that Maynard was one of Malky’s targets. He is a class player who is still getting better, and will hopefully be the goalscorer we need to make the team complete,

CARDIFF 3 WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1

So, on Sunday 2nd September we saw in essence what is Malky’s new team! And it was GOOD! Even without Craig Bellamy who was out with a calf injury, this was clearly an attack minded side. The team lined up with a 4-4-2 formation with Maynard making his debut up front with Helgusson. The main problem for us fans was to identify who was who out of our new players - this was a different team and formation to the one who beat Huddersfield 2 weeks earlier.

The players introduce themselves to each other before the Wolves game! (picture by Jon Candy)

This was a great attacking display, and despite going behind early on, ended up being a comprehensive victory. Craig Noone would have been man of the match on most other occasions - his sheer speed and enthusiasm caused the Wolves defence problems all afternoon. But it was our “old” established player Peter Whittingham who stole the day with a hat trick of goals, the first a penalty after Noone was brought down in the area, the second a powerful shot after great approach play by Maynard and Mutch, and the third a trademark free kick.

Whittingham equalises from the penalty spot (picture Jon Candy)

LOOKING FORWARD

Well, next its home to Leeds United on Saturday. There are now so many options available. Kim Byo-kyung still hasn’t made a start yet, and Etien Velikonja stayed on the bench against Wolves. I’ve no doubt this strength in depth will be useful as a long Championship season continues. But for now, its an exciting time, and I can’t wait for Saturday to come!