ITS IN OUR OWN HANDS.

Just a brief update, mainly to keep my friends across the Atlantic up to date!

So, we reach a break in the season for international friendlies (yawn!). A useful time for the team to re-group and prepare for the vital month of April, with 7 games to play before the final match of the season on May 2nd (hopefully not the final match for us!).

If anything, we are in a slightly stronger position since my last post 4 games ago, and we continue to be in with a good chance of at least forcing our way into the playoffs. As I see it, there are 5 teams battling for the last 2 playoff places - ourselves, Birmingham, Ipswich, Derby and Sheffield Wednesday. The pundits suggest that if we can get to 75 points we should definitely make it into the playoffs, which means that we need to win 5 of our remaining 8 games, and perhaps get a draw elsewhere. It means that we really need to show some consistency. As an added ingredient to the situation, our last 2 matches of the season are away to Sheffield Wednesday and then at home for Birmingham. Oh ... and our next game is at home to Derby! Exciting times indeed!

Four matches since my last post:-

BRISTOL CITY 0 CARDIFF 2

CARDIFF 0 LEEDS 2

CARDIFF 1 IPSWICH 0

READING 1 CARDIFF 1

It was very important after the hard fought home win against Preston to keep up the momentum, and this is what we did with the short trip to Bristol City for the  "Severnside Derby". Another thoroughly professional win where we gave the opposition few chances and  took our chances well.


CARDIFF 0 LEEDS 2

Then came what could prove to be the pivotal moment of the season. And it was a home defeat by Leeds! This was a good Cardiff performance, but it just wasn't our night. Leeds scored a deflected goal on the break in the first half. Soon after half time, we were down to 10 men when Fabio was red carded for a second reckless tackle. But the team dug in deep, and put huge amounts of pressure on the Leeds goal. Unfortunately their keeper had a superb game, and we hit the woodwork on at least 3 occasions. But 2 minutes into stoppage time, Leeds broke through the Fabio shaped hole down the left hand side and scored the almost inevitable counter attack clincher.

Then, an amazing thing happened. The home crowd of Bluebirds fans stood up as one to applaud their team. A couple of months ago there would have been booing, but now there was an appreciation of how far the team has come, and how much effort the players had put in on the night. The whole mood of the crowd changed, the attitude towards Russell Slade has changed, even the attitude towards the ownership. Even if we don't make the playoffs or get promoted this season, there was a feeling that this could be the start of an upward climb.

CARDIFF 1 IPSWICH 0

After the defeat by Leeds, the home game against fellow playoff candidates Ipswich took on even greater significance. A Bruno Ecuele Manga goal after 20 minutes proved to be the only goal of the game. Although the final score was 1-0, this was quite a comfortable and professional win where Ipswich had few chances to equalise.

READING 1 CARDIFF 1

It would have been nice to win this game, but to come back from a goal behind and get an away point was more than acceptable

The biggest game of the season so far!

So, this Saturday we are home to Derby County, another of our playoff rivals. We really need a win here. The club has had a moment of inspiration here, and has arranged many thousands of free tickets to be distributed via season ticket holders. The new stand, which has been mothballed for the whole season, will be opened for the occasion, and there could even be a record Cardiff crowd for the Cardiff City Stadium. I must admit, I can't wait! We can do this!

Lex Immers has been nominated for Championship player of the month.

Nearly a Good Team

This has been the story of our season so far. We are nearly a very good team, and just when you think you can write off our chances of making the playoffs, we seem to discover a new vein of form and start to climb the table again. Following my last post just before Christmas, we went to Milton Keynes dons on Boxing Day and managed to lose to a last minute own goal. This was followed by a battling but uninspiring 1-1 draw at home to Nottingham Forest, and a scratchy 1-0 win over a very poor Blackburn. The following week's defeat to lowly League 1 side Shrewsbury in the FA Cup was followed by a comfortable 2-0 defeat at table topping Hull City. So - that seemed to be that, and we were heading for a season of mid table mediocrity.

But something changed, and as I compose this report, we are 3 points and one place away from the the playoff places. A LOT has happened since the dark days of early January.

Results since my last post:

MILTON KEYNES DONS 2 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 1 NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1

CARDIFF 1 BLACKBURN 0 
CARDIFF 0 SHREWSBURY 1 (FA CUP 3RD ROUND)

HULL CITY 2 CARDIFF 0

WOLVES 1 CARDIFF 3
CARDIFF 2 ROTHERHAM 2

HUDDERSFIELD 2 CARDIFF 3

CARDIFF 0 MILYON KEYNES DONS 0
CHARLTON 0 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 4 BRIGHTON 1
MIDDLESBOROUGH 3 CARDIFF 1
CARDIFF 2 PRESTON NORTH END 1


The January Transfer Window.

Most supporters were expecting a quiet time during the January Transfer window. The financial implications of the Financial Fair Play (FFP) regulations meant that we were only expecting a couple of ins and outs with no major fees. However, about half way through the window we discovered that the club had actually breached the FFP rules and were not allowed to sign any players for a fee. This immediately ended the expected deal for Tony Watt from Charlton. Also, Kenwynne Jones was released by the club, to get his very high wages off the books. This meant an immediate change of tactics and playing style for the team, now fielding a 4-4-1-1 formation, as much as a result of the lack of target man strikers as anything else! 

This formation was first shown at Wolves, where we showed our best performance of the season to that point with Joe Mason playing as the main striker. However, an unexpected consequence of this was that Wolves were very impressed by Mason, and a little over a week later they bought him from us for £3m - a figure which should get us out of any further FFP problems at the end of the season. 

Lex Immers in his Feyenoord days.

We were able to bring in 3 players during the transfer window on loan. The first of these was Feyenoord midfield player Lex Immers. He has a good goalscoring record for a midfield player in the Erdivise, and our new formation has an immediate spot for him in front of the midfield 4. 

Kenneth Zohore - just a couple of late substitute appearances so far.

The second player who arrived was Kenneth Zohore, by a slightly more complicated route. As were were unable to sign players ourselves, our owner's Belgian club Kortrijk bought him and immediately loaned him to us! It looked a slightly questionable deal, but the Football League approved the transaction and the young Danish under 21 international was a Bluebird!

The third player signed was Welsh international Tom Lawrence  from Leicester City. Ironically, Tom had spent the first half of the season at Blackburn Rovers, which is where our previous loan player Tony Watt now finds himself! Lawrence is keen to play regularly in order to get himself into the Welsh International squad for the European Championships in the summer. He has been a useful acquisition playing out wide and is very quick.Already he has had a couple of Man-of-the Match performances.

So. How have we been playing?

In general terms, things have been going very well. Since our loss away at Hull city on 13th January, we have only lost one of our last eight games. This was away at Middlesbrough,who are challenging for an automatic promotion place themselves.

The first sign of a major improvement came at Wolves. A high tempo passing performance resulted in a comfortable three one win for the Bluebirds. Unfortunately, I don't attend away games, but reports suggest that this was easily our best performance of the season to that time. Therefore, there were high hopes a week later when struggling Rotherham came to visit the Cardiff City Stadium. But yet again we struggled against a lowly team. But we did manage a 2-2 draw with our new “makeshift” striker Anthony Pilkington scoring three times! This included a rather freak own goal early in the second-half. In many ways we were a little unlucky to only draw on this day as the run of the ball just didn't seem to go our way.

Joe Ralls, who has been outstanding this season, scored a top class goal against Wolves.

Following our disappointing draw with Rotherham, the team then went away to Huddersfield and  won 3-2 in a confident and competent manner. But a week later another struggling side Milton Keynes Dons also held us to a 0-0 draw at the Cardiff City Stadium. This was another day where we found it difficult to score against a very determined and solid defence. Subsequently, Milton Keynes have been on a good run of form and so perhaps this was not an entirely unreasonable result. We followed this with an away game at Charlton, where there was yet another 0-0 draw. We were well in control in this match and were extremely unlucky not to come away with three points against a team which now sits at the bottom of the Championship table.

So, after a couple of disappointing results against struggling teams, promotion chasing Brighton came to the Cardiff City Stadium. The weather was horrendous, with a strong wind and swirling rain soaking just about everybody at the game. But this turned out to be our best home performance for the last three years! Goals from Peter Whittingham, Anthony Pilkington and Lex Immers put us 3-0 up within the first half an hour of the game. Despite Brighton switching to a more attacking game in the second-half, an early goal from them did not cause too much panic in the Cardiff defence and a Peter Whittingham penalty to make the score 4-1 soon settled home supporters nerves.

Peter Whittinghams 2 goals against Brighton now put him above John Toshack on Cardiff's all time goalscorer list.

Three days later we made a long midweek trip to Middlesbrough, who had been having a disappointing run themselves having spent a lot of money chasing promotion to the Premier league. The fact that they had had 10 days of rest whereas Cardiff had played in the wind and rain three days previously was too much for the Bluebirds to overcome. Despite an exciting early goal from Fabio, the team ran out of energy and lost 3-1.

Anthony Pilkington wins the first penalty against Preston.

This brought us to our next home game against Preston North End. Preston had been on a run of four consecutive wins, mainly built on a strong defence. The constant movement of the Cardiff midfield players in their now familiar 451 formation managed to cause a number of problems for the Preston defence. Ultimately, it was 2 Anthony Pilkington penalties during the course of the game which resulted in a fairly comfortable 2-1 win. Anthony Pilkington was outstanding - it is hard to believe that he had been considered a wide midfield player until his recent promotion to striker! There were also notable performances from Lex Immers and Tom Lawrence, both of whom look to be very useful signings for the team.

Can we do it?

As I complete this post, we are three points away from a play-off place. My heart says we can make it into the play-offs, but there is just a slight doubt at the back of my mind and a feeling that we may just miss out this year. However, we have performed well at times this year, and the recent resolution of long term financial issues at the club by our owner Mr Tan gives us hope for further improvement next season. We CAN make the play-offs this year and our fate is in our own hands. But we need to show a little more consistency. It is hard to believe that we have not won two games in a row since last September. Now is the time to set that record straight.

6.5 out of 10?

Well, the season is one game short of the half way point, with the busy Christmas and New Year period coming up where most teams play 4 games. A combination of 3 weeks holiday in the USA (seems such a long time ago now) and a return to work has meant that I haven't updated since the 14th October, and so now seems as good a time as any. 

As the title of the post suggests, the Bluebirds are playing quite well, and remain in contention for a playoff place, without setting the world alight. We have the potential to be a very good team, and with more than half of the season to go there is still plenty of time to achieve this, but somehow its just a little more hope than expectation. Lets hope they prove me wrong.

There have been 12 matches since my last post, the first 5 of which were while I was on holiday. However, I didn't miss much as in those 5 games, we had a 1-0 win, a 1-0 defeat and 3 0-0 draws, so in total we scored 1 goal while I was away (and that was an own goal!).

PRESTON 0 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 1 MIDDLESBOROUGH 0
CARDIFF 0 BRISTOL CITY 0
IPSWICH 0 CARDIFF 0
LEEDS 1 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 2 READING 0
DERBY 2 CARDIFF 0
CARDIFF 2 BURNLEY 2
BOLTON 2 CARDIFF 3
CARDIFF 2 SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 2
CARDIFF 3 BRENTFORD 2
BIRMINGHAM 1 CARDIFF 0

We rushed back , jet-lagged, from Florida to get to the Reading game. There were various mutterings from the supporters groups about the club not being able to score goals from open play, and general disillusionment with the way the team was playing, but suddenly we were more adventurous! Goals from Kenwynne Jones and Matthew Connoly either side of half time were enough to see us through on a fairly comfortable win. An encouraging performance.

Kenwynne Jones celebrates against Reading. He also scored 2 goals against Brentford including a stoppage time winner

Unfortunately, our next game was at high-flying in form Derby, and we were beaten comfortably by a team of promotion favourites. By the time our home game against Burnley arrived, we had signed a new striker on loan from Charlton, Tony Watt. I think most supporters were underwhelmed by this signing. After all, Charlton are struggling near the bottom of the Championship, so if he couldn't get a game there, why were we getting him?

Well, it could yet be the turning point of our season. Hard working and mobile, he has fitted in well with our team and we have started scoring goals - 2 of them by Watt himself!

But the Burnley game began a disturbing run of games, as we led 2-0 with 4 minutes of regular time left, only to draw 2-2 with a very unlucky own goal. We then went to struggling Bolton, where Watt scored his first goal for the club in a 3-2 win. Bolton equalised twice during this game before Anthony Pilkington capped a great move with a late winner.

Sean Morrison heads the second goal against Burnley.

Sheffield Wednesday were the next team to visit the Cardiff City Stadium, and again we played good attacking football where yet again we went into a 2-0 lead before half time. We played some good football, and a Craig Noone penalty was followed by a great solo effort breakaway goal by Anthony Pilkington. But, the team panicked again and allowed Wednesday to pull back to 2-2, and in the end we were happy to settle for the draw.

3 days later, and Brentford were the visitors. Goals from Kenwynne Jones and Tony Watt put us up 2-0 before half time. Surely, after the previous 2 home games we couldn't mess it up again? Well, yes we could! The side got notably anxious after Brentford pulled one back, and almost inevitably with 4 minutes to go Brentford equalised! Boos echoed around the Cardiff City Stadium and the crowd left in huge numbers. Only this time, there was a sting in the tail of the game as a cross from Fabio in the 3rd minute of stoppage time was turned in by Kenwynne Jones for a 3-2 win!

Then for our 3rd game in a week we went to Birmingham for the Friday night televised game. We were really unlucky here, with a bad penalty decision given against us for handball when replays showed that the ball clearly hit Matt Connolly in the face, not on the hand. This turned out to be the only goal of the game, although we made enough chances to win but did not convert them.

Tony Watt - from Celtic to Cardiff via Liege and Charlton!

THE TRANSFER WINDOW APPROACHES

January looms, when the buying and selling of players commences. Rumours abound, but at the moment the only fairly concrete news is that the permanent signing of Tony Watt is likely to take place. Kenwynne Jones seems to want to move, but it is to be hoped we can persuade him to stay at least until the end of the season. I think we could do with another strong midfielder to support Gunarssonn and Ralls, and perhaps another fast wide player. But time will tell, and there are 4 games to play before then. Onwards and (hopefully) upwards.

Lets Get Down To Business

Well, the most recent international break is now over and the proper football starts again. A quick mention at the point for the Welsh National team to congratulate them for achieving qualification for the first major tournament since before I was born! Lets hope they don't mess it up when they play in the European championship finals in France next summer.

Former Bluebirds players Aaron Ramsey (top) and Chris Gunter played a major part in the qualification of Wales to the European championship finals in France next summer.

RESULTS SINCE MY LAST POST:

CARDIFF 2 HUDDERSFIELD 0

CARDIFF 0 HULL CITY 2

ROTHERHAM 2 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 2 CHARLTON 1

BRIGHTON 1 CARDIFF 1

Cardiff 2 Huddersfield 0

Cardiff achieved their third consecutive league win against struggling Huddersfield, the first time we have won 3 consecutive league matches since the promotion season. In truth, Huddersfield were poor and offered little attacking threat. Cardiff had to be patient, however, and the introduction of Sammy Ameobi with 30 minutes remaining turned out to be the decisive move of the game. His cross to Anthony Pilkington was turned in following a tight turn, and soon after Joe Mason sealed the game with a calmly taken finish.

Fabio in action against Huddersfield - he is finally showing much better form this season.

Cardiff 0 Hull City 2

Could it be 4 wins in a row? Sadly not, as recently relegated Hull City came to Cardiff a few days later. It gave a stark reminder of the amount of money at the highest level, with Hull fielding a side all with much Premier League experience. If there is such a thing as an encouraging loss, the this was it. Hull took the lead after 8 minutes when a rebound fell conveniently for Sako to fire home. but Cardiff did not let this get them down. They continued to play football and put much heavy pressure on the Hull defence. There were one or two good calls for a penalty which were turned down by the referee and it just wasn't our night. A late breakaway by Hull made for a flattering score of 2-0, but this was not really a true reflection of the game.

Rotherham 2 Cardiff 1

This was a disastrous game where everything went wrong. Most importantly, goalkeeper David Marshall got himself sent off for petulant behaviour following an argument with Rotherham forward Matt Derbyshire, giving away a penalty in the process. Despite this, Cardiff equalised before half time and put on much of the pressure in the second half. but just when it looked like we were going to hang on for a point, Matt Connolly scored an unfortunate own goal in stoppage time, giving Rotherham their first win of the season. A bad day at the office all round.

Naughty boy David Marshall

Cardiff 2 Charlton 1

Another game where patience paid off against inferior opposition. These were the sort of games that we would have lost last season. Cardiff dominated the game, but then went behind against the run of play early in the second half. But another Joe Mason goal4 minutes later brought Cardiff back into it. The introduction of Sammy Ameobi again caused problems, and following a corner, Peter Whittingham was given a second chance to cross which Sean Morrison was able to put away. A much more convincing win than the scoreline suggests.

Sean Morrison acknowledges Peter Whittingham's part in the winner.

Brighton 1 Cardiff 1

Another strong test, this time against top of the table and unbeaten Brighton. This game showed some of the resilience of the team, and their ability to play for each other. An excellent early move saw Joe Mason give Cardiff the lead after 5 minutes. Brighton then continued to dominate for the rest of the match. Their equaliser came after 37 minutes, but they were unable to get any further goals. For the last 10 minutes of the game, Cardiff seemed to have the Brighton attack under control, and had one or two chances to score on the break themselves. Ultimately a satisfying result against a team now expected to be near the top of the table at the end of the season.

Joe Mason celebrates his 5th goal of the season with Kenwynne Jones.

Lets get down to business!

As usual, the Championship is incredibly competitive.There are only 3 points separating the teams in third and twelfth place, with Cardiff between them in eighth. I think that the top 8 teams at the end of the season will come from the current top half of the table. We play 2 of the challenging teams (Middlesborough and Ipswich) and 2 of the struggling teams (Preston and Bristol City) during the rest of October, and if we can get  7 or 8 points from those matches it can give us a chance for a strong push into the Christmas period. We are challenging, and are good enough to at least make the playoffs. now is the time to prove it. 

Moving On Up.

Well, the first pause in the new season is here with the first 2 week international break. The season is young, with only 5 league games gone (that is more than 10% of the season though!), and we don't want to get too carried away at this point. But, the start to the season has been pleasing, to say the least. We still haven't lost a game in 90 minutes(more of that later), we remain unbeaten in the Championship, and we find ourselves occupying one of the playoff places. 

And to make things even better, we have managed to keep our best players in the "Transfer Window" despite interest from Premier League clubs, particularly concerning goalkeeper David Marshall. Despite getting the club on a more sound financial footing with a number of cost cutting measures, the club held out for their full valuation for Marshall from West Bromwich Albion, and when WBA didn't come up with that figure, then Marshall stayed. I honestly thought he would be leaving us, and I think this shows a positive statement of intent from the club. 

Cardiff and Scotland's number 1, David Marshall.

There have been four more matches since my last update:-

BLACKBURN 1 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 2 WOLVES 0

MK DONS 2 CARDIFF 1 (Capital One Cup - After Extra Time)

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 1 CARDIFF 2

Blackburn Rovers 1 Cardiff 1 

This time the boot was on the other foot for Cardiff. After 2 late equalisers in the first two Championship fixtures, this time it was Cardiff who were unable to hold on for the whole 3 points when Blackburn captain Grant Hanley equalised in the 88th minute, following an early Joe Mason goal which had put us 1-0 up after 5 minutes. Match reports suggest that Blackburn could easily have come back to win this game, and Cardiff should have killed the game off in the first half, but a second away draw against a team I expect to challenge this year is more than acceptable.

Joe Mason - encouraging start to the season.

Cardiff 2 Wolverhampton Wanderers 0

Now we are making progress! A really good team effort. After his heroics in the previous games, including his stunning equaliser at QPR, Scott Malone had to be left out of the team with a virus. So Fabio turned out at left back and was outstanding, easily the best I have ever seen him play for Cardiff! I have often criticised Fabio in the past for living on the glory days of his occasional appearances for Manchester United, but this time he proved that he can still play. Kennwyne Jones marked his return to the starting lineup following injury with a brave headed goal, and Sammy Ameobi replaced KJ and scored his first goal for the club!

Kenwynne Jones beats the Wolves defence in the pouring rain to get his first goal of the season!

Wolves were tipped to do well this season, but we controlled this game from the 10 minute mark. In truth, Wolves weren't very good. But last season we allowed ourselves to be dragged down to the level of the opposition,and in this match it was pleasing to see that this didn't happen.

MK Dons 2 Cardiff 1 (Capital One Cup)(After Extra Time - 90 minutes 1-1)

A very different team from the one who beat Wolves on Saturday, with a number of key players rested and a number of back up players given a start. An Alex Revell goal was cancelled out after 78 minutes and the game went to extra time, when Murphy scored his first goal for MK Dons. Not a very satisfactory performance, but no-one is too upset to be out of the trophy as no team seems to take it too seriously until about the 4th Round anyway.

Nottingham Forest 1 Cardiff 2

The final league game before the break produced our first away win of the season. A goal each from our strikers Kenwynne Jones and Joe Mason gave the Bluebirds a 2-0 lead early in the second half. A Forest goal with 4 minutes remaining made the end of the match interesting, but we held on for a well deserved win. David Marshall made a number of key saves and was voted Man of the Match.

The Transfer Window closes.

And we kept our key players. We made few new signings over the summer, but the fact that we kept David Marshall, Kenwynne Jones and Bruno Ecuele Manga is probably more important than bringing in new players. That said, Russell slide was able to announce the signing of French League 2 striker Idriss Saadi on the day before the transfer window closed, from Clermont Foot (great name for a football club!). Idriss is expected to immediately challenge for a first team place. 

Idriss Saadi

The club also signed Hungarian International Gabriel Tamas who was previously a free agent. It seems that Tamas is expected to provide defensive cover for the back four. although he clearly has experience and ability, he has also had some disciplinary issues with other clubs, so lets hope he has put those behind him.

 Gabriel Tamas

Of course, in addition to the new signings, the return of Kagisho Dikgacoi and Anthony Pilkington from long term injury, and the return to the club from loan of Joe Mason has made a considerable difference, and is almost like having 3 new players! I'm not getting carried away yet, as there is much of the season to go. But this is a more promising start than anyone ever hoped. Lets hope that with 3 matches at home out of the 4 September fixtures we can continue our push at the top of the Championship.  Onwards, and (hopefully) upwards!

  

Looks Promising.

Well, the first week the season is behind us. How you feel about the week depends on whether you are a glass half full or a glass half empty person! I like to take a positive slant on things, and at least we are unbeaten in 3 games!

Its fair to say that the lack of new signings in the summer caused a little concern. The only major signing being Sammy Ameobi on loan from Newcastle United. But the advantage of this is coherent team work amongst a group of players who clearly know each other very well. There were certainly one or two issues this week, but in general it was an improved and encouraging start to the season.

Due to injuries, we were left with the 2 centre backs Sean Morrison (also made club captain) and Matt Connoly. This is unlikely to be a regular pairing, and undoubtedly Bruno Ecuele Manga will replace Connoly when he returns from injury (by this weekend probably). But they are a competent pairing and have performed well together. Simon Moore has been playing in goal for the League games while David Marshall is suspended, and young back up Ben Wilson given the chance for the Capital One Cup match against Wimbledon.

Despite these defensive uncertainties, the defence has generally performed in a satisfactory way this week, and left back Scott Malone has probably been player of the week, capped off with a stunning stoppage time equaliser against QPR!

Results this week:-

CARDIFF 1 FULHAM 1

CARDIFF 1 AFC WIMBLEDON 0 (Capital One Cup)

QPR 2 CARDIFF 2

Cardiff 1 Fulham 1

An encouraging start to the season. Plenty of chances created, but sometimes lacking a cutting edge in front of goal. The Bluebirds dominated possession for much of the first half, but then went behind early in the second half following a handling error by keeper Simon Moore. However, the team did not get downhearted and stuck to the game plan. The reward was a stunning goal from substitute Craig Noone in the 86th minute. The goal was nothing more than we deserved. Craig none has already shown more in the 3 games he has been involved in this season than he did all last season. Its good to see.

Craig Noone celebrates his late goal against Fulham.

Cardiff 1 AFC Wimbledon 0

A number of changes to the team, notably a completely new midfield, in order to give some game time to players on the bench from Saturday. These matches are often difficult against lower league opposition, and League 2 Wimbledon caused some problems from time to time . But the game was settled by another classy Craig Noone goal from a free kick on the stroke of half time. On a night when many other Championship clubs struggled against lower league opponents, this was a decent performance from what is probably a half strength side.

Sammy Ameobi on the ball against AFC Wimbledon.

Queens Park Rangers 2 Cardiff 2

The trip to west London was seen as the first major test of the season, against a team relegated from the Premier League last season. This was a further improved performance by the team, but QPR scored against the run of play following bad marking by the Cardiff defence at a corner. Then early in the second half, QPR went 2-0 ahead from a very dubious goal where a clear handball was missed by the officials allowing the predator to score off his chest.

But thankfully, the Bluebirds stuck to their task, and a gaol from a corner by Sean Morrison got us back into the game. Then, as 90 minutes clicked on to the clock, the ball fell to left back Scott Malone who volleyed an excellent equaliser into the top left corner of the goal - the second outstanding late equaliser in the week. Defensive errors apart, this was a very encouraging start to the season. I'm not counting on the playoffs or promotion yet, but there were definite signs of hope.

Next fixture tomorrow Tuesday 18th August away at Blackburn Rovers, then another televised game at home to Wolves on Saturday. Lets hope at least one win comes from those 2 matches.

HERE WE GO AGAIN!

It's that time of year again - the new football season is almost upon us. That heady mix of excitement and hope engulfs football fans throughout the country, convinced that this season is going to be "Our Season".The proper football starts this weekend, even the Premier league this year, starting a week early to allow extra time for the European Championships (C'mon Wales!) in the summer of 2016.

All football fans should be excited this time of the season. After all, all teams are level at the moment - no promotion, playoff or relegation fears yet. So what can we expect from the Bluebirds at the Cardiff city Stadium this year?

The Protheroe boys outside the Cardiff City Stadium earlier this week.

THE MORE THINGS CHANGE?

Well, there haven't been many changes to the playing staff. Many of us feared that some of our best players, notably Bruno Ecuele Manga, David Marshall and Kenwynne Jones would be leaving us. However, this hasn't materialised - yet. It seems like Scotland's number 1 goalkeeper David Marshall is likely to be on his way to West Bromwich Albion in the Premier League, although at the time of compiling this blog negotiations are continuing between the 2 clubs to agree a fee. I'll be sorry to see Marshall go, but he owes the club nothing and deserves to be playing at the higher level. Simon Moore is a very able deputy, and if the manager is able to re-invest the money received for Marshall into the team, then it could turn out to be a blessing in disguise.

Bruno Ecuele Manga - staying.

At the moment, only 2 players have come into the club in the summer. Semi Ajeyi, a young centre half from Arsenal, will hopefully establish himself in the future. Also, on a season long loan, we have signed Sammy Ameobi from Newcastle United. Ameobi played in more than 20 Premier League games last year, and could be a good addition to the squad at Championship level. He certainly looked keen and fit at the open training session at the Cardiff City Stadium this week. He is also a lot taller than I realised!

The squad going through their paces at the Cardiff City Stadium this week.

SO WHAT CAN WE EXPECT THIS SEASON?

Well, this is where your heart and your head get into competition with each other. As usual, the Championship looks like it is as open as ever, where even the pre-season favourites have some flaws. There has been a lot of re-investement at Derby in the close season, especially after their implosion at the end of last season which saw them miss out on the playoffs. Although they have spent a lot of money, they also have a new manager, so although favourites for a top 6 place it is by no means a foregone conclusion. The teams coming down from the Premier League often do well, but Hull and Burnley have had to slash costs and have had their best players cherry picked by Premier League clubs. QPR remain in sever financial turmoil and may also have to regroup and rebuild. I think Hull may be the most likely of these 3 to finish in the top 6.

In recent years, it has been quite common for teams to come up from League 1 and immediately get a top 6 place - Bournemouth and Brentford last year. I expect Bristol City and Preston to do well this year too.

Peter Whittingham - can he be more influential again this season?

So - can the Bluebirds make it into the top 6 and the playoffs - or even automatic promotion? Well, to hedge my bets, possibly! As ever, the Championship will be a very even league, but there are no obvious standout teams this year that you would expect to dominate. Manager Russell Slade improved the team towards the end of last season, especially away from home, and now it is truly HIS team, there can be no excuses if there is no further improvement. It is more in hope than expectation, but I believe that we can at least get a playoff place.

PREDICTIONS.

Well, I was almost completely wrong with these last year, but here goes:-

Top 6 (in no particular order) Derby, Hull, Bristol City, Wolves, Middlesborough,Cardiff

Bottom 3 - MK Dons, Rotherham, Reading.

Of course, I could be spectacularly wrong! Either way, I'll be there on Saturday to cheer on the boys in their first home game against Fulham (12 noon kick off this week because of a rugby match in Cardiff!).