Onwards and .....Upwards?

March is a month where the fixtures have been disrupted by unseasonably late bad weather, and as a result we have only played 3 fixtures so far. Of course, it should have been 4, but for a surprise and slightly suspicious late postponement of yesterday's game at Derby. There appeared to be very little reason to postpone yesterday's game, as despite there having been a fall of snow the approaches to Pride Park, as well as the pitch having the customary undersoil heating. Surely it was coincidence that Derby are in the middle of an injury crisis and now have the 2 weeks of the international break to get their team fully fit? Surely? Hmmm. Lets just say that Cardiff manager Neil Warnock was not impressed! 

However, on the field, the team continues to move forward. 3 more wins since my last post, and a couple of slip ups from Fulham and Aston Villa, our closest rivals for automatic promotion. We are now only 6 points behind top team Wolves too, with a game in hand. The 3 wins in March make it 7 consecutive league wins in total and even in cynical fans like me there is an air of optimism that we could actually do this!

Top of the Championship table 19/03/2018.

Results since my last post:-

CARDIFF 2 BARNSLEY 1

CARDIFF 3 BIRMINGHAM 2

BRENTFORD 1 CARDIFF 3

Its been an unusual run of games where we see to have been playing lots of teams beginning with the letter 'B'!. Barnsley were the first team up in March - a team struggling near the relegation zone - but a good footballing side nevertheless. This was a further match where we had to play without club captain Sean Morrison. Barnsley passed and attacked quite well, but always looked defensively frail. When Marko Grujic increased the Cardiff lead to 2-0 just after half time, then you would think that this should be a comfortable win. However, a deserved goal from on loan striker McBurnie saw the defence look a bit fragile for a while, before settling down and seeing out the last 15 minutes with the minimum of fuss. 

 Marko Grujic celebrates his first Cardiff goal against Barnsley.

The following Saturday saw the visit of another relegation threatened side, Birmingham City. Like Barnsley, Birmingham looked very dangerous in attack, but were poor defensively and as a result the game was all but over by half time, when Cardiff led 3-0 with goals from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Calum Paterson and Craig Bryson. After halftime, Birmingham were awarded a slightly dubious penalty which got them back into the game, and their second goal came deep into stoppage time at the end of the game. One of the encouraging points of this game was the first goal since August for Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who appears to be returning to some of his early season form.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing celebrates his goal against Birmingham - his first since August.

Three days later was a trip to Brentford for the re-arranged match postponed from earlier in the month. Just to add pressure to the team, this game was selected for live coverage by SKY TV. We have been featured on TV quite a lot this season, but at this point hadn't won any of our away games. However, this was the time to break that record. Despite going behind early on, and lucky not to be 2 behind, the team started to take control of the match from the 20 minute mark. A stunning equaliser from Sol Bamba and a third goal in 3 games for Calum Paterson just before half time turned the match around. A Kenneth Zohore goal after 52 minutes gave us a 2 goal cushion, and after that Cardiff were in control. The statistics say that we only had 33% possession during the game, but still won comfortably.

Calum Paterson does his now famous "Fortnite Dance" goal celebration against Brentford - his third goal in the last 3 games.

Meanwhile, our closest rivals for the automatic promotion places have helped us out too. Fulham managed to throw away a 2-0 lead on Saturday at home to QPR, whilst Aston Villa have lost their last 2 games after a very convincing 4-1 win against League leaders Wolves. This means that we are now 7 points clear of those 2 teams having played one game less. Exciting times for Bluebirds fans. 

Now comes a two week international break where hopefully we can get some of our own players back from injury. There are various theories as to how many points we require to get automatic promotion. My personal guess is 15 points from our remaining 9 games, although it is possible that as few as 11 would do it. Either way, its in our own hands. Really looking forward to the last 6 weeks of the season.

No One Likes Us - Do We Care?

As we reach the end of February, we once again find ourselves is second-place in the championship. Amazingly, we are now only six points behind leaders Wolves, and are four points clear of third placed Aston Villa. This seems to be quite an unlikely position following the disastrous Christmas period where we lost four games in a row. But we have not lost since New Year's Day.

Indeed, the month of February has been particularly kind to us with five league wins and one draw. But despite this success, there seems to be a general reluctance within the media and from fans of other clubs to acknowledge what Neil Warnock and the team have achieved. People want to describe “the Warnock way” as boring, uncultured football. But there is much more to it than that. It is based on hard work, teamwork but also a fair amount of skill. There is a lot of skill involved any defence keeping a clean sheet, as well as there is an attack which schools a lot of goals. We're just different skills.

The team has also acquired a number of unflattering adjectives, such as “uncompromising, dour, bruising, and downright dirty!”. This has mainly been as a result of one rash challenge in a high-profile televised FA Cup fixture against Manchester City. Undoubtedly Joel Bennett’s tackle on Leroy Sane was easily deserving of a yellow card. Indeed, slow motion replays made a good case for a red card. But there were a few other major incidents of note within that game. Neil Warnock has been seen as an old-fashioned relic of a previous era. But he gets results at a fraction of the cost of what other teams spend on players. I'm pretty sure that all negative comments he and the team receive is as much for jealousy of his achievements rather than the way that the team plays.

 Joe Bennett 'mistimes' his tackle on Leroy Sane.

Things are a little more optimistic since my last post. From the depths of despair over the Christmas period, there is now a new era of positivity about the club. Neil Warnock did some good trading before the end of the transfer deadline and brought in some needed new faces in to the squad. The defence has tightened up, and a number of players are no regaining full fitness following injury.

Results since last post:

CARDIFF 0 MANSFIELD TOWN 0 (FA Cup 3rd Round)

CARDIFF 4 SUNDERLAND 0

MANSFIELD TOWN 1 CARDIFF 4 (FA Cup 3rd Round replay)

SHEFFIELD WEDNESDAY 0 CARDIFF 0

CARDIFF 0 MANCHESTER CITY 2 (FA Cup 4th ROUND)

LEEDS 1 CARDIFF 4

MILLWALL 1 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 2 BOLTON 0

CARDIFF 1 MIDDLESBOROUGH 0

IPSWICH 0 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 1 BRISTOL CITY 0

New players arrive.

Five players were brought into the club during the January transfer window to bolster the strength of the squad:-

MARKO GRUJIC. A 21 year old Serbian midfield player from Liverpool on loan until the end of the season.

Marko Grujic wrestles with Kevin de Bruyne in the Manchester city FA Cup tie.

ARMAND TRAORE. Full back signed from Nottingham Forest

JAMIE WARD . Utility forward signed from Nottingham Forest on loan

YANIC WILDSCHUT . Wide player signed from Norwich on loan.

GARY MADINE . A striker from Bolton, signed in a deal with a value up to £6million

Our first home match of the New Year was an FA Cup tie against league to Mansfield Town. The main encouragement for this game was the return of club captain Sean Morrison, who had been missing from the team during the Christmas period when we lost all four games. Kenneth Zohore also returned from injury in this game. Although the score was a little disappointing, there were some subtle signs of improvement. A week later the home game against struggling Sunderland also went someway to restoring the confidence of the team. To be fair, Sunderland are a poor, struggling side. Also, they were reduced to 10 men early in the second-half. But Cardiff clearly outplayed them for a  comfortable 4-0 victory.

Sean Morrison scores the winner against Middlesbrough.

The following week saw the replay in Mansfield where no mistakes were made and we comfortably came out 4-1 winners. Following this was a tricky trip to Sheffield Wednesday, where we seem to have had little luck in recent years. However, we managed to achieve  a 0-0 draw against an improving Sheffield Wednesday side who seem to be getting over some of their early season struggles.

We then had a break from league action for a match against the best team in the world! A home FA Cup fourth round tie against Manchester City. Unsurprisingly, this match at the Cardiff City Stadium was a sell-out with more than 33,000 present. The media only remember this match for the reckless tackle made by Joe Bennett on Leroy Sane. However, my memories of the match will always be of Manchester City breaking from within their own half with players running in all directions in beautifully choreographed moves. It is truly impressive to see that live, rather than just on a television screen. A 2-0 defeat was a respectable performance against what is probably the best club team in the world at present.

Then it was back to league action and two difficult away trips. Firstly, to Leeds. Since 2001, our record against Leeds United has been exceptionally good. This was another excellent performance resulting in a 4-1 victory for Cardiff. This is also resulted in the sacking of the Leeds manager Thomas Christiansen! A week later we travelled to Millwall for another difficult away trip. An early Junior Hoilett goal gave us hope another away win, but Millwall equalised just before half-time and ultimately a draw was a fair result for this game.

The versatile Callum Paterson scores the first goal against Leeds. Although nominally a full back, Paterson has found a role for himself in central midfield.

Our next home game was against Bolton Wanderers, who were still struggling near the bottom of the Championship. In fairness, Bolton were very poor in this game - in fact, I would say that their performance was even worse than that of Sunderland two weeks previously. It was an average performance by Cardiff, but this was easily too good for very poor Bolton side. Our next home game 4 days later against Middlesbrough proved to be more of a test. Middlesbrough continue to hope to get into a play-off place themselves. They will clearly a much better side than Bolton, but Cardiff also put in a much improved performance, and the final 1-0 scoreline does not do justice to the way that Cardiff dominated the game.

Our midweek fixture was then away at Ipswich town. This is another venue where we always seem to struggle. However, this time we managed to come away with a 1-0 win, despite Ipswich having much of the play.

And finally, to yesterday's match against our closest geographical rivals, Bristol City, in the "Severnside derby". The atmosphere was good, despite the kickoff being moved to 12 noon on a Sunday. Bristol City have been struggling recently, especially since Christmas. Many of us expected some free-flowing football from the visitors, but in fact they tried to take us on at our own game, and were not good enough. We were easily the better side, but fans were beginning to wonder whether we would manage to get a winning goal. Thankfully, this came in the 82nd minute, when Kenneth Zohore scored his second winner within five days. It is good to see him returning to form and scoring goals again!

Kenneth Zohore - 2 winning goals in 5 days! This one against Bristol City.

The big question is, can we maintain this form for the final 12 league games of the season? Can we achieve one of the automatic promotion places? Will we just make it into the play-offs?

As a football fan more than 50 years, my natural position is still pessimistic! But I will go as far as to say that I am more confident of achieving a top 2 finish than I was two months ago. However, three of the teams that were expected to challenge at the start of the season for promotion have began to show some good form themselves. Particularly Fulham and Aston Villa. Also, Derby are doing very well. These three teams and Wolves who are at the top of the table have all spent considerably more on players than Cardiff. I am pretty sure that we can easily make the play-offs. I am less sure about finishing in the top two, but I now feel that it is a possibility whereas two months ago I felt it was unlikely. I feel that 8 wins from our final 12 games may well see us into second place, but I realise that this is a big ask.

The Good, the Bad and the Ugly

Following 4 consecutive defeats, you might think that this is going to be a depressing and negative post. But it isn't. Thankfully, the points that we had already achieved mean that we are still in 3rd place in the table, only 2 points below the automatic promotion place. And whereas this has definitely been disappointing, if we had been offered this position at the start of the season then we would have definitely accepted it!

8 league matches since my last post - 3 wins, one draw and 4 losses. But unfortunately, the pattern of those results means that we lost our last 4 games. In the midst of those defeats, a number of 'firsts' have taken place. The first time we have lost 2 consecutive games (also 3 games and 4 games!), our first home defeat (followed swiftly by our second home defeat) and the first time we have lost points from a winning position. Lets hope we have got all of those 'achievements' out of our system!

We then had a slight break with an FA Cup 3rd round match at home this weekend to Mansfield Town. 

RESULTS SINCE LAST BLOG

NOTTINGHAM FOREST 0 CARDIFF 2

CARDIFF 3 NORWICH 1

READING 2 CARDIFF 2

CARDIFF 1 HULL 0

BOLTON 2 CARDIFF 0

CARDIFF 2 FULHAM 4

CARDIFF 0 PRESTON 1

QPR 2 CARDIFF 1.

CARDIFF 0 MANSFIELD 0 (FA Cup 3rd Round)


The Good

Our previous good form continued with a 2-0 win away at Nottingham Forest. We must have played well in this game as the Forest manager and fans were moaning afterwards about how we had bullied them out of the game! A comfortable win, made even more special from one of the goals of the season from Danny Ward! Unfortunately, since that game Danny has picked up a serious injury which means that he is likely to be out for most of the rest of the season. Although not a natural target man, Danny's speed has proved a handful to defences and he quality of the goal in this game shows what he is capable of.

Danny Ward (9) scores a stunning goal at Forest.

The next home game against Norwich was the stereotypical "game of two halves". We were 1-0 down at half timed looked totally disorganised. Indeed, it could have been worse than the scoreline showed. But Neil Warnock must have worked his magic at half time, as after the break the team were unrecognisable, storming back to win 3-1 and even had time to miss a penalty (as well as score 1)!

There followed an away game at Reading, which featured a significant moment with an injury to Sean Morrison after half an hour. Lee Peltier came on to replace him, by which time we were already 1-0 down following an unfortunate own goal by Callum Patterson. Just before half  time Cardiff went 2-0 down following a series of deflections to a Modou Barrow shot which really put the team under pressure.

But in the second half, the team played better without much luck. Finally, 8 minutes from time Joe Bennet scored his first goal of the season with a fine volley. And to cap the evening  off, Lee Tomlin scored his first goal for the club with another fine shot off the underside of the bar after Sol Bamba headed against the crossbar. The team showed tremendous spirit to fight back from 2 goals down for the first time this season.

Lee Tomlin scores his first goal for the club with a late equaliser at Reading.

The home game on the following Friday evening at home to a struggling Hull City was our first without Sean Morrison this season. With hindsight, this was the first time that our ever increasing injury list was starting to catch up with the team. At this point, we were missing Aron Gunnarsson, Sean Morrison, Kenneth Zohore, Danny Ward as well as long term injuries to Kadeem Harris and others. Although Joe Ralls and Loic Damour have done a good job in midfield, fatigue was starting to show. But a hard fought game eventually gave us a deserved win if not an entertaining one, with a Sol Bamba goal following an Anthony Pilkington flick on being the decisive point of the game.

The Bad. And the Ugly.

Then came the bad run of games. Ironically, reports suggest that it was us who were bullied by the opposing team at struggling Bolton resulting in a 2-0 defeat. On Boxing Day, a 2-4 defeat to a Fulham team who have seriously under achieved this season brought more dismay. The only bright spot of the game was a stunning goal to bring the score back to 2-1 by Kenneth Zohore, returning to the team after minor ankle surgery. More on him later. And 4 days later a truly awful game against Preston resulted in a late 1-0 defeat. At least the defeat to Fulham was against what is obviously quite a good team with some talented players, but the game against Preston was awful by both teams.Ugly.

And to start the New Year, there was a trip to Loftus Road to play QPR where we took the lead but then gave it away to lose 2-1. (Junior Hoillet appeared to have a perfectly good goal disallowed at 1-1).

Don't Panic!

Finally, an FA Cup tie against League 2 Mansfield Town - a team we should beat comfortably, even though we didn't have our strongest team out. However, the match resulted in a disappointing 0-0 where we were unable to break down a well organised Mansfield defence.

Sean Morrison - badly missed but an encouraging return in the FA Cup.

There were a couple of positives out of the game, particularly the return of club captain Sean Morrison after injury. Although there is nothing wrong with the defensive abilities of Bruno Ecuele Manga and Sol Bamba at centre half, Morrison is clearly the leader and organiser of this team. It is not just coincidence that the slump in form has coincided with him being out of the team.

A further positive was Lee Tomlin. He is now looking leaner and fitter, as he has had to play more recently. He didn't always get things right yesterday, but his workmate was much better and he continued to work away and look for an opening throughout the game.

A slight worry from the game is the form of Kenneth Zohore. He appeared disinterested yesterday, and it is clear than Neil Warnock needs to work his magic on the young man again to turn him back into the player he was for the first part of 2017.

Kenneth Zohore - needs to get his ass in gear!

Now, lets look at the positive side of our situation. Despite our recent slump in form, we find ourselves in third place in the Championship, just 2 points off the second automatic promotion place. The pressure is starting to get to all of the teams now. Lets keep things in perspective!

We have to continue to trust Neil Warnock. The transfer window is now open, and we are assured that he has one or two players in mind to strengthen the squad - another striker and a dominant midfielder are essential. Every team has a bad run at some point in the season and lets hope that ours is at an end. 

We are a little down, but by no means out!

Case for the defence.

The season continues to progress well. Certain key injuries have reduced some of our attacking options, but we now have the most frugal defence in the Championship and it is beginning to pay dividends, with a number of hard fought wins when not playing at our best. Neil Warnock suggested a few weeks ago that any team wishing to get promotion from the Championship needs 15 clean sheets over the course of a season, and we have achieved 8 after the first 18 games of the season. Not necessarily exciting, but effective nevertheless!

Championship Table 22/11/2017

Results since my last post:

CARDIFF 0 DERBY 0

BIRMINGHAM 1 CARDIFF 0

MIDDLESBOROUGH 0 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 0 MILLWALL 0

CARDIFF 3 IPSWICH 1

BRISTOL CITY 2 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 2 BRENTFORD 0

BARNSLEY 0 CARDIFF 1

After the excitement and performance of the victory over Leeds, there was always the danger that the game against Derby 4 days later would be a bit of an anti-climax - and so it proved to be. Derby are a decent side with a number of top level players, including Tom Lawrence who spent a season on loan at the Cardiff City Stadium 2 years ago. But Derby clearly intended to neutralise Cardiff's attacking threat. There was little excitement in the game and so a 0-0 draw was ultimately a fair result.

Defenders Sean Morrison and Lee Peltier in the 0-0 draw against Derby.

An international break followed, and the first match following this was a trip to St Andrews to play an underachieving Birmingham side who were playing the first game for new manager Steve Cotterill. It was a little ironic, as at the same time in the previous season, Neil Warnock was taking charge for his first game for Cardiff. And a similar result occurred, as Birmingham were clearly inspired by their new manager to win 1-0. It was another occasion when Cardiff offered little in attack, which was becoming a bit of a concern.

After a disappointing Saturday result, the team then made the long trek to Teeside to take on Middlesborough, a team still strong following their relegation from the Premier League last season. Another fine defensive performance, which turned into a win following a late penalty by Joe Falls. Cardiff's record has been excellent against the other top teams in the division, and Middlesborough became the latest victims after Wolves, Sheffield United, Aston Villa and Leeds.

Joe Calls celebrates the winning penalty against Middlesborough.

After a victory at high-flying Middlesborough , some fans thought that the following home game against Millwall was a foregone conclusion. But, this turned out to be another 0-0 draw. Cardiff were still trying to come to terms with being without Kenneth Zohore up front, who is an important part of our attack (even if he hasn't been scoring a lot of goals himself). Millwall played us at our own game, very defensive minded and clearly came to Cardiff hoping for a draw. Danny Ward played up front but didn't really threaten. After this game, Cardiff had only scored one goal in four matches (and that from the penalty spot) - a slight worry.

A New Star is Born?

After the recent poor attacking performances, manager Warnock made some attacking changes for the Ipswich game, with a first League starter Omar Bogle - acquired from Wigan in the early season. Also the sparsely used Lee Tomlin also made a start. An early goal from Junior Hoillet settled Cardiff nerves and finally gave the team its first goal from open play for 5 matches. Immediately after the start of the second  half, some neat and fast interplay between Mendez-Laing and Tomlin put Omar Bogle away to score his first league goal for Cardiff. A late goal for Danny Ward (who had replaced Bogle after 70 minutes), also created by Mendez-Laing, sales the deal.

Bogle side foots the second goal against Ipswich.

Cardiff then went to the Severnside derby to Bristol City with a very positive attitude. But Bristol were in a rich vein of form at the time, and despite a decent Bluebirds performance eventually lost 2-1. Perhaps more important during the game was an injury to Mendez-Laing, as well as a red card for Omar Bogle which meant a 3 match ban. not a good night. The international break probably came at the right time as injuries and suspensions were starting to catch up with the team.

The first game back after the international break was at home to Brentford, and was to be followed by an away trip to Barnsley 3 nights later. These teams from the lower half of the table are very often the more difficult to beat because of their negative attitude. However, injuries and suspensions meant that the Bluebirds were going to have to stop and dig in themselves - there were 7 first team [layers unavailable for the Brentford game.

Danny Ward celebrates the second goal against Brentford - created by Bruno Ecuele Manga!

An early goal by Joe Ralls from a poorly defended long throw immediately put pressure on Brentford. Then followed an amazing missed chance by Brentford's french forward Maupay! I still can't work out how he missed it! If you type in "Maupay miss Brentford" into the YouTube search engine I'm sure you'll find it! 5 minutes after this miss, persistent play by Bruno Ecuele Manga set up Danny Ward for the second Cardiff goal. Brentford played some very entertaining and slick passing football for much of the game, but the Cardiff defence held firm.

And finally, last evening came a long trip to Barnsley. I didn't witness this game, although I heard some radio commentary. The general opinion was that it was an awful game, not helped by wet and windy conditions. But, yet again the defence held firm and a late Callum Patterson scrambled goal gave the Bluebirds a win.

Callum Patterson celebrates his first Bluebirds goal!

The Negatives

So, after last night's results Cardiff find themselves back in second place in the championship, with a game away at Nottingham Forest on Sunday. It is noticeable that there is a lot of negative attitudes towards the way that the Bluebirds play. Both Brentford and Barnsley fans have described us as "the worst team we have played this season". And yet, we won against both of this teams! Undoubtedly Warnock has set the team up to pressure the opponents, and has put together a workmanlike team of steady pros rather than paid large amounts of money for flashy stars. But the fact that two of our most potent attacking threats have been missing for the last couple of games (Zohore and Mendez-Laing) has meant that the team has had to alter tactics accordingly. And we have won both games.

Its easy to win games when the team is playing well - it takes a good team that can grind out wins when not playing particularly well. 

The Championship is table is starting to take shape now, with Wolves at the top and Aston Villa starting to make progress too (both teams we have already beaten this season). But we are still in there as we approach the half way stage.

The last time we were promoted in 2013, we went top in the middle of December and never lost that spot for the rest of the season. There are more good teams in the Championship now than there was then, but I feel confident that we can stay up there for a while longer. As we enter the busy Christmas period, perhaps we will get a real idea of how far the team can go.

We are top of the league, I say WE ARE TOP OF THE LEAGUE!

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!

Best..... Start........EVER!

Like most football fans, for much of the time my heart rules my head when it comes thoughts about how good my team is and what they can achieve. However, in my wildest dreams I couldn't imagine that we would have had this amazing start to the Championship season. 4 games played - 4 games won. 8 goals for, and 1 against. We are one of two teams with a perfect winning record, and sit proudly at the top of the league! Cardiff fans are living in dreamland!

To put things in perspective, Cardiff have never won their first 3 league games in the season, never mind 4. However, I have been a fan of Cardiff and football in general to not get too carried away yet. After all, there are 42 matches left until the end of the season! There will undoubtedly be poor performances and difficult times, but at the moment the fans and players are all enjoying the ride.

NATHANIEL MENDEZ-LAING.

There have been a number of outstanding team performances already this season, but one player deserves a special mention, and that is Nathaniel Mendez-Laing. There was always a feeling that this player had more to come, and had not fulfilled much of his early promise when he began his career at Wolves. He spent a number of loan spells at a series of League 1 clubs, and showed promise for the last couple of seasons at League 1 Rochdale, but only manager Neil Warnock could have predicted the immediate impact he has had at Cardiff. 5 goals from his wide midfield role in the last 4 games is a record that speaks for itself, but it is the relationship between all 3 of Cardiff's front players - Kenneth Zohore and Junior Hoilett as well as Mendez, that has enabled him to do so well.

 Nathaniel Mendez-Laing celebrates the winner against Wolves.

 RESULTS SO FAR:-

BURTON ALBION 0 CARDIFF 1

CARDIFF 2 PORTSMOUTH 1 (after extra time)(EFL Cup).

CARDIFF 3 ASTON VILLA 0

CARDIFF 2 SHEFFIELD UNITED 0

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1 CARDIFF 2


BURTON ALBION 0 CARDIFF 1

A large away support followed the team to Burton for the first match of the season, more in hope than expectation. The match was very even in the first half, but a well taken goal by Kenneth Zohore in the 87th minute was good enough to win the game. The statistics say that Cardiff have never been promoted without winning the opening game of the season. Lets hope this win is a good omen.

CARDIFF 2 PORTSMOUTH 1 (EFL Cup).

As is usual in the early stages of this competition, many of the reserves and backup players were given a chance in this game. The first half was poor from both sides, with Portsmouth leading at half time with a Sean Morrison own goal. Cardiff equalised early in the second half following Nathaniel Mendez-Laing's introduction at half time, and probably should have won the game in the scheduled 90 minutes. However, extra time was needed and this was where Cardiff's impressive fitness came into play. The winner was a well taken goal from Greg Halford, but it could easily have been a win by 3 or 4 in extra time.

Junior Hoilett has made an impressive start to the season.

CARDIFF 3 ASTON VILLA 0

This was clearly going to be a big test of Cardiff, against one of the teams expected to get automatic promotion this season. Villa have been spending large amounts of money since their relegation from the Premier League and have spent £80m on players over the last 2 seasons. (Cardiff have spent little more than 5% of that total). But they passed the test with flying colours!

Put simply, Cardiff were magnificent! The 3 front men of Hoilett, Zohore and Mendez tortured the all international Villa defence all afternoon. Experienced former England captain John Terry was all but humiliated as Cardiff ran riot and could have had 4 or 5. but this was not a poor Villa performance - this was an excellent performance from a Cardiff team from front to back. The best day at the Cardiff City stadium for a number of years.

Joe Ralls against Villa - another outstanding performer this season.

CARDIFF 2 SHEFFIELD UNITED 0.

Could they repeat the performance 3 days later against the Blades? Yes they could! Another comfortable performance against a team not up to the standard of Villa, but talented and confident following their promotion from League 1 last season. Sheffield had one or two chances late on, but goals from Sean Morrison and Mendez either side of halftime but Cardiff in control of the game which they won at a canter.

Kenneth Zohore - only one goal but has been the focus of the Bluebirds attack all season.

WOLVERHAMPTON WANDERERS 1 CARDIFF 2

This match featured 2 of the 3 Championship teams with a 100% record after 3 games - and it was Cardiff who were able to maintain their perfect record. Wolves are another team who have spent big, but Cardiff got the result in an evenly matched game.

TRANSFER NEWS - INS and OUTS?

A further addition to the squad last week came in the form of Omar Bogle from Wigan Athletic. Bogle had only signed for Wigan from Grimsby in January 2017, but was unable to help them avoid relegation. It is clear that he is essentially a back up, but is another player who has played well at League 2 and League 1 level and now has a chance to prove himself worthy of the next step up. I expect to see him start in the EFL Cup second round match against Burton this week.

Omar Bogle signs.

The other transfer news is slightly more concerning - that a number of clubs are interested in signing Kenneth Zohore, including Brighton who are newly promoted to the Premier League. I'm pretty sure that he will stay, but there is always a worry that a desperate team will make a huge bid which the club can't turn down. I hope not. There was also news this week that left back Joe Bennett was allowed to talk to Fulham who had offered enough money to trigger his buyout clause. However, Joe refused to go as he is happy at Cardiff. good decision Joe!

There are now 2 more games before the first international break of the season - firstly a home second round EFL cup game against Burton on Tuesday ( where the fringe players will get a chance to shine), and a home game to QPR next Saturday. Exciting times at the Cardiff City Stadium!