Match Report: Exhausted City Hit Cardiff Brick Wall

From OTIB forum

After 12 unbeaten and a huge cup tie City hit both a proverbial and a literal brick wall as struggling Cardiff loaded their team with size and muscle and Nigel Pearson's tired side ran straight into it. His men looked by far the better side for long periods but they lost their two most combative players in Joe Williams (first half) & Tomas Kalas (second half) and were wrestled out of slick moves going forward while conceding sloppy goals.

City - probing all day through Alex Scott and Mark Sykes - fell behind as Sory Kaba rose from a crowd and headed in at the far post, and minutes after losing Kalas surrendered a cheap second to man of the match Jaden Philogene. Fans have hyped **** Mehmeti but his own brick wall was inevitable and he should have stopped Cardiff's second while never getting inside (blazing over the only time he did) albeit closest with a free kick.

A match for nearly an hour we looked set to dominate had a predictable start inside 20 seconds as Scott sent Sykes racing away on the right and his low driven cross into the six yard box required Ryan Allsop to hold as City forwards converged. Inside 4 minutes Mehmeti tried to get control but the ball was half cleared to Williams whose deep cross was met by Sykes leaning back beyond the far post to get a head on it, sending it over.

Past ten minutes Sheyi Ojo broke away from his marker and fired a low shot that O'Leary couldn't hold and quick thinking Kalas had to stick behind with a striker closing to meet the rebound. The best move of the half saw Williams pull up injured but Scott's neat ball sent Sykes racing away on the right to loop in for Sam Bell back post whose header was cleared off the line, Mehmeti's follow up was well blocked before Weimann replaced Williams.

After the break City would have expected to capitalise on their dominant football but the opposite happened. First Scott fired a half cleared George Tanner cross high and wide on the volley after another spell of pressure but past 50 minutes and against the run of play Ryan Wintle's deep cross from the right channel saw Kaba rise highest among three defenders and steer a close range header in off the post right in front of the home end.

City's best chance of the afternoon looked a certain equaliser minutes later as Scott was hacked down in a jinking run along the edge of the box and Mehmeti drove a brilliant free kick toward the top corner that Allsop was able to push away. It was still all City inside the hour but they rarely broke the lines of an organised Cardiff, going closest when Sykes drifted in off the line and saw a low curling shot through another crowded box blocked.

City threw on Nahki Wells and Harry Cornick for Sam Bell and George Tanner but within minutes a dominant looking Kalas went down awkwardly in yet another aerial battle and eventually went off, leaving Cam Pring to switch to the middle with Jay DaSilva on. The wing back was partly at fault as livewire Philogene cut inside to run at him, Mehmeti closing but hesitating right before he fired low from range and beat Max O'Leary at the near post.

That second was too easy and left City with a mountain to climb, the first time that they have been two down in the league since the Boxing Day horror show. On 78 a relentless Scott recovered in his own half to thread a perfect ball which finally broke the packed lines - but despite Mehmeti being City's first player to go clear onto the ball from the left channel, the exciting winger smashed his rising shot well over with just Allsop to beat.

Disjointed in both midfield and defence by this point following changes, if anything City now finally looked second best - and before the end of normal time late sub Kion Etete pulled off his marker and on the turn drilled a low dragged shot back past the near post which beat keeper O'Leary but went wide. The huge away following was already drifting out of the ground when in injury time Allsop handled outside his area and was sent off.

Cardiff had already used four substitutes in a maximum three changes so the keeperless hosts put defender Perry Ng in goal and sub Wells saw his free kick deflected wide. With an outfield player in goal City inexplicably played the corner short and for five minutes of injury time bar Wells glancing a Mehmeti cross into Ng's hands they never tested the goal, continuing to hit a brick wall of bigger and stronger players desperate for a result.

Discuss:shrug:

Bloody hell I must have been at a different game . No way we're they better than us .. we were on the front foot for huge parts of the game . Dreadful biased report

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Originally Posted by life on mars

Bloody hell I must have been at a different game . No way we're they better than us .. we were on the front foot for huge parts of the game . Dreadful biased report

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Definitely a different game, there was no 'literal' brick wall at the game I was at.

Stupid wurzel tw@t.

What complete and utter nonsense.

Well we definitely won the battle of size and muscle he got that right

I thought Nigel Pearson summed us up pretty well when he said we tended to play the percentages, but had individuals who could come up with moments of flair in advanced areas.

Having had some experience of writing one eyed match reports myself, that one is truly myopic :hehe:

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Originally Posted by the other bob wilson

I thought Nigel Pearson summed us up pretty well when he said we tended to play the percentages, but had individuals who could come up with moments of flair in advanced areas.

Having had some experience of writing one eyed match reports myself, that one is truly myopic :hehe:

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We took are chances well, scored two good goals, and could have scored three.
It wasn't a real physical battle, although they were more inclined to foul than we were.
We were well in control and looked like a team, rather than an assortment of individuals.
Philogene, Ojo and Sawyers were superb, and Wickham offered us something different until he began to tire.
The Wurzels have been one of the form teams of late, we were better than them, and can go to Preston next week full of confidence, a point there will be a good result

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Originally Posted by life on mars

Bloody hell I must have been at a different game . No way we're they better than us .. we were on the front foot for huge parts of the game . Dreadful biased report

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My thoughts exactly.

The cross for the 1st goal was quality and a very good header.

Id be disappointed if our keeper let in the 2nd. Good strike but poor keeping.

Hit a proverbial and literal brick wall? Does this plum actually understand the English language?