My top City games of the millennium: 10-7

[Eric the Half a Bee]

It's been interesting to read comments and opinions on my 20 to 11 list of top City games. Thanks for those. Here's the latest installment.

10.
Date: 16 March 2002
Match: Oldham Athletic 1-7 Cardiff City

Rewind back a month. On February 16 we lost 4-0 at Wigan Athletic. We'd lost 5 of our last 8 in the league and only won 4 out of 12, excluding a small, insignificant 3rd round FA cup tie in front of a modest crowd..... Sam Hammam lost patience with Alan Cork and sacked him. This run of form saw us drop out of the playoffs, where we'd been for much of the earlier part of the season. 3 Bristol City goals in 5 minutes seemed to be the turning point (they were a real bogey side back then, until the playoffs the following season).

Anyway, enter Lennie Lawrence. 5 games unbeaten, 3 wins, 2 draws. One draw was at home to QPR and I recall Fortune-West and Danny Shittu squaring up to each other like two Charles Atlases. Despite this sudden good run we were still adrift of the playoffs. Oldham were a place above us in the league and defeat was likely to be fatal to either in their quest for a top 6 place. This was easily the toughest test for Lawrence's men - the previous 5 games were all winnable. Oldham weren't in great form though, this felt like a good opportunity. Lawrence went with 3 up front - Leo, Magic Hat and Andy Campbell (who I don't think had a nickname).

Scott Young scored early doors. 3-0 up after 23 minutes thanks to Fortune-West and Thorne. Campbell and Fortune-West added to the tally. 5-0 up at half time. Extraordinary considering we were playing against two Andy Gorams. Sad, in a way, to see the demise of a once very good goalkeeper.

I owned my first mobile phone that year. A mate of mine kept texting me the score, even though I was listening on Real Radio. I had an old Nokia brick that only stored 5 text messages at a time. I recall having to delete them as there were so many messages coming through.

As for that season, we were nigh on invincible from then on. We won 8 out of 9, the only blip being a 2-2 draw at Huddersfield, when Andy Booth clearly dived to win a penalty when we were 2-0 up. I recall listening to the internet commentary with the great Phil Suarez and I thought he was going to have a heart attack - he called Booth a cheat and all sorts. That penalty, and the resulting draw, meant we narrowly missed out on automatic promotion. 13 games unbeaten, 10 wins. Incredible run of form that we haven't seen the likes of since. We were a minute away from a playoff final as well.....

9.
Date: 9 February 2019
Match: Southampton 1-2 Cardiff City

At the start of February, we were 4 points adrift of safety in the Premier League. We'd had a disappointing return since the win at Leicester. Southampton had picked up some wins under their new manager.

We went into the game with memories of Juan Cala's majestic winner 5 years before. That proved to be a false dawn. So did this.

20 minutes to go. Bamba scores. My pocket radio runs out of battery. I'm on a bus heading into Cardiff, no idea why. My boy is sitting next to me in the front side-on seats behind the driver. I choose Radio 5 on the Beeb's app.

Injury time. Bollocks. Jack Stephens has levelled. It has been coming.

2 minutes later. "Let's go back to St. Mary's. Incredible scenes there. There's been another goal." F*ck. Blown it. Utter despair. I take my earphone out, my boy is listening with the other, even though my face is filled with rage. "Dad, dad. Zohore has scored." "What?" I pick up the dangling earphone. Huge scream of "Yeahhh" on the bus as we head down Westgate St. Driver tells me I frightened the shit out of him. I probably did when I got on.

Match of the Day that evening showed that we really went for it after the equaliser and got players forward. Sadly we did too little of that during the season.

8.
Date: 13 May 2003
Match: Bristol City 0-0 Cardiff City

3 days before, Cardiff City fans witnessed two incredible events. One was a win over the carrot crunchers. The second was an assist by Willie Boland.

Put into perspective, we led the table early on that season but stuttered in the second half of the season. Our form going into the playoffs was 2 points from 5 games. A point at Crewe on the last day saw us stutter into the last playoff spot. There to meet us were Jursset's mates. We'd done pretty well against them over 2 seasons, winning 1 point from 4 games. Scott Murray ripped us apart time after time. This 2nd leg was going to be the biggest backs to the wall job in history.

That's how I remember it. We didn't create much but we didn't allow Bristol City many chances. Alexander's save from Brian Tinnion will go down as one of the greates saves in the club's history. Pity he didn't know how to save penalties.

After the previous season's last minute woes, I don't think I've ever been as tense as I was for this. Jeff Winter blows the final whistle. Relief - like trying to delay orgasm or a piss after 4 pints and an hour bus trip.

Cardiff City would become the first team to keep 3 clean sheets in the playoffs. Spencer Prior would subsequently become the first defender to have 2 successful playoff campaigns without conceding a goal. Who whodda thunk?

7.
Date: 14 December 2019
Match: Leeds Utd 3-3 Cardiff City

This was Neil Harris's 6th game in charge of Cardiff City. On paper it was a tricky ask. Leeds top of the tree and looking very good. Our away form was crap. Leeds had pace and power. We had long balls. Even given how much of a bogey side we've been to Leeds, this was utterly extraordinary.

8 minutes gone. Patrick Bamford adds to Helda Costa's earlier strike. 2-0 down. This is going to be horrendous. Somehow we don't concede again in the first half.

7 minutes into the second half. Penalty. 3-0. Game over. Let's keep it at 3.

On the hour Tomlin somehow finds the far corner with a lob of some applomb. 8 minutes to go, Morrison, with a Bob Anderson moustache, heads home. There's hope. 4 minutes to go. No there isn't. Morrison scythes down Nketiah. Red card.

2 minutes later. Long ball. Sublime first-time touch from Tomlin puts Glatzel through. He rolls the ball past Casilla and it's 3-3 from the most unlikely of positions. Easily my favourite Leeds away tie, even though we didn't win.

[MacAdder]

"3 days before, Cardiff City fans witnessed two incredible events. One was a win over the carrot crunchers. The second was an assist by Willie Boland"


Great choices .... the top 6 is gonna be mega!!

[the other bob wilson]

That Oldham game was downright weird.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

That Oldham game was downright weird.

Would it be over the top to suggest it was a bit like the Brazil - Germany World cup semi-final? Yes, there might have been a bit more at stake (at Boundary Park of course ), but in terms of two relatively even matched sides, huge win for the away team, spookily both were 5-0 up at half time and had reached 7 before the home team netted. These sorts of results are always freaks.

[Former Labour leader]

Really interesting choices. Look forward to top 5.

[Michael Morris]

A poem after No. 8. By Eric The Red

In a corner of West England
The people sat in wait
For seventeen hundred bluebirds
To pillage Ashton Gate
Their sounds of guilt were carried
On The Waterfront's lapping waves
The streets were paved with gold they earned
By selling African slaves.

In a cold and windy tunnel
The ghost of Scoular howled
At the injustice of that April day
When the ref said Gabbi fouled
But tonight it would be different
As Lennie called them in
"Remember you don't always need
To score a goal to win."

The bridges were suspended
And Gareth Ainsworth too
So Wille Boland played out wide
And did the work of two.
Old Leggy ran away the years
Defending City's honour
But when his limbs began to ache
We replaced him with Mark Bonner

The Robins swarmed around the pitch
But they found no way to goal
Their only hope a Christian,
Who they thought had sold his soul.
But you can't turn a Cardiff man
With tainted trader's plunder
And when he lunged to get sent off
We just began to wonder.

The daffodils wilted and the dragon breathed
A defiant roar of fire
And its spirit filled the heart that night
Of the reborn Spencer Prior
Then Wilson played his final cards,
But all their hope was gone
When they saw the man they had to beat
Was Daniel Gabbidon

The Celts stood strong against their foe,
And the Anglo-Saxons whined
As Tinnion's header met the palm
Of Braveheart on the line
The night closed in and the lights came on
As the Bristol air grew darker
And still the enemy were repelled
By Weston, Croft and Barker

And as the moon shone brighter
The Men of Harlech sang
And they waved the black and yellow cross
Of Pembroke's Water Man.
The whistle went, and battle-hardened
Men began to cry,
You won't forget this famous night,
And brother, nor will I.

[Eric the Half a Bee]

A poem after No. 8. By Eric The Red

In a corner of West England
The people sat in wait
For seventeen hundred bluebirds
To pillage Ashton Gate
Their sounds of guilt were carried
On The Waterfront's lapping waves
The streets were paved with gold they earned
By selling African slaves.

In a cold and windy tunnel
The ghost of Scoular howled
At the injustice of that April day
When the ref said Gabbi fouled
But tonight it would be different
As Lennie called them in
"Remember you don't always need
To score a goal to win."

The bridges were suspended
And Gareth Ainsworth too
So Wille Boland played out wide
And did the work of two.
Old Leggy ran away the years
Defending City's honour
But when his limbs began to ache
We replaced him with Mark Bonner

The Robins swarmed around the pitch
But they found no way to goal
Their only hope a Christian,
Who they thought had sold his soul.
But you can't turn a Cardiff man
With tainted trader's plunder
And when he lunged to get sent off
We just began to wonder.

The daffodils wilted and the dragon breathed
A defiant roar of fire
And its spirit filled the heart that night
Of the reborn Spencer Prior
Then Wilson played his final cards,
But all their hope was gone
When they saw the man they had to beat
Was Daniel Gabbidon

The Celts stood strong against their foe,
And the Anglo-Saxons whined
As Tinnion's header met the palm
Of Braveheart on the line
The night closed in and the lights came on
As the Bristol air grew darker
And still the enemy were repelled
By Weston, Croft and Barker

And as the moon shone brighter
The Men of Harlech sang
And they waved the black and yellow cross
Of Pembroke's Water Man.
The whistle went, and battle-hardened
Men began to cry,
You won't forget this famous night,
And brother, nor will I.

Haven't seen that for years. That poem summed up the night perfectly. Thanks for that.