Cian Ashford: My short review. What were your observations?

[Keyser Soze]

It is as easy to get carried away with the win and forget the fact that we could have conceded a damn lot more. Tanner was good going forward and Romeo good in the tackle, but both were prone to defensive mistakes. Goutas and Phillips were outstanding, but had it been another day we could have been 4-0 down at half time.

As for Cian Ashford all fans will share in his joy of his first goal. First a view on his skills and attributes. He didn't seem blistering quick but seemed pretty nippy in terms of speed. He was equally passing off his left foot or his right, and combined short and medium range passing quite well. His crossing was OK and dribbling looked was confident, if not spectacular. Throw in confident at shooting and a debut goal (lucky but so what - strikers live off it) he seems to have a lot in his locker.

Decision making? I thought this part was exceptional for a young kid. What a mature player for his age. At first he settled in by keeping his game neat and tidy. When there was no option he passed back or sideways to available options to retain possession. When it was one he played it forward. So first and foremost, his decision making system seemed very professional and mature. He made hardly any mistakes. It could be summed up in the old adage "Don't give the ball away and take your risks in the final third". He read some good passes from Colwill and made well times runs, not being caught offside - so good intelligence and sense of timing there. So full marks there to the lad.

Work rate? I thought this was exceptional. Here is a kid that would die for the shirt it seems and off the ball he worked as hard as on-the-ball. When we lost possession he worked the flanks hard, or closed to the inside channel (half space) to seal off the ball from centre back to full back. He tracked back to help his full back. If I am not mistaken it was around 75-80 minutes on the clock when he decked a Southampton player with a good solid challenge back near his own third of the pitch. A hard working winger for sure, and just what you need when you don't have the ball. Josh Bowler and Jakub Meite - take note. Young man Cian, on a fraction of your wages, is showing what you should be doing week in, week out.

Finally the camera at the end and his deserved interview. A carefully crafted boring set of PR lines? No. Just a good dose of open hearted valley boy honesty on how he felt. What a lovely, humble kid who wears his heart on his sleeve was my first impression. However he has been brought up his parents have done a great job as he seems to display all the values required to succeed at a good level from a mental perspective.

Debut goal? Check. Good team work? Check. Mature decision-making? Check. Hard work ethic? Check. Humility? Check. If Cian can repeat this, then no matter if the chips are down and the team are off-point, you can rely on this guy to in the trenches ready to fight on behalf of the club. A few more games like this and he deserves a serious contract. Fans pay money to see local players like this, and I haven't seen this since a young Aaron Ramsey was here before going to Arsenal. Well done Cian Ashford, you brought a tear to the eye of a man in his Forties yesterday with your performance, sense of pride and love for the club, and your interview. May football treat you well, young man - I sense you will be a gem.

[North Cardiff Blue]

It is as easy to get carried away with the win and forget the fact that we could have conceded a damn lot more. Tanner was good going forward and Romeo good in the tackle, but both were prone to defensive mistakes. Goutas and Phillips were outstanding, but had it been another day we could have been 4-0 down at half time.

As for Cian Ashford all fans will share in his joy of his first goal. First a view on his skills and attributes. He didn't seem blistering quick but seemed pretty nippy in terms of speed. He was equally passing off his left foot or his right, and combined short and medium range passing quite well. His crossing was OK and dribbling looked was confident, if not spectacular. Throw in confident at shooting and a debut goal (lucky but so what - strikers live off it) he seems to have a lot in his locker.

Decision making? I thought this part was exceptional for a young kid. What a mature player for his age. At first he settled in by keeping his game neat and tidy. When there was no option he passed back or sideways to available options to retain possession. When it was one he played it forward. So first and foremost, his decision making system seemed very professional and mature. He made hardly any mistakes. It could be summed up in the old adage "Don't give the ball away and take your risks in the final third". He read some good passes from Colwill and made well times runs, not being caught offside - so good intelligence and sense of timing there. So full marks there to the lad.

Work rate? I thought this was exceptional. Here is a kid that would die for the shirt it seems and off the ball he worked as hard as on-the-ball. When we lost possession he worked the flanks hard, or closed to the inside channel (half space) to seal off the ball from centre back to full back. He tracked back to help his full back. If I am not mistaken it was around 75-80 minutes on the clock when he decked a Southampton player with a good solid challenge back near his own third of the pitch. A hard working winger for sure, and just what you need when you don't have the ball. Josh Bowler and Jakub Meite - take note. Young man Cian, on a fraction of your wages, is showing what you should be doing week in, week out.

Finally the camera at the end and his deserved interview. A carefully crafted boring set of PR lines? No. Just a good dose of open hearted valley boy honesty on how he felt. What a lovely, humble kid who wears his heart on his sleeve was my first impression. However he has been brought up his parents have done a great job as he seems to display all the values required to succeed at a good level from a mental perspective.

Debut goal? Check. Good team work? Check. Mature decision-making? Check. Hard work ethic? Check. Humility? Check. If Cian can repeat this, then no matter if the chips are down and the team are off-point, you can rely on this guy to in the trenches ready to fight on behalf of the club. A few more games like this and he deserves a serious contract. Fans pay money to see local players like this, and I haven't seen this since a young Aaron Ramsey was here before going to Arsenal. Well done Cian Ashford, you brought a tear to the eye of a man in his Forties yesterday with your performance, sense of pride and love for the club, and your interview. May football treat you well, young man - I sense you will be a gem.

Aye great full debut, played very well, you can tell he was going to be good as various season pro's like Siopis and Ralls were already singing his praises.

[NottinghamBlue]

It is as easy to get carried away with the win and forget the fact that we could have conceded a damn lot more. Tanner was good going forward and Romeo good in the tackle, but both were prone to defensive mistakes. Goutas and Phillips were outstanding, but had it been another day we could have been 4-0 down at half time.

As for Cian Ashford all fans will share in his joy of his first goal. First a view on his skills and attributes. He didn't seem blistering quick but seemed pretty nippy in terms of speed. He was equally passing off his left foot or his right, and combined short and medium range passing quite well. His crossing was OK and dribbling looked was confident, if not spectacular. Throw in confident at shooting and a debut goal (lucky but so what - strikers live off it) he seems to have a lot in his locker.

Decision making? I thought this part was exceptional for a young kid. What a mature player for his age. At first he settled in by keeping his game neat and tidy. When there was no option he passed back or sideways to available options to retain possession. When it was one he played it forward. So first and foremost, his decision making system seemed very professional and mature. He made hardly any mistakes. It could be summed up in the old adage "Don't give the ball away and take your risks in the final third". He read some good passes from Colwill and made well times runs, not being caught offside - so good intelligence and sense of timing there. So full marks there to the lad.

Work rate? I thought this was exceptional. Here is a kid that would die for the shirt it seems and off the ball he worked as hard as on-the-ball. When we lost possession he worked the flanks hard, or closed to the inside channel (half space) to seal off the ball from centre back to full back. He tracked back to help his full back. If I am not mistaken it was around 75-80 minutes on the clock when he decked a Southampton player with a good solid challenge back near his own third of the pitch. A hard working winger for sure, and just what you need when you don't have the ball. Josh Bowler and Jakub Meite - take note. Young man Cian, on a fraction of your wages, is showing what you should be doing week in, week out.

Finally the camera at the end and his deserved interview. A carefully crafted boring set of PR lines? No. Just a good dose of open hearted valley boy honesty on how he felt. What a lovely, humble kid who wears his heart on his sleeve was my first impression. However he has been brought up his parents have done a great job as he seems to display all the values required to succeed at a good level from a mental perspective.

Debut goal? Check. Good team work? Check. Mature decision-making? Check. Hard work ethic? Check. Humility? Check. If Cian can repeat this, then no matter if the chips are down and the team are off-point, you can rely on this guy to in the trenches ready to fight on behalf of the club. A few more games like this and he deserves a serious contract. Fans pay money to see local players like this, and I haven't seen this since a young Aaron Ramsey was here before going to Arsenal. Well done Cian Ashford, you brought a tear to the eye of a man in his Forties yesterday with your performance, sense of pride and love for the club, and your interview. May football treat you well, young man - I sense you will be a gem.

KS, I agree with everything that you've said. Well done Cian, a very impressive game.

[the other bob wilson]

I like that as soon as he got the ball off Giles, all he wanted to do was get in a shooting position. If quite a few of our players were cutting in from the flank like that making it pretty clear they were going to shoot from twenty five yards, I'd have been thinking don't do it because you know they're much more likely to miss and waste the chance. If Ashford's shot had not got the deflection, I reckon it would have been a testing effort for the keeper to get to as it was heading towards the opposite corner and there was a shot from a similar distance in the first half that he caught really well, but was blocked by a defender.

I also think back to another goal he scored in added time for the Wales Under 21 side against the Czech Republic which was a different type of shot from distance, but it was executed perfectly.

I remember that if a ball dropped to Whitts about twenty five yards out and he had the time to get.a shot away, I was expecting that, at the very least, the goalkeeper is going to make a good save here. Now, I wouldn't saddle a kid who just scored his first Cardiff goal with over expectation by saying he's on a par with a club great, but the early evidence e is that he has a good, repeatable technique which gives him a better chance of succeeding with a particular skill more than most others - it seems this may extend beyond shooting as well.

[Citizen's Nephew]

Fab debut. Really pleased for the lad. Just think this is all over analysis and hype after one match. Let’s not kid ourselves either. If he’s the next Whitts then he’s going to be snapped up once he’s in the shop window.