Round-up for the Cardiff City FC match program:
What now my love by Andy Sloan
Cardiff City’s aspirations at the start of the season were clear: promotion. Defensive frailties let them down again midweek against Wolves and they are in need of a belter of a performance to get back on track. A performance akin to the away win over West Brom in the Carling Cup, a performance that would be worthy of another great Welsh performer: Dame Shirley Bassey, the inspiration for this week’s theme and the inclusion of 33 album and track names. Can you spot them?
Wednesday born to sing the blues
Cardiff face Scunthorpe today; at home. It is not the easiest of encounters squaring up to a side whose nickname is The Iron, who’ve only lost one of their previous five matches and who won their last one, inflicting a fifth home defeat on Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night. Scunthorpe are used to breaking hearts.
It was an Owls old-boy, Martin Paterson, who took Wednesday’s heart away with a brace before the break after Deon Burton put the home side ahead from the spot on Tuesday. Scunthorpe are up to ninth and where Cardiff should be.
Sheffield Wednesday are home to Blackpool today and a result for the Owls could see them rise from the relegation zone and help keep Blackpool below Cardiff.
West Brom reach for the stars
Despite losing four games away from home West Bromwich Albion have climbed almost every home mountain and on Tuesday they beat Blackpool to go second. Results elsewhere mean they now lie fourth and today they will have an opportunity to add to their excellent home record against Norwich.
West Brom took the lead early on against Blackpool through Ishmael Miller but before the break Scott Vernon equalised for the visitors. James Morrison pulled the goldfinger trigger to start a fire down below and belt home a 20 yard rocket in the closing stages to steal the points.
Baggies boss Tony Mowbray entertained Cardiff City fans when he said: "At home this season, we have been pretty impressive.” We all remember the Bluebirds 4-2 Carling Cup victory at the Hawthorns.
Watford talk of the town against Coventry
League leaders Watford pulled further away from the chasing pack with a thumping result at the Ricoh Arena. Their 3-0 demolition of Coventry compounded Ian Dowie’s problems and helped fuel strenuously denied rumours about the berth at Bolton.
West Brom and co. have a chance to claw three points back today, but only until Monday when the Hornets face Palace. Watford have been good and bad but midweek they were beautiful and the Eagles are unlikely to upset them.
Marlon King carried on where he left off against Hull, scoring the Hornets second goal against Coventry after Adam Johnson’s opener, set up by the King, naturally. He also hit the wood work and set up Henderson for the third before half time to send Watford nine, count them, nine points clear.
The good news was that Adrian Boothroyd’s men weren’t infallible. The bad new was that Michael Misfud seemed to have lost his Midas touch and blew the best of the home sides chances.
Coventry have to pick themselves up to face Colchester who got ideas above their station with a 3-2 defeat of Premiership yo-yos West Bromwich Albion last weekend. They were brought back down to earth with a horrible 3-1 reverse against Ipswich.
Ipswich never, never, never lose at home
No one wants to lose a derby and Colchester boss Geraint Williams would have been delighted when Clive Platt gave the U’s a 31st minute lead against Ipswich. It was a lead they held into the break giving a fine demonstration of why they’ve scored even more goals than Watford.
The flipside is that Colchester have conceded the same number of goals as Sheffield Wednesday and failed to stop the rot in the second-half at Portman Road. Mark Yeates missed what turned out to be a pivotal penalty and Ipswich took full advantage, seizing the momentum to score three goals in thirteen minutes to snatch the bragging rights.
More significantly, they maintained their 100% home record. Jonathan Walters, Liam Trotter and Danny Haynes would have been the toast of the town. If completely unsubstantiated rumours are correct they might even have Beckham training with them over the winter as he attempts to maintain his fitness during the MLS close season. Today they have to settle for a kick-a-bout with Mick McCarthy’s Wolves.
Nobody does it like Warnock
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan employed Neil Warnock as a winner but he lost against Stoke in his first home game last Tuesday and on Monday faces a Watford team on the rampage.
Richard Creswell for Stoke and Dougie Freedman for Palace traded goals shortly after half time but the former had another one up his sleeve. Freedman, and the Eagles, had no reply. Ryan Shawcross won’t have pleased Jordan when he added a third for the visitors. ‘And We Were Lovers’ was unlikely to be on the post match entertainment shortlist.
Stoke supreme Tony Pulis had nothing but thoughts of love for his defence despite alarming reports of premature arthritis. "The oldest player in our back four is 22, and Palace had a good spell when we were creaking a bit,” he said.
Love, life and feelings are looking good for Bristol
Bristol City maintained their sensational start to life in the Championship with a battling 2-0 win over Southampton midweek. They will be relishing today’s clash with Stoke as a chance to further outline their credentials for back to back promotion.
Darren Byfield and Ivan Sproule put the Robins two goals up within the first twenty minutes. Southampton were given hope by an own goal from Jamie McAllister in the second half but could not find an equaliser and lost Youssef Safri to a red card in injury time.
Robson is no fool on the hill
Neil Warnock’s successor at the Blades, Bryan Robson, does not have the greatest of golden eyes for rescuing teams from relegation. But he pulled the oldest football club in the world, Sheffield United, away from a drop zone they had no right to be anywhere near with a 1-0 win away to Leicester on Tuesday night. They start today on thirteen points, level with Cardiff.
James Beattie will be in need of counselling after the Championship’s top scorer failed to get his name on the score-sheet against Leicester although he did have a goal disallowed for offside. Instead it was Danny Webber who took on the goal-scoring duties, striking ten minutes into the second half to secure Robson a much needed win.
Gary Megson is another name that has been heavily linked with the vacant remit at the Reebok stadium not least after the Foxes had kept clean sheets in their last three matches until the visit of Beattie and co.
Barnsley lose the rhythm divine
Next up for big spender Bryan and the Blades are Hull, who were something else in their 3-0 demolition of Barnsley on Monday night. A brace from yet another Manchester United youngster, Frazier Campbell, sealed the win. Campbell is on loan from the Theatre of Dreams in a bid to kick-start some of his own. A draw between the Sheffield United and Hull would suit Cardiff just fine.
Barnsley, who saw their seven game unbeaten run ended at the KC Stadium will look to bounce back against Leicester today, not least after Sheffield United’s Danny Webber proved that no defence is water tight for long.
Pilgrims living a special dream in the Valley
The undisputed highlight of the midweek activity was Plymouth Argyle’s 2-1 away win at the Valley which leaves them fifth in the table ahead of their trip to Preston today.
The visitors were something else as they took a surprise lead through Sylvan Ebanks-Blake barely five minutes after the Pilgrims boss Ian Holloway had taken his seat for kick-off.
Danny Mills rolled back the years with a fabulous long range effort to equalise although the goal was credited to the Plymouth keeper Luke McCormick after Mills’s shot hit the woodwork then McCormick to find the net.
Barry Hayles stopped the show in the 38th minute with what turned out to be the winner as Plymouth held on stoically in the second half to infuriate Alan Pardew and get the party started in the West Country.
“The referee and the goalkeeper's performance are excuses that could have been taken out of the equation tonight if we had better finishing,” said the Addicks boss.
Ian Holloway said: "Sometimes us managers fall on our sword but if we continue to play like that, it won't happen to me." He didn’t say: “Kiss me, honey, honey, kiss me.”
The show must go on at QPR
Flavio Briatore’s attempts to return Loftus Road to the glamour days of Rodney Marsh and company could take a step in the right direction today as a win would see them leave the relegation zone for the first time in a long time.
A goalless midweek draw away at Preston salvaged another point to put towards their cause but today’s fixture away to a Charlton side smarting from some smart talking from Ian Holloway is unlikely to yield the desired result. Can QPR prevent history repeating and turn the tide of results?
Norwich simply hope to get by
Peter Grant might well wonder “Does anybody miss me?” Norwich are now level on points with QPR, likely to take a hiding at the hands of the Baggies and lost (again) in midweek to Burnley, although they did score.
Unfortunately it took Robbie Blake less than a minute to put the Clarets ahead and Andy Gray made it two from the spot three minutes later to prolong the nightmare for Norwich. Chris Brown’s first goal for the Canaries gave them a sniff of some points but Burnley kept the music playing to take all three.
And for those of you wondering how I planned to get diamonds are forever into this review, well, that’s another story.
Today's other fixtures:
Bristol City v Stoke, 15:00
Burnley v Southampton, 17:20
Cardiff v Scunthorpe, 15:00
Charlton v QPR, 12:45
Coventry v Colchester, 15:00
Hull v Sheff Utd, 15:00
Ipswich v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Leicester v Barnsley, 15:00
Preston v Plymouth, 15:00
Sheff Wed v Blackpool, 15:00
West Brom v Norwich, 15:00
What now my love by Andy Sloan
Cardiff City’s aspirations at the start of the season were clear: promotion. Defensive frailties let them down again midweek against Wolves and they are in need of a belter of a performance to get back on track. A performance akin to the away win over West Brom in the Carling Cup, a performance that would be worthy of another great Welsh performer: Dame Shirley Bassey, the inspiration for this week’s theme and the inclusion of 33 album and track names. Can you spot them?
Wednesday born to sing the blues
Cardiff face Scunthorpe today; at home. It is not the easiest of encounters squaring up to a side whose nickname is The Iron, who’ve only lost one of their previous five matches and who won their last one, inflicting a fifth home defeat on Sheffield Wednesday on Tuesday night. Scunthorpe are used to breaking hearts.
It was an Owls old-boy, Martin Paterson, who took Wednesday’s heart away with a brace before the break after Deon Burton put the home side ahead from the spot on Tuesday. Scunthorpe are up to ninth and where Cardiff should be.
Sheffield Wednesday are home to Blackpool today and a result for the Owls could see them rise from the relegation zone and help keep Blackpool below Cardiff.
West Brom reach for the stars
Despite losing four games away from home West Bromwich Albion have climbed almost every home mountain and on Tuesday they beat Blackpool to go second. Results elsewhere mean they now lie fourth and today they will have an opportunity to add to their excellent home record against Norwich.
West Brom took the lead early on against Blackpool through Ishmael Miller but before the break Scott Vernon equalised for the visitors. James Morrison pulled the goldfinger trigger to start a fire down below and belt home a 20 yard rocket in the closing stages to steal the points.
Baggies boss Tony Mowbray entertained Cardiff City fans when he said: "At home this season, we have been pretty impressive.” We all remember the Bluebirds 4-2 Carling Cup victory at the Hawthorns.
Watford talk of the town against Coventry
League leaders Watford pulled further away from the chasing pack with a thumping result at the Ricoh Arena. Their 3-0 demolition of Coventry compounded Ian Dowie’s problems and helped fuel strenuously denied rumours about the berth at Bolton.
West Brom and co. have a chance to claw three points back today, but only until Monday when the Hornets face Palace. Watford have been good and bad but midweek they were beautiful and the Eagles are unlikely to upset them.
Marlon King carried on where he left off against Hull, scoring the Hornets second goal against Coventry after Adam Johnson’s opener, set up by the King, naturally. He also hit the wood work and set up Henderson for the third before half time to send Watford nine, count them, nine points clear.
The good news was that Adrian Boothroyd’s men weren’t infallible. The bad new was that Michael Misfud seemed to have lost his Midas touch and blew the best of the home sides chances.
Coventry have to pick themselves up to face Colchester who got ideas above their station with a 3-2 defeat of Premiership yo-yos West Bromwich Albion last weekend. They were brought back down to earth with a horrible 3-1 reverse against Ipswich.
Ipswich never, never, never lose at home
No one wants to lose a derby and Colchester boss Geraint Williams would have been delighted when Clive Platt gave the U’s a 31st minute lead against Ipswich. It was a lead they held into the break giving a fine demonstration of why they’ve scored even more goals than Watford.
The flipside is that Colchester have conceded the same number of goals as Sheffield Wednesday and failed to stop the rot in the second-half at Portman Road. Mark Yeates missed what turned out to be a pivotal penalty and Ipswich took full advantage, seizing the momentum to score three goals in thirteen minutes to snatch the bragging rights.
More significantly, they maintained their 100% home record. Jonathan Walters, Liam Trotter and Danny Haynes would have been the toast of the town. If completely unsubstantiated rumours are correct they might even have Beckham training with them over the winter as he attempts to maintain his fitness during the MLS close season. Today they have to settle for a kick-a-bout with Mick McCarthy’s Wolves.
Nobody does it like Warnock
Crystal Palace chairman Simon Jordan employed Neil Warnock as a winner but he lost against Stoke in his first home game last Tuesday and on Monday faces a Watford team on the rampage.
Richard Creswell for Stoke and Dougie Freedman for Palace traded goals shortly after half time but the former had another one up his sleeve. Freedman, and the Eagles, had no reply. Ryan Shawcross won’t have pleased Jordan when he added a third for the visitors. ‘And We Were Lovers’ was unlikely to be on the post match entertainment shortlist.
Stoke supreme Tony Pulis had nothing but thoughts of love for his defence despite alarming reports of premature arthritis. "The oldest player in our back four is 22, and Palace had a good spell when we were creaking a bit,” he said.
Love, life and feelings are looking good for Bristol
Bristol City maintained their sensational start to life in the Championship with a battling 2-0 win over Southampton midweek. They will be relishing today’s clash with Stoke as a chance to further outline their credentials for back to back promotion.
Darren Byfield and Ivan Sproule put the Robins two goals up within the first twenty minutes. Southampton were given hope by an own goal from Jamie McAllister in the second half but could not find an equaliser and lost Youssef Safri to a red card in injury time.
Robson is no fool on the hill
Neil Warnock’s successor at the Blades, Bryan Robson, does not have the greatest of golden eyes for rescuing teams from relegation. But he pulled the oldest football club in the world, Sheffield United, away from a drop zone they had no right to be anywhere near with a 1-0 win away to Leicester on Tuesday night. They start today on thirteen points, level with Cardiff.
James Beattie will be in need of counselling after the Championship’s top scorer failed to get his name on the score-sheet against Leicester although he did have a goal disallowed for offside. Instead it was Danny Webber who took on the goal-scoring duties, striking ten minutes into the second half to secure Robson a much needed win.
Gary Megson is another name that has been heavily linked with the vacant remit at the Reebok stadium not least after the Foxes had kept clean sheets in their last three matches until the visit of Beattie and co.
Barnsley lose the rhythm divine
Next up for big spender Bryan and the Blades are Hull, who were something else in their 3-0 demolition of Barnsley on Monday night. A brace from yet another Manchester United youngster, Frazier Campbell, sealed the win. Campbell is on loan from the Theatre of Dreams in a bid to kick-start some of his own. A draw between the Sheffield United and Hull would suit Cardiff just fine.
Barnsley, who saw their seven game unbeaten run ended at the KC Stadium will look to bounce back against Leicester today, not least after Sheffield United’s Danny Webber proved that no defence is water tight for long.
Pilgrims living a special dream in the Valley
The undisputed highlight of the midweek activity was Plymouth Argyle’s 2-1 away win at the Valley which leaves them fifth in the table ahead of their trip to Preston today.
The visitors were something else as they took a surprise lead through Sylvan Ebanks-Blake barely five minutes after the Pilgrims boss Ian Holloway had taken his seat for kick-off.
Danny Mills rolled back the years with a fabulous long range effort to equalise although the goal was credited to the Plymouth keeper Luke McCormick after Mills’s shot hit the woodwork then McCormick to find the net.
Barry Hayles stopped the show in the 38th minute with what turned out to be the winner as Plymouth held on stoically in the second half to infuriate Alan Pardew and get the party started in the West Country.
“The referee and the goalkeeper's performance are excuses that could have been taken out of the equation tonight if we had better finishing,” said the Addicks boss.
Ian Holloway said: "Sometimes us managers fall on our sword but if we continue to play like that, it won't happen to me." He didn’t say: “Kiss me, honey, honey, kiss me.”
The show must go on at QPR
Flavio Briatore’s attempts to return Loftus Road to the glamour days of Rodney Marsh and company could take a step in the right direction today as a win would see them leave the relegation zone for the first time in a long time.
A goalless midweek draw away at Preston salvaged another point to put towards their cause but today’s fixture away to a Charlton side smarting from some smart talking from Ian Holloway is unlikely to yield the desired result. Can QPR prevent history repeating and turn the tide of results?
Norwich simply hope to get by
Peter Grant might well wonder “Does anybody miss me?” Norwich are now level on points with QPR, likely to take a hiding at the hands of the Baggies and lost (again) in midweek to Burnley, although they did score.
Unfortunately it took Robbie Blake less than a minute to put the Clarets ahead and Andy Gray made it two from the spot three minutes later to prolong the nightmare for Norwich. Chris Brown’s first goal for the Canaries gave them a sniff of some points but Burnley kept the music playing to take all three.
And for those of you wondering how I planned to get diamonds are forever into this review, well, that’s another story.
Today's other fixtures:
Bristol City v Stoke, 15:00
Burnley v Southampton, 17:20
Cardiff v Scunthorpe, 15:00
Charlton v QPR, 12:45
Coventry v Colchester, 15:00
Hull v Sheff Utd, 15:00
Ipswich v Wolverhampton, 15:00
Leicester v Barnsley, 15:00
Preston v Plymouth, 15:00
Sheff Wed v Blackpool, 15:00
West Brom v Norwich, 15:00
