Another home game and back-to-back wins. This week we hosted Cardiff City under the lights of the MKM Stadium. Last time we played The Bluebirds, we fought hard to scrape a 2-3 victory, which was Rosenior’s first win in charge of The Tigers. It was also a new manager bossing the opponent today, Sabri Lamouchi, who has had one game in charge so far, where his side were defeated 1-0 to Luton Town earlier in the week.
Cardiff came into the game with three losses and two draws, whereas we headed into the game with three wins, one loss and one draw in our previous five league matches. We also thrashed QPR, 3-0, last week so I have to say that we were the heavy favourites. And, we are developing into a team that is a tough nut to crack.
Since Rosenior was brought in to manage us, we have been averaging 1.55 points per match, which over a whole season would see us finish in the top six on 71 points. So, the opportunity to get into the playoffs is still there. Before he came in, it looked impossible to get a top half finish; however, that has now changed and the dream is still there.
The line-up today consisted of: Matt Ingram (in goal); Callum Elder; Cyrus Christie; Alfie Jones; Sean McLoughlin (as the back four); Regan Slater; Jean Seri; Greg Docherty; Ozan Tufan (as the middle four); Oscar Estupinan and Aaron Connolly (in attack). Unchanged from our victory against the Rs last week and on the bench for us was: Lewie Coyle; Jacob Greaves; Tobias Figueiredo; Karl Darlow; Ryan Woods; Ryan Longman and Xavier Simons. It is great to see Greaves as an option today along with new signing Karl Darlow.
It was a completely different performance from us today, compared with last week, and it was just the one goal. They had 14 shots to our 12 – we had more on target though, which was four to their three, we had 55% of the possession and we completed 483 passes compared to their 389. Looking at the stats it shows that we kept the ball well; however, we could not do much with it and Cardiff having less possession and fewer passes shows that they made their chances count. Also, we completed 349 passes in our last game and scored three goals; however, in this game we had more and were only able to score one goal. It is very strange and it has been happening quite a lot recently.
In the opening minutes of the first half, I thought that we played quite well; passing it well and we looked threatening on attack. The only problem when we attack, though, is that we are not quick enough as we spend too much time looking around for options. If you have space drive up the pitch with it and once you get to the edge of the box whip it in or shoot. It frustrates me when we win the ball back and just stand with it looking for options. It just allows the opposition to get bodies back into their half.
We had a few chances during the first half when in the 11th minute Regan Slater made a run into the box and shot into the right hand side of the goal, where it was deflected onto the post. I was ready to celebrate, which was quickly silenced by the away fans mocking us.
Four minutes after that, we were awarded a corner. The ball was swung in and Alfie Jones’s effort just went over the bar. Again, I was ready to celebrate. That made it two chances in four minutes. However, the best opportunity of the half came in the later minutes when the ball was swung into the box and all it would have needed was the slightest of touches to put us into the lead.
Cardiff did have some attacks of their own but they struggled to get into the area to take an effective shot, which is good considering how breakable our back line has been recently; however, they were awarded a penalty in the 21st minute. Callum Robinson was put up for the task and he hit the ball cleanly. But, it was not enough to beat Matt Ingram and he has saved his first penalty this season. This was such a relief, as when it was awarded the travelling fans tried to break the thin yellow line – as described by Toby Young – and get over to us. When they missed they went silent and never made a sound again.
The finishing was not quite there for us in the first half and other than being slow on the counter attack, I thought that we dominated the game well.
In the second period it was quite a battle to be honest and we had a completely different style of play. But, it did not take us long to take the lead, which we deserved. Cyrus Christie had a sighter; in the 53rd minute he took a shot, which went off target, and eight minutes later he made the necessary adjustments by putting it into the back of the net. This goal was incredible. He kept the ball like it was on string, made a darting run into the box, took on his men and curled the ball into the bottom left corner of the net. This time I could celebrate properly and it was like we scored to get promoted; I went all over the place and I ended up many seats away from my dedicated seat. It is amazing to be able to celebrate like this at home, again.
Despite going in front, I was not happy with the way we played after this. It was like we were four nil up as we decided parking the bus was the best option. I always think that once you get one goal you should always fight for more. We did do this last week; however, I believe that the goal was our last best chance. From then on it was all Cardiff.
If it were not for our strongish back line and a great performance from Matt Ingram, we could have easily conceded. From the 70th minute Cardiff came at us and we found it very hard to get out of our own half. They had a lot of set pieces and I believe most of their corners came from the second half. The problem was that when the ball was cleared we did not push out. Instead, we allowed them to pick up the ball and come at us again. This was repeated for the rest of the half and I do not think we got anywhere near the goal again. It was a bit risky from Rosenior to do this and if it were earlier in the season, we would not have clinged on to the 1-0 lead.
So that is now 20 points out of 36 along with five wins, two losses and five draws under the management of Liam Rosenior. This man is incredible as he has taken a team struggling near the relegation zone to the top half of the league. We are now in 12th in the table with only four points separating us from that playoff spot. Also, we have won two home matches in a row for the first time since the start of the season. We next have Stoke, away, which I will be travelling to with the other 2,000 supporters. This free travel is paying off superbly and hasn't it come at a brilliant time?