City have slipped back in recent games from the Play Off position we were occupying, but given that we’re coming off a three game week where the trio of opponents we faced were all above us us in the table, this is not entirely unexpected.
I believe that our current position towards the middle of the table is a more accurate reflection of the squad’s ability, but the opportunity is there now for me to be proved wrong as we enter a period of seven games (four of them at home) where we face five teams currently more concerned with matters at the bottom of the table than the top.
Hull and top of the table Leicester are the exceptions to that rule in our coming fixtures, but, looking at fixtures against Millwall, Birmingham, Sheffield Wednesday, Plymouth and QPR you have to say the current league table suggests that there’s five matches there where we should be winning more than we lose if we really are the top half team that we have been for the last few months.
The run of fixtures begins tomorrow with a visit from a Millwall team which did the double over us last season without us managing to find the net against them – in fact, the London have won the last three games we’ve played against them to end a long run where matches invariably ended all square. Therefore, the recent history of the fixture has us not beating Millwall very often, but, somewhat surprisingly, it’s been a tougher season than expected for them so far.
Unusually, Millwall have struggled at home this season with just two wins and six defeats in their ten matches at the New Den. Away from home it’s a different story, with three victories and two defeats from nine matches which have seen them concede just ten goals, so it’s not going to be easy tomorrow – does a draw look the most likely result?
One other thing to mention before the quiz, the under 21s continued their recent improvement with a very satisfying 3=0 win over the jacks on Tuesday at Leckwith. Truth be told, the outcome flattered City who, in the second half in particular came under sustained pressure from Swansea, but it was just one of those days for the visitors who just couldn’t score and were reduced to ten men late on after one of their defenders was shown a second yellow card.
City’s goals are well worth a watch on the club website if you’ve not seen them yet – James Crole got the first early on as his crisp finish ended a good team move, My City Man of the Match, Cameron Antwi scored the second from a free kick twenty five yards out and, after a fairly quiet game by his standards,, Joel Colwell completed the scoring just before the end with what was, arguably , the pick of the bunch.
Anyway, here’s the usual quiz on upcoming opponents.
60s.Born in a place famous for its Patriarchs I suppose – I remember him more as a midfielder than the striker Wikipedia lists him as. Whichever is right, he’s another of those players who spent all of his career playing his league football a long way away from his birthplace. In this case, the midfielder/striker spent all of his career in south east England, despite being born some way north of that region, until he returned home right at the end of his career to play non league football for his native town – in fact, he was player/manager of his last club.
Starting off at a home for the elderly, he made little impact until he moved to a club with a novel name who were probably playing in the same colours as his former club at that time (they did tend to change colours a lot). His eye for a goal saw him move north east to flatlands for four years before he was, briefly, transferred to one of Millwall’s neighbours. Next it was Millwall, for whom he played more games and scored more goals than any other club before that aforementioned move home which ended with his retirement from the game at thirty four. Who am I describing?
70s. White was the colour for this London born defender during the early stages of his Football League career, His first three teams were all from the capital and all wore that colour although the second of them, Millwall, decided to revert to blue half way through his couple of seasons at the club.
Much of his career was spent in America where he tended to favour the Western side of that country as he had two spells in a city strongly associated with a music genre playing for separate clubs. He’d not finished entirely with the UK though as he spent three years with striped north Midlanders in the early eighties? Who is he?
80s. One paced, giant killing Millwall full back maybe!!
90s. Apologies, the question originally posted here contained an error, so I’ve replaced it with this one.
Millwall, where a Bard gets to meet their maker maybe? (4.5)
00s. Who is the next Millwall player in this Cardiff City related sequence from this decade – Tim Cahill, David Livermore, Allan Duune and ………..?
10s. Sounds like an appropriate holiday!
20s. Two members of the same family were on the books of City and Millwall last season, who were they?
Answers
60s. Boston born Gordon Bolland played for Chelsea, Leyton Orient, Norwich and Charlton before spending six years at Millwall for whom he played close to two hundred and fifty league matches. Bolland left Millwall to become Player/manager of Boston United in 1975.
70s.Ray Evans played for Spurs, Fulham and Millwall before the USA more or less became his base as had spells at clubs from St Louis, Anaheim, Tacoma and a couple of teams based in Seattle. Evans also played for Stoke City between 1979 and 1982.
80s. David Stride.
90s. Mark Beard.
00s. Jody Morris – Cahill, Livermore, Dunne and Morris were all sent off while playing for Millwall against us in a run of four games in the middle of this decade. Cahill was dismissed in a 0-0 draw at the New Den in April 2004, Livermore and Dunne saw red in their 1-0 win at Ninian Park in February 2005 (City’s James Collins was also sent off in this match) and Morris walked in another 0-0 draw at the New Den in September 2005.
10s. Jermaine Easter.
20s. Jack Leahy (now with Steve Morison at Hornchurch) was a member of City’s under 21 squad last season and his brother Tom is still with Millwall.