Cardiff City 1 Preston North End 0. Match Report

Last updated : 06 December 2009 By Michael Morris
An early Chris Burke Christmas Cracker was enough for Cardiff City to end their latest bad run with a 1-0 home victory over Preston North End, return the Bluebirds to the play-off spots and to enable me to celebrate with an Indian supper and a Burkey Bhajee! The first half, in testing conditions, wasn't great but Cardiff largely dominated the second period and were them fully deserving victors.

However in a week when City go into two big awaydays at West Brom and Middlesbrough, it remains to be seen if victory has come at a cost as Joe Ledley limped away with a hip problem after a slip, Jay Bothroyd got himself suspended for a 5th yellow card this season, Michael Chopra came off ill, Anthony Gerrard was lost in the first half after catching a boot in the head and even Kevin McNaughton was holding his thigh again at final whistle.

~~~~ THE TEAMS ~~~~

Dave Jones could win a comedy award for the number of times he's threatened to change the side after bad shows and then wheel out the same personnel but the Ipswich defeat must have rankled as he took up 2 pages of the match programme to hit back at some recent criticisms of himself not showing enough passion and to point out the players made the wrong decisions last weekend. Of course, DJ never questions his own lack of decisions in his formation, tactics and substitutions which, many will agree, did City no favours at all.

However, for once he back his words with actions, as out went Adam Matthews, Mark Kennedy and Gavin Rae while Gabor Gyepes was absent with an injured knee as City started with Kevin McNaughton at left back, Paul Quinn on the right, Anthony Gerrard back at centre half and, most surprisingly but pleasing off all, the injury ravaged Riccy Scimeca having his first league start in almost 16 months having managed just 32 minutes of Championship football in all of the time. Welcome back Riccy.

CARDIFF CITY: Marshall; Quinn-Hudson-Gerrard-McNaughton; Burke-Ledley-Scimeca-Whittingham; Chopra-Bothroyd. Subs: Enckleman-Kennedy-Rae-McCormack-Etuhu-Taiwo-Matthews.

For Preston, their run is now getting as bad as the one City ended in this game. The Lillywhites are now winless in 6 games and taken just 3 points dropping them to 14th spot but in this crazy, inconsistent division, still just 4 points off a play-off spot. Today however, they did look a mid-table outfit, solid but without any signs of quality . In their side today was ex-Bluebird Paul Parry given the warmest of ovations at kick-off and again when he went off also doing the ayatollah. In between, he looked like the lost Paul Parry we saw at Cardiff last term and underlined why the sale of the once hugely popular player was good business in the summer.

PNE: Lonergan; Davidson-Collins-Chilvers-Jones; Parry-Chaplow-Tonge-Wallace; Parkin-Elliott.


~~~~ THE MATCH ~~~~

It was mild but another rainy week and day, with conditions worsening throughout the game, is showing the first signs of pitch fatigue. Goalmouths are starting to look a bit bare, there is a bad patch near me in the Famil Stand/Grandstand corner, sliding tackles are bring up mounds and the pitch did seem bumpy in areas too. There is also a rugby match at the stadium on Sunday. Let's hope it doesn't become an issue.

Cardiff were attacking towards the Family Stand and although the attendance was down, the atmosphere was definitely up. The crowd was announced as 18,735. That would have included 400 from Lancashire and a definite few hundred missing season ticket holders as the ground was sparse in areas. Those who stayed away wouldn't have regretted missing a barren first half.

A quiet start in a quality free half saw City fashion the first opening through Scimeca, his placed shot from outisde the box rising over the bar and shortly after, Chops went wide of a defnder but fired just as wide. There was little to choose between the teams although City appeared to have the edge but were letting themselves down with poor choices or misplaced passes in the final third. The exception being Peter Whittingham who was hitting some stunning balls into space but his colleagues could not profit on them.

The visitors created the first real scare as a losse ball was helped forward as The Beast, Jon Parkin, was goalside of Gerrard but his well executed effort was met by David Marshall showing admirable agility to tip over the bar. The resulting corner was stopped for an infringment before the ball found its way into the net.

Without being fluent, City were making openings but missing the target, Chopra took a touch too much and fired wide, Scimeca burst through midfield - I never knew he still had such pace - and fed Bothroyd but his effort was lazy and always wide. Chops got in front of a defender to meet a Burke cross which he brought down on his chest but just missed steering the ball to goal the ball flicking out a boot under extreme pressure.

Half-Time: CITY 0 PNE 0


Cardiff's second half display versus Ipswich last week was plain embarrassing and fans wondered if they were about to see the same again as Preston surged from the restart, all aided by Cardiff incompetence. Right from the kick-off, City played the ball back, centre halves swapped passes in third gear and Gerrard was within a whisker of being dispossessed and giving Parkin a clear run on goal. The resulting corner saw Parkin win the ball comfortably in the air and with Marshall hopelessly beaten, City were indebted to see Kevin McNaughton block and then clear off the line.

Next Preston attack saw three City defenders converge to block Parkin and McNaughton's boot catching Gerrard full on in the head leaving him dazed and badly cut. Cardiff decided to carry on with 10 while on the ropes. It was almost 10 minutes before they finally replaced him as medical staff couldn't stop the bleeding to stitch him up but, amazingly, the decisive goal was netted in that time.

Peter Whittingham's stunner last weekend came from a long Marshall boot and so did this as the ball fell to ground contested by Bothroyd and a Preston defender and in nipped CHRIS BURKE to side step and unleash a pearler of a rising drive across Lonergan to comprehensively beat him in the top corner from 25 yards. Brilliant stuff.

That came 10 minutes into the half and within the next 7 minutes, Dave Jones used all 3 subs, each one enforced. First Mark Kennedy replaced Gerrard with McNaughton slotted in as an emergency centre half, an unwell Chopra apparently suffering "the squits" (perhaps not surprising when he declares in the match programme how living on his own has turned him to constant takeaways!) saw Ross McCormackenter the fray and then Joe Ledley slipped awkwardly and was helped away with a groin problem allowing Gavin Rae an outing. No sooner had this been completed than Preston's Alan Irvine introduced his own triple substitution for the final quarter of the game, I've never seen all three used at once like that before.

Such disruption and having the lead has traditionally seen Dave Jones' men drop deep and attempt to hold onto what they have but, pleasingly, not today as Cardiff were positive and went for more goals to finish the game. It never arrived but there were several near misses, Lonergan denying Bothroyd who ran half the pitch after robbing a defender, Bothroyd blasting just high and wide on another exciting run, McCormack and Bothroyd excitedly linking a few times, the impressive Scimeca had a shot which deflected and just looped over the bar, balls across the area that just failed to have a decisive touch and Paul Quinn so unlucky to see his goalbound header scrambled off the line.

Preston's sole response was a far post header that cleared the bar. Five minutes added time produced no problems at all as Cardiff exercised general control and, unlike last week, closed play down, chased, harried and won second ball time. It was far from City's best display or close to the quality standards they desire but it tough conditions against tough opposition, they fought hardest and wanted it more. After seeing it the other way around for most of last month, it was very satisfying and greatly cheered.


For me, the game was won and lost in midfield where Riccy Scimeca's return and presence should not be under-estimated, he was excellent. I was surprised how fit and fast he looked, his composure on the ball and use of it were way ahead of recent attempts by others. It just makes it all the more perplexing why he has been ignored by Dave Jones until now. The question, of course, is whether he can now stay fit and last the pace, especially with two big and tough away games in the coming week. If Joe is out, Cardiff's central midfield options for the rest of December appear to be Riccy, Rae and Taiwo which is deeply worrying.

Defence will be pleased with only their 6th clean sheet of this Championship season and their first in 6 attempts. Don't think there are any doubts that the return of Kevin McNaughton is a factor. He battles hard, covers so much ground, cleans up and always seems to be where he should be when needed. He did, however, pull up on final whistle, I just hope it isn't serious.

The strikers weren't at their best today, Chopra worked hard but did tire, Jay got better the longer the game went on and Ross made a big impact coming off the bench. Chops clearly needs a goal, Whittingham and himself remain the Championship's joint leading scorers but it's now 9 games and almost 10 weeks since Chops found the back of the net. Maybe he needs to change his takeway?!?! Bothroyd will be out suspended for the visit to West Brom on Tuesday and that gives Dave Jones another Monday morning nightmare as Cardiff look set to head to The Hawthorns with a likely patched up or stop gap side. For now, let's just enjoy this win and three more points which, as a bonus, took Cardiff ahead of Swansea again and restored the natural order. :>)



Report from FootyMad

A goal in the 55th minute from Chris Burke gave Cardiff City a deserved 1-0 victory over Preston North End.

As expected, manager Dave Jones made a number of changes, including Riccy Scimeca in midfield, for his first league start since August last year.

The visitors had former Bluebird Paul Parry in their starting line-up.

Michael Chopra went close in the 10th minute after receiving from Jay Bothroyd but his low shot went narrowly wide.

Three minutes later, Jon Parkin forced a flying save from David Marshall, who tipped his goalbound shot over the bar.

Preston had the ball in the net from the corner but the referee had whistled for an infringement.

Scimeca was in the thick of things for City but up front but, despite Bothroyd winning most of the headers, Chopra was unable to convert a couple of chances that came his way.

The Bluebirds began to get on top as the half drew to a close but the half time whistle came with most of the play having taken place in midfield.

Preston went close to opening the scoring in the second minute of the second half when Kevin McNaughton cleared a Parkin header off the line following a Billy Jones corner.

Anthony Gerrard was forced to leave the field in the 50th minute after cutting his head when accidentally kicked by Mark Hudson.

The ten men battled on and when Bothroyd's header went to Burke, he fired into the top corner to give the Bluebirds the lead.

In the 56th minute, Mark Kennedy came on to replace Gerrard with McNaughton moving into central defence.

On the hour, Ross McCormack replaced Chopra up front as City went for a second goal but an injury to Joe Ledley caused his withdrawal three minutes later with Gavin Rae going into midfield.

A triple substitution by Preston came in the 69th minute but it was Bothroyd who moved into space and powered a drive that flew just wide with visiting keeper Andy Lonergan well beaten.

There were one or two anxious moments as five minutes play was added on but the Bluebirds held out for a hard-earned victory.

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