Two really does seem to be our magic number.

By: Martyn | December 20th, 2008

Another victory and another (converted) penalty. Crucially though, we beat Sheffield Wednesday 2-0 although we’ve still failed to score more than 2 goals all season. Internazionale had a similaly disappointing record of failing to win at home by more than a solitary goal. That unwanted hoodoo was shattered last weekend after a 4-2 victory over lowly Chievo. Ours is here to stay seemingly.

Today’s victory came on the back of an outstanding triumph at Portman Road against Ipswich Town (I’ve had no time in the past week to blog/write anything on that, but needless to say everything about that important 3 points was worthy of both thumbs standing rigidly erect).

I arrived at the ground today fairly early, and so had the (dis?)pleasure of watching the team train and focus their brains and bodies for the match ahead. One thing was for certain: Helenio Herrera would have blown his top at such lax preparations! Obviously this will seem overly pedantic and a pointless grumble to some. But speaking as a fan of a team who have pathetically bottled reaching the play off spot’s in the last few seasons, a bit more focus wouldn’t go amiss. Old Herrera certainly understood what a winning mentality involved.

In spite of Peter Enckelman’s peculiar rant about the Ninian Park turf earlier in the week, he retained his place over the hopeless Tom Heaton. As anyone who has read this blog before will know, I am not Heaton’s biggest fan. His tendency to stay rooted to his line too often and owning the worst kicking ability and concentration I have ever seen in a shotstopper means that Heaton is better off rotting on the bench (any chance at Man Utd has surely now evaporated after an aging Netherlands net-tender was given a new deal). I think what irks me most about him mind is that whenever he commits an error, he does the old palm-raised-in-the-air-for-three-seconds apology. The motion is embarassingly weak, as is the thought that merely offering this pseudo-sorry makes matters right. It’s no coincidence that we haven’t lost since Heaton was dropped. Enckelman certainly isn’t the greatest keeper though, and he was definitely the second best custodian on the pitch today. I’ve always been quite impressed with Wednesday keeper Lee Grant (he, Paul Smith and Lee Camp – both of Nottingham Forest – are the three most underrated keepers in this league), and he did nothing to convince me of changing my mind about him today. Some cracking saves meant he lessened the power bill at Ninian Park as we didn’t have to change the electronic scoreline too frequently. Very kind of him in the apocalyptic Credit Crunch and that. He even displayed a sense of humour, all too rare in today’s high-risk business game. With Chopra hiding behind him awaiting Grant’s 6 seconds with the ball in his hands to expire, Grant turned around, face beaming, and shooed the cheeky Geordie away upfield. How refreshing, how erm, Heineken (?).

Unfortunately for Grant, his team and their tactics were a bit useless. Playing one of those supposed 4-4-2 formations that more than just superficially masquerades as a 4-5-1, Wednesday were bereft of invention, ideas, technique and other assorted basics. Enckelman might as well have stayed at home and watched a christmas film with a tin of Quality Street on his lap, such was his lack of action being required to get called in for. Sheffield Wednesday as a club has an uncertain future. Likewise, Brian Laws is perenially linked with moves to other clubs when jobs become available and a contract has only just recently been thrashed out and signed for him. Sometimes, perhaps these uncertainies filter down to the playing staff, hence the lacklustre stuff Wednesday offered today. The future of Joe Ledley may be less uncertain than it was last week – although you really never know with our club – but with the likes of Chopra, Routledge, McCormack, Bothroyd, Whittingham and Parry at the club, our short-term future is looking a lot more rosy than the blue half of Sheffield’s.

Once again, Stephen McPhail was left out. This time it was a place on the bench rather than suspension service. It might just have been me (no one I was with was fully convinced), but I’m cetain McPhail has lost a few pounds. This is a good sign, and hopefully will help him add some much needed sharpness to his game. For most of this season, McPhail has posed as much threat as a straw in armed combat. The centre midfielders acted as the usual safety net or wave-breakers for whenever the focal points of our team (wingers/strikers) lost the ball, and the relevant duo were untroubled by a poor Wednesday outfit. As usual in Football League Championship (and English) games, both teams were reluctant to spend too long on the ball. It’s as if teams simply don’t believe in or trust themselves to keep it for a spell. Perhaps players and managers are simply so aware of the paucity of technique in the lower divisions that shifting it upfield ASAP is the ultimate name of the game. It doesn’t half make you yearn for a bit of substance now and again though.

One final point worthy of mention from the game – The linesman who operated on the Bob Bank flank had an absolute mare. And I say this in spite of his four worst decisions going our way. In particular, some clear as day goal kicks and Wednesday throws in were given to us instead, and a noticeable handball and dive fooled this FA representative. I don’t want to have a pop at someone who puts himself in the firing line for the love of and furtherment of the game, but seriously, some of the decisions he took were that bizarre. We’re all human – incase you weren’t aware; sorry if this casual statement causes offence to any chimps or other animals who chance upon this post on the world wide web – and clearly the flag waver in question had other matters on his mind.

The Boys in Blue

Jay Bothroyd was voted the sponsor and fans MOTM, and I’m not disagreeing. Jay today displayed magnificent touch and vision, as well as his undoubted ability to ghost past and through opposition defences. He may not ever be battling for the golden boot, but what he brings to the squad for just £300k makes him a bargain. Wayne Routledge is definitely worth the price of a ticket alone. A genius of a magician at this level, the speedy pint-sized wideman sure as hell takes advantage of the slower and less agile full-backs at this level. Michael Chopra just works his socks off and this is all you ask of a player if they’re limited in other areas of their game. He wins so many free-kicks, corners and throw-in’s that others just deem lost causes. Chops converted a penalty too, thus adding to his pleasingly increasing campaign tally. Gabor Gyepes had 5 minutes of madness in the first half where perhaps he’d got so bored with the Wednesday ineptitude that he thought he’d give their forwards a helping hand with some woeful back-passing and hoofing. Other than these rash moments which he eventually got out of his system, the Hungarian was hungry for the ball and definitely worthy of that pun which expresses my pleasure at his showing. Paul Parry and Joe Ledley were full of running, urgency and effort. Recent times have seen pleasing returns to form for the quality pair who were instrumental in our FA Cup run last season. Parry’s delivery and passing was of a high standard throughout, and Ledley knew when and where to burst with his penetrating darting runs, eventually winning a penalty with one. Roger Johnson has been given a goal, but those of us who saw it know that it took the most off-course setting deflection known to mankind! A tad clumsy and witless during the times when he wasn’t heroically defending, Johnson needs to work on his technique and composure big time. Worryingly, Kevin McNaughton was removed from the field of play with an injury as the game drew to a close. Let’s hope it isn’t a serious problem because McNaughton once again put in a solid – if sometimes anonymous – performance. Peter Enckelman perhaps needs to improve his communication with the men in front of him, but to be fair his brain was probably frozen over after such a quiet afternoon. Mark Kennedy was horrendusly sloppy and a liability. Gavin Rae is simply finished at this level.

And last but not least (Eddie Johnson was on the pitch for a mere 30 seconds so he doesn’t count), Miguel Comminges had barely any time to do anything, but this of course didn’t prevent him from making a characteristic useless hoof-upfield-to-no-one pass.

As we spent injury time holding the ball by the corner flag, my eyes were caught by a bare-chested shapely man with his red top off, swinging said garment in the air like a lassoo. Why and what this gentleman was thinking is another matter entirely, but it wasn’t a white flag this gutsy (pun intended) bloke was waving. And judging from this hard-fought victory, white truly is out of fashion at Cardiff City FC. Worryingly, fashion is a circle, so let’s hope the comeback is staved off for as long as possible! Next up is a trip to Reading on Boxing Day. I’m particularly looking forward to this one, not just because it’s a rare short-ish trip for us City fans! Can we finally beat one of the teams above us?!