The focus on the QPR hearing and the headlines were dominated by the news of possible outcomes such as points deduction, heavy fines and even a small chance of relegation for the champions. The FA had given the initial date of the final decision on the matter as the Friday before the last lot of games were played, however this was then delayed until further notice. Not long to wait though as they made decision around the 12 o'clock mark on Saturday that they would face no points deduction that would affect the league this season. It wasn't a dissapointment for me as I was looking forward to the Play-Offs going into the last game at Burnley and was hoping for a solid performance from the players after the shambles that I witnessed last Monday against Boro. A strong away support yet again to get the atmosphere going and I awaited for a good game of football.
The defeat that ended our automatic promotion hopes brought about a few changes with the likes of McPhail, Jay Lloyd-Samuel and Tom Heaton dropping to the bench to make way for Koumas, Bywater and Mark Hudson in the Line-up. The game got underway at Turf Moor and the away fans were once again creating the atmosphere inside the ground that should get the players up for this match and finish on a high this season. With nothing to play for I believed Burnley would just go through the motions, so to speak, in this match and face a Cardiff side pumped up for the Play-Offs and ready to forget a turbulent week that has gone by. My theory was then, once again, quickly extinguished as on the 13 minute mark, Jay Rodriguez managed to cut through the Cardiff defence too easily and pick up a through ball to slide the ball into the bottom corner. 1-0 Burnley. Here we go again, typical city bottling it in another big game. This feeling I have come a custom to by now so my mood was still upbeat as I knew there was still 75 minutes of football to be played, however, that was the feeling I had last Monday and look what happened there..
The Burnley team, looking more up for this game than a Cardiff side pushing for Premier League football, started knocking the ball around and getting another one or two chances before the break. The half time whistle came and the disgruntled away support rightly made it known to the players that they better come out in the 2nd half and show us there up for it.
The 2nd half got underway and hopefully a strong half by City was in store. I was constantly checking the other scores around us throughout the match checking to see what different scenarios we would find ourselves in depending on this result. Reading, Forest and the Jacks were all winning so a result was a must form this game just to prove we deserve our place among the Play-Off contenders. The 2nd half was beginning to look like a slight improvement from the 1st but I couldn't help thinking that some of our players out there were just going through the motions with a lack of effort creeping in. I looked at players like Whittingham and Bothroyd and saw no real desire to win this game and put in 100% for the team. I hope it's because there minds were on the Play-Offs and that their form would pick up in the games to come.
However I saw a change in that in the last 20 minutes where I saw the flowing creative football that I've seen us play before start to come back. We started to pass the ball with confidence and the quick touches back and for started to open up the Burnley defence and create some chances for the equaliser. Craig Bellamy was leading by example and putting the work in as usual to get that goal we needed. Being his usual self winding up the opposition and running ring round them at times I got the feeling the goal was coming. And the pressure finally paid off as on the 90 minute mark, our captain and leader Craig Bellamy, broke through the Burnley back lie to lob the approaching Brian Jensen and send the Cardiff faithful into ecstasy. That goal proved to be vital as the final whistle blew and we had salvaged a point from a game we were probably second best in for the majority. The last 20 minutes of football really instilled me with a lot of confidence going into the play-offs and showing that we are still capable of playing good football and have no-one to fear in the coming games.
'Bellamy with the all important equaliser!'
As we got a point at Burnley we now face Reading in the play-offs. This for me worked out better than any other scenario we could have found ourselves in as i know we have good results and good performances against Reading in the past. I also personally relish Reading away trips as they have always been entertaining away games for me in recent years and i really believe this was the best possible draw for us to get to Wembley. Swansea will play Nottingham Forest for their chance to get to Wembley, a tough game for both teams. The fans now really need to forget about any media speculation about players socialising when they shouldn't and disappointment of not getting automatic because that is in the past. The richest game in football awaits and i can't wait for the next two games and to hear the fans singing once again...
"Wembeeeely...Wembeeely...We're the famous Cardiff City and we're going to Wembley!!!
Keep the faith!
No comments:
Post a Comment