BFTG - Cardiff

[John Madejski's Wallet]

Well that was hard work and a well earned 3 points.

Always nice to beat a Warnock team, who were very well organised.

We struggled a bit, with Swift and Williams particularly not quite at the races. Although we won, I don't thing Gunter at RWB worked as he couldn't help going forward, refusing the cross left-footed. In fact swift and Kelly stopped passing to him at one point as I think they knew he'd waste it

Onwards and upwards.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Thought we looked great first half, bit scrappy second half. McShane and Moore solid at the back. JVDB good until he had to come off, and Blackett looked class when he came on Thought Gunts played well on the left as well.

[Pepe the Horseman]

Any ideas where Ilori was?

[Royalwaster]

Well that was hard work and a well earned 3 points.

Always nice to beat a Warnock team, who were very well organised.

We struggled a bit, with Swift and Williams particularly not quite at the races. Although we won, I don't thing Gunter at RWB worked as he couldn't help going forward, refusing the cross left-footed. In fact swift and Kelly stopped passing to him at one point as I think they knew he'd waste it

Onwards and upwards.

Supposed you mean LWB?

[Wycombe Royal]

Any ideas where Ilori was?

Injured apparently, 4 to 6 weeks out.

[Westwood52]

Typical Championship game against a typical Warnock side-lots of huff and puff & the odd bit of quality.
I am now beginning to believe we will reach the play offs. There is a level of consistency about us weak in weak out-never brilliant but rarely poor
Strange risky selection by Jap-but as he explained neither Blackett or Jordan were up to play a full game.

Be nice to be able to relax for the last ten minutes for a change-but that's Championship football.

Al Habsi 7: One poor kick and one poor pass-still a couple of good saves.

Gunts 6: Typical performance-didn't do anything wrong.But not much going forward albeit he was on his weaker left hand side-did a job.
Joey 6: One poor pass but generally kept his composure
Mc Shane 8: MOM but misplaced positioning once 2nd half which let them in & missed an easy chance-but battled away throughout. Now expect nothing less from him.
Moore 7: Generally good-unlucky with the penalty.
Williams 6: One great tackle and usual surging runs -but oh that missed opportunity 1st half.
Kelly 7: Very good as usual.
Swift 6 : Clearly not fit-but cool head for the goal-lost the ball a lot.
Macca 7: Not one of his best games, but had his moments.
Roy 7: Did nothing wrong.
Kermit 7: Slow on the ball-but took his opportunity & a great near post asset on opposition corners.

Blackett 6: Bit of a mixed bag really
Obita: Not great-flapped a bit when he came on-but if he's not fit.
Evans: Not always in the right position & struggles defensively at times

Ref: Started well, but then got worse & worse-very soft penalty-Morrison just dived between two Reading players.

Cardiff-very limited-how far back as Hoillet gone.

[harry]

Overall a good 3 points. It was always going to be tricky against a Colin side and especially after letting them back in.
Good 1st half, scrappy 2nd, tin hats for the last 20.

AAH - generally good, unlucky not to save the pen, a couple of dodgy bits of distribution. 7
McShane & Moore - outstanding. Won plenty in the air & needed to. Both had a couple of decent runs forward. I wasn't close enough to be able to see their pen to say whether Moore was at fault. 8
JVDB - looked decent with some good passing until hammy went. 7
Gunts - OK on wrong wing. 6
Kelly - busy game, good passing, got struck in. Had a decent early shot charged down. 7
Williams - started well with some good runs. Missed a sitter. Decent shot that led to the 1st goal. One vital slidey in 2nd half. 7
Swift - well taken goal. Some passes went astray but generally good. 7
GMac - decent shot early on. Sublime assist for 1st goal. 8
Beerens - did surprisingly well when playing wing back. 6
Kermorgant - great work rate, god free kick for the winner. Some important defending at the end. 8

Blackett - a shaky start. Some decent tackles once got into the game. One great run finished with a dreadful pass. 7 With his physique and size when he runs with the ball he reminds me a bit of Ledge. 7
Evans - did the simple things well when came on and helped add some steel to the midfield. 7
Obita - didn't have a lot of opportunity at the end. 6 I guess.

[Sutekh]

Blackett and Obita did not start as apparently neither was 100% fit. Blackett had a calf problem and Obita a shoulder injury.

Not heard anything on why Ilori was completely awol from the squad but presumably Wycombe Royal's info must be correct. Just typical that we sign a player and he's seriously crocked after playing about 100 minutes of football.

Kermogant MotM, everyone worked hard overall and deserved the pointage in the end.

Onward to Birmingham on Tuesday to try and stop another bogey side, let's hope the walking wounded will have recovered enough to give a good account of themselves.

[PieEater]

That was a very welcome 3 points, I thought we dominated in the first half, got a deserved goal and then somehow the ref decided that a mild infringement on a header going wide was worth a goal. Shame AAH didn't quite get there to do us justice.

Williams missed a sitter where he took a touch rather than hitting it first time, but really we dominated the first half.

Second half again there was really only us in it. McShane and Moore again were great, as well as Kermo who seemed to be playing a bit deeper. As soon as we got ahead and they went 4 at the back we really coped with them very well. I can't recall being worried about any of their attacks. My MOTM was probably McShane who looked really up for everything.

Roll on Brum.

[NewCorkSeth]

I had a shaky stream for most of the first half so rather than a full report I just want to highlight some key bits and bobs.

AAH was great with reflexes. The free kick was one you should expect him to save (and he did) and the Kermie O.G. attempt was very quick instincts.

Is that Liam Moores second or third Penalty hes given away?

Gunter looked less comfortable on the left than i remember him when hes played there before.

Blackett was pretty bad with his clearances. I think there was at least 3 straight to opposition players in the 2nd half. Made a wonderful run but clearly didnt know what to do with it.

McCleary is really in a great place right now isnt he?

Kelly defended like a champ. Clearly the opposition were told to bully him off the ball but he kept his own.

Williams didnt shoot much when he got into positions.. has he been told to cool it with the long range shots?

Where did Yann pull that free kick out of?? Was beautiful.

[Ian Royal]

AAH - will be upset he didnt save the pen given how close he got to it, but you can't fault a keeper for letting one in
McCleary - decent shift at RWB for 30 mins, but looked like he wanted to play further forward, great back heel for the goal. Guilty of slowing down and overplaying
Gunter - solid performance at LWB, seemed less inclined to play back because it would be on his left foot, but also less able to play it down the line or swing in a cross
McShane - real blood and thunder performance, good stuff
Moore - lunges or darts forward could do with being timed better, but quality player
JVDB - much better game in defence than I've seen from him before before the injury - I have decent hopes it's not too serious
Kelly - sublime, added some really good tenacious defending to his game today
Williams - A very very good sliding challenge and some decent runs forward, I still think he's the limiting factor in midfield for us, but doesn't mean he doesn't play well
Swift - like McCleary he over complicated and slowed things down a bit too much, but he scored, dragging his performance up from a bit mediocre to lovely thank you.
Beerens - put in a decent display covering RWB and also ran Cardiff's defence quite well, control let him down a couple of times. Good.
Kermorgant - dropped deep well, narrowly avoided an unfortunate own goal and scored a peach, you can always rely on him to work hard and he's scoring a few now

Blackett - usual sort of awkward moments from him, but in a decent performance, nearly capped off a great run but fluffed the pass
Evans - didn't notice him, which for a midfield workhorse is probably a good sign
Obita - decent cameo

[paultheroyal]

Genuinely believed that this team does not get the respect and support it deserves from our own fans.

They are performing miracles. Most would of taken a top half finish at start of season I would of taken avoiding relegation... what they are acheiveing in the footballing style is nothing short of fantastic.

Two enjoyable home games on the spin.

Pitch is not helping our style of play and sooner rugby pisses off the better.

Great day.

[PieEater]

BFTG

[Royal Ginger]

Genuinely believed that this team does not get the respect and support it deserves from our own fans.

They are performing miracles. Most would of taken a top half finish at start of season I would of taken avoiding relegation... what they are acheiveing in the footballing style is nothing short of fantastic.

Two enjoyable home games on the spin.

Pitch is not helping our style of play and sooner rugby pisses off the better.

Great day.

Fair point in the pitch. Beerens broke away in the first half and got absolutely done by a bobble. Lots didn't see it and gave him some grief for it.

I'm a Kermorgant fan but I personally didn't feel that this was one of his better performances. Yes he drops back great and defended a lot, but particularly early in the game when we were crushing them he was far too deep when there was no one in the box. Also thought he was a walking foul machine today.

That, however, is nit picking in an otherwise good performance.

Thought the ref had a good one. Can't see a hand ball if you're wearing red but other than that generally got it right, played good advantages and kept his cards in his pocket. Thought he was right about the penalty.

Feel for Moore, he's clearly an excellent defender but has had a run of bad luck over the last few games. All at sea for one of Derby's goals and then two penalties in 5 days.

[Ian Royal]

BFTG

There's this thing called the internet where you can watch games sometimes.

[sloughroyal123]

When does Rakels get back?

[Royal Ginger]

When does Rakels get back?

Dunno, why don't you ask him?

[sloughroyal123]

When does Rakels get back?

Dunno, why don't you ask him?

This is why no one likes you

[Royal Ginger]

When does Rakels get back?

Dunno, why don't you ask him?

This is why no one likes you

You answer someone's question and all you get back is rudeness. *shakes head in dismay and tuts loudly*

[leon]

AAH - will be upset he didnt save the pen given how close he got to it, but you can't fault a keeper for letting one in
McCleary - decent shift at RWB for 30 mins, but looked like he wanted to play further forward, great back heel for the goal. Guilty of slowing down and overplaying
Gunter - solid performance at LWB, seemed less inclined to play back because it would be on his left foot, but also less able to play it down the line or swing in a cross
McShane - real blood and thunder performance, good stuff
Moore - lunges or darts forward could do with being timed better, but quality player
JVDB - much better game in defence than I've seen from him before before the injury - I have decent hopes it's not too serious
Kelly - sublime, added some really good tenacious defending to his game today
Williams - A very very good sliding challenge and some decent runs forward, I still think he's the limiting factor in midfield for us, but doesn't mean he doesn't play well
Swift - like McCleary he over complicated and slowed things down a bit too much, but he scored, dragging his performance up from a bit mediocre to lovely thank you.
Beerens - put in a decent display covering RWB and also ran Cardiff's defence quite well, control let him down a couple of times. Good.
Kermorgant - dropped deep well, narrowly avoided an unfortunate own goal and scored a peach, you can always rely on him to work hard and he's scoring a few now

Blackett - usual sort of awkward moments from him, but in a decent performance, nearly capped off a great run but fluffed the pass
Evans - didn't notice him, which for a midfield workhorse is probably a good sign
Obita - decent cameo

Evans came on and made space. His movement and running to pull the Cardiff players about was excellent -exactly what we needed.