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' Water Torture For Cardiff City as Bluebirds '

Mon Feb 08, 2016 8:16 am

Water torture for Cardiff City as Bluebirds remain a frustrating five points adrift from the Championship play-off places

South Wales Echo

Monday 8th Feb 2016


The torrential rain in the Welsh capital led to late pitch-inspections and the day was eventually saved by Glamorgan Cricket Club, who loaned the Bluebirds a water hog machine to suck the excess H20 from the surface


Glamorgan Cricket Club's water removal machine does the business at Cardiff City Stadium as referee Kevin Johnson does in his pre-match pitch inspection on Saturday.

They had battled to get this game on at the Cardiff City Stadium.

The torrential rain in the Welsh capital led to late pitch-inspections and the day was eventually saved by Glamorgan Cricket Club, who loaned the Bluebirds a water hog machine to suck the excess H20 from the surface.

The trouble was Russell Slade’s men then saw themselves bowled out for a duck out by the struggling MK Dons!

It proved a frustrating case of ‘almost’ for the men in blue. They almost did enough, they almost grabbed a priceless winner, but one is left to reflect that, come the end of the season, when looking at the Championship play-off places it might for the Bluebirds be a case of almost too.

Frustration is the operative word indeed. Cardiff remain a frustrating five points off the play-off places, a gap they just seem unable or incapable of bridging.

Frustrating news too from around the other grounds as their rivals also dreaming of the top-six stumbled too, handing the Bluebirds a golden opportunity to make up precious ground.

Faltering Derby drew, Ipswich lost, as did Birmingham, beaten by the only team to prosper really, Sheffield Wednesday.


You could scream really at the waste of it all, but then again, it seems under Slade, the Bluebirds have this season been all about wasting opportunities.

Whether it has been a lead thrown away or the chance to capitalise on a good morale-boosting win, it seems the Bluebirds have excelled at shooting themselves in the foot.



As their away form has suddenly burst into life, in front of their own, very meagre home crowds it has to be said, the will to win has eluded them. A win at Wolves leads to a draw against Rotherham back home, a good victory at Huddersfield is followed by this often laborious, goalless stalemate.

That Cardiff have only won back-to-back games once all campaign, and that back in September, says it all.

Despair for Cardiff City's Anthony Pilkington after a near miss in the goalless draw with MK Dons on Saturday.
That Slade, after this match, was left protesting that his side had though just won back-to back games away from home kind of missed the point when it came to the kind of consistency needed if they are to force their way back into the top-six.

As far as other missed opportunities go, well, this encounter was literally full of them from a Bluebirds’ perspective.



To say the Bluebirds lacked endeavour or desire in conditions that were pretty appalling would be wrong. I’m not sure you can question the commitment to the cause really this term from the players and there does seem to have a lot of different faces in the starting XI this season.

But what the Bluebirds lack is just that bit of quality, that fluidity that comes from a settled side firing on all cylinders. But what they really lacked against the Dons was a cutting edge up-front.

Debutant Tom Lawrence, who impressed on the whole, and Stuart O’Keefe, who impressed again too, saw efforts go perilously close. Lawrence saw his header hit the post and the born-again O’Keefe forced two fine saves from man of the match, David Martin in the visitors’ goal. Yes, it was one of those days.

Let’s be honest though, way too often for the Bluebirds this season it has been a case of ‘one of those days.’

Many more and the Bluebirds will miss out on extending their campaign and it will be no more than they deserve.

This was a match in the end which almost did not go ahead at all due to the weather, by the end one was left wondering if, from a Cardiff perspective at least, it might not have been better if it had not gone ahead at all.





Referee Kevin Johnson conducts a pitch inspection with Cardiff City boss Russell Slade
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Re: ' Water Torture For Cardiff City as Bluebirds '

Mon Feb 08, 2016 8:39 am

If nothing else I think the name of the machine is brilliant 'blotter'.

Keep the faith a lot of football left and it's a funny old game :)

Re: ' Water Torture For Cardiff City as Bluebirds '

Mon Feb 08, 2016 5:20 pm

cardiffblue74 wrote:If nothing else I think the name of the machine is brilliant 'blotter'.

Keep the faith a lot of football left and it's a funny old game :)


:thumbup: :ayatollah:

Re: ' Water Torture For Cardiff City as Bluebirds '

Mon Feb 08, 2016 8:36 pm

In hindsight it would have been better if the game was called off after another negative home result.