Tue Dec 01, 2015 8:07 am
How Cardiff City found a defensive mainstay in Matthew Connolly after years of kicking his heels
1 DEC 2015
BY STEVE TUCKER
Connolly has played all 18 of the Bluebirds' league games this season after speaking of his frustration at being played out of position or not at all in the summer
Matthew Connolly owns a tattoo parlour back in Hertfordshire and it would be fair to say the defender is finally leaving a permanent mark on the Cardiff City team.
Since his arrival from QPR in August 2012, the 28-year-old centre-half has proved himself too often the bridesmaid rather than the bride when it has come to seeing pitch time in the Welsh capital.
Despite the fact we are talking about a man here who has in recent years helped four different clubs get promoted to the Premier League, his surprise short-term loan to Watford at the end of last season was the latest triumph, it has been too much often the case of one step forward followed by two back for Connolly with the Bluebirds.
Under a succession of bosses Connolly has too often flattered to deceive. A season would start brightly with it looking like this was the campaign where he would finally see regular football, only then for circumstances to change, a new signing be made, and Connolly suddenly found himself kicking his heels on the bench.
If he did get a look in through injury or suspension he was often pushed out to full-back instead of his preferred position in the heart of defence.
Matt Connolly was a success at Watford
It was little wonder then, that on the Bluebirds’ preseason tour of Holland this summer, a clearly frustrated Connolly told WalesOnline: “If I’m playing I’m happy and if I’m on the bench obviously I’m not happy. My aim this season is just to try to play as many games as possible. That’s my aim every year.”
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With hindsight they proved prophetic words. Connolly has indeed become the mainstay, in his favoured centre-back role, of a firm Bluebirds defence upon which the side’s play-off push has really been built.
It was business as usual for Connolly in the Bluebirds’ ultimately heart-breaking clash with Burnley on the weekend, an amazing goal-line clearance was tempered by an unfortunate deflection into his own net to draw the Clarets level at the death.