Sun Apr 10, 2016 6:54 am
Cardiff City's hope won't have disappeared in 30 seconds... even if three points did
Sunday 10th April 2016
By Phil Smith
The Bluebirds let a 1-0 lead at Craven Cottage slip away as Emerson Hyndman lashed home a last-minute winne
In the end, it took less than thirty seconds to undo what has been months of good work.
Scott Parker will have scarcely believed his luck, running out of Craven Cottage tunnel to his starting spot, barely pausing for breath before one more surge took him into the Cardiff box unchallenged to put Fulham level.
Slade’s team never recovered from that sucker punch.
Whether they can do so in the coming week remains to be seen, as the heartache felt after the late winner here will be deep.
Their inability to track the run of Parker was all the more surprising and disappointing given how miserly they have been in recent times.
The threat of Ross McCormack and Moussa Dembele has been given great billing in the run up to this one, but they were marshalled so well in the first forty five.
Indeed, you wondered whether they would follow Andre Gray in becoming the latest much-hyped strikers to suffer at the hands of Manga and Marshall.
The main error here was not in allowing Fulham to score the winner, a cruel moment but always a possibility when the Bluebirds’ decided to go for all three points.
No, the main error was letting Fulham get back into it so soon after having them on the ropes and ripe for the knockout.
Russell Slade showed real bravery in playing with a front three for the final stages, with Saadi and Zohore tasked with reversing the momentum that was increasingly going the way of the Lilywhite’s.
It was the right time for such a show of ambition, but fortune was not to favour the brave on this occasion.