‘ Cardiff City beat Nice ‘ But there is Agony for Madine

CARDIFF CITY 1 NICE 0
H/T 1-0 Joe Ralls

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Cardiff City 1-0 Nice: Joe Ralls' early stunner hands City victory but there's further agony for Gary Madine

Gary Madine gets taken of injured.

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Joe Ralls' stunning strike after 24 seconds was enough to hand Cardiff City a narrow victory over Nice in their final pre-season clash of the summer.

The midfielder popped up nearly straight from the kick-off to curl home on the edge of the area, lighting up a first half otherwise short on quality.

Lee Tomlin came close to marking his return to the Cardiff side by bending a freekick just over the bar, while a smart save from Nice goalkeeper Yannis Clementia prevented fellow substitute Omar Bogle's summer going from strength to strength midway through the second half.

It was Neil Warnock's first chance to look at forgotten striker Gary Madine since his return from a loan spell with Sheffield United, but his afternoon was disappointingly cut short midway through the first half due to injury.

New signing Aden Flint was also handed his first appearance in a Cardiff City shirt, while Leandro Bacuna enjoyed his first run out of the summer following his exertions at the recent Gold Cup.

Warnock will have viewed this performance through the lens of knowing that incomings are still expected before the end of the transfer window, but will have otherwise been pleased at the way his side stood up to Patrick Vieira's men, who finished seventh in Ligue 1 last season.

City are understood to be closing in on a deal for Oxford United winger Gavin Whyte, but a striker remains at the top of Warnock's summer wishlist.

And, while City defended well, their lack of bite in the final third here may well have added further urgency to their search, although the lively cameos of Bogle and Tomlin will surely be viewed as positives.

Speaking of transfer targets, eagled-eyed Bluebirds fans will have no doubt recognised Adrien Tameze's name on the Nice teamsheet.

The midfielder was heavily linked with a move to the Welsh capital back in January, and his eventual arrival at the Cardiff City Stadium will have no doubt sparked some curiosity among the 6,643 fans in attendance.

How fitting then that one of Warnock's old guard in midfield would upstage his arrival.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing brilliantly muscled his way through the defence straight from the kick-off, before his intercepted pass for Reid bobbled up kindly for Ralls, who curled home brilliantly from the edge of the area.

It was a flying start, but the visitors did respond, and were arguably the better team in for much of the opening 45 minutes, with Sylvestre and Burner both denied from distance, but Cardiff seldom looked truly troubled at the back.

Madine was then replaced by Danny Ward after pulling up with an earlier injury, and the former Rotherham man nearly had a hand in a second goal just after half an hour.

A lovely dinked ball from the byline looked destined to be diverted into the net by an onrushing Bobby Reid inside the six-yard box, but the forward couldn't get his header on target under pressure from two Nice defenders.




Neil Etheridge was called into action just before the break, comfortably claiming Sylvestre's shot from distance.

Chances remained hard to come by after the interval, with Sean Morrison powering a towering header just wide as Cardiff sought a second breakthrough.

Warnock threw on Tomlin and Bogle as part of five changes just after the hour, and it very nearly paid off.

Bogle, the star of the team's tour of North America, was denied by Clementia one-on-one following a terrific solo run, while Tomlin's unselfishness in squaring the ball in a similar position cost Cardiff another decent chance.

Tomlin came even closer just moments later, winning a freekick with some terrific footwork on the edge of the area, before bending the resulting set piece just over the bar.

Bogle forced another save from Clementia late on, before a double-chance saw Ward have an effort cleared off the line, with Will Vaulks firing the resulting rebound straight at the keeper.

But one goal proved to be enough for Cardiff, who end their pre-season unbeaten with an ultimately deserved victory that will build some crucial momentum ahead of next week's curtain-raiser at Wigan Athletic.

Tomlin and Bogle looked good
Our all over play needs a lot of work though because that standard will not be good enough for the championship

It must be a possibility that we'll go into the season with Bogle as our main striker.

Think Madines injury might force their hand here to bring in another big striker.

Madine looked good for the 1st 10 minutes before he picked up his injury, and fair play to him he didn't want to go off so played on to try and run off the injury, to no avail but it showed a very good attitude.

Bogle also looked sharp off the shoulder, forcing two 1 on 1's with their keeper.

If we don't get a striker it's not a disaster, but personally I would like to see one brought in.

We can’t keep starting seasons without a prolific striker
I hate the jacks more than anything but you look at there squad and see McBurnie looks like a tramp but will get you 15-20 goals
We have not had a striker since grazer Campbell or bothroyd that can do this
Fact is you have a player who gets between 15-20 goals you r either promoted or playoffs
With our defence we won’t let much in but we need goals

Two times we been promoted our top scorer been less than double figures
It’s got to change
In Orem last year we made chances but have Paterson as a striker who thinks has a right back it don’t work

Two times we been promoted our top scorer been less than double figures
It’s got to change
In Orem last year we made chances but have Paterson as a striker who thinks has a right back it don’t work

Didn't Zohore get 12 goals on our promotion season?

After the quick goal from Ralls I never seen anything special that could my mind that we wont get promotion easy at all I think we will make hard work of it.
Pre season i know and a win i know !!

We are missing quality and not experimenting enough to get the quality

After the quick goal from Ralls I never seen anything special that could my mind that we wont get promotion easy at all I think we will make hard work of it.
Pre season i know and a win i know !!

We are missing quality and not experimenting enough to get the quality

You may laugh and scorn at this, but for the 30 minutes Tomlin was on he did actually look quality. More than that he looked like the only midfielder on both sides who had time and space, that is a precious gift.

After the quick goal from Ralls I never seen anything special that could my mind that we wont get promotion easy at all I think we will make hard work of it.
Pre season i know and a win i know !!

We are missing quality and not experimenting enough to get the quality

You may laugh and scorn at this, but for the 30 minutes Tomlin was on he did actually look quality. More than that he looked like the only midfielder on both sides who had time and space, that is a precious gift.

I agree to a point but quality from the team is what we are missing We are not experimenting to get players to play to there strengths that's what is going to make the likes of reid a waiste of money.
You sign a player for what they can do.

Did Nice have any midfielders on the bench we could loan for next season?

Actually perhaps their manager could make a comeback for us - could probably still do a decent job!

We can’t keep starting seasons without a prolific striker
I hate the jacks more than anything but you look at there squad and see McBurnie looks like a tramp but will get you 15-20 goals
We have not had a striker since grazer Campbell or bothroyd that can do this
Fact is you have a player who gets between 15-20 goals you r either promoted or playoffs
With our defence we won’t let much in but we need goals

McBurnie got 20 last year but the jacks weren’t in play offs or promoted.

We can’t keep starting seasons without a prolific striker
I hate the jacks more than anything but you look at there squad and see McBurnie looks like a tramp but will get you 15-20 goals
We have not had a striker since grazer Campbell or bothroyd that can do this
Fact is you have a player who gets between 15-20 goals you r either promoted or playoffs
With our defence we won’t let much in but we need goals

McBurnie got 20 last year but the jacks weren’t in play offs or promoted.

...and they’re after around £12m for him which I think would be a massive gamble (even if he wanted to join us ) and, I’m pretty sure Frazer Campbell didn’t get anywhere near 15-20 goals for us and if my memory serves me right, neither did JB.

I thought Aden Flint, Joe Bennett, Leandro Bacuna, Lee Tomlin and Omar Bogle looked really good imo.