Cardiff City were hit with a flurry of second-half goals to consign them to a disappointing 3-0 defeat at the hands of League One side Portsmouth in the Carabao Cup first round.
Morison promised a much-changed team from the one which took the field at Reading on the weekend and, boy, did he deliver, yet still a very strong side.
By Glen Williams
Tuesday 9th August 2022
The Bluebirds dominated the early exchanges of the game, but individual errors, two of which came from the under-fire Curtis Nelson, saw the visitors net three goals in 14 minutes, from which City never recovered.
Joe Pigott, Ronan Curtis and Colby Bishop all got themselves on the scoresheet as an exasperated Steve Morison looked on in disbelief from the touchline. Even more so when Vontae Campbell's rash late challenge on Joe Rafferty saw him receive a straight red card. Some way to mark your competitive debut.
Morison promised a much-changed team from the one which took the field at Reading on the weekend and, boy, did he deliver.,yet still a very strong side Ten changes in all, with Nelson the only player to start both games, which included debuts for Jak Alnwick, Ollie Tanner, Campbell and a full debut for Jaden Philogene, who came on as a substitute at the Select Car Leasing Stadium.
But it was almost a nightmare start for City's changed XI, when, just one minute into the match, Eli King was dispossessed on the edge of his own area. The ball fell into the path of Pigott, who probably rushed his effort when he had time on his hands, and fired off a shot immediately, forcing Alnwick into a smart early save.
However, that would be the outlier, rather than the norm, because the hosts utterly dominated proceedings in the first half after that. In fact, they ended the first period with almost 80 percent possession. You'd be hard pressed to find that statistic in the recent past.
The frustrating thing for Cardiff, which has been the case in the first two league games, too, is that they did everything right, right up until they got 20 yards from goal. With no target man to cross to and with Pompey defending deep, City began to run out of ideas on the edge of the box and were reduced to speculative shots from range. The first of which saw Joe Ralls rifle one inches one from 20 yards out with a low, driven effort which cannoned into the stanchion pole.
Cardiff did actually think they had taken the lead after 12 minutes when Campbell belted a shot across goal, which ricocheted off Mark Harris and into the net, but the official flagged for offside against the Wales international.
Tanner let fly from the edge of the area a couple of times, but just looked a little rushed and uncomfortable, which is perhaps understandable given the level from which he has stepped up. King wasn't afraid to try his luck from 25 yards, either, but had no luck.
Philogene was Cardiff's main threat by some distance over on the left flank. His tricky feet was the closest thing Cardiff had to a potent weapon. On one occasion, he architected a fantastic chance after dribbling upfield and releasing Gavin Whyte with a clever reverse pass. The Northern Ireland international's shot fired past the keeper but was kept out by Pompey skipper Sean Raggett on the line.
The second half started a little more evenly, with the visitors having ironed out some of the kinks in their game at the break. But after a few half chances at either end, the deadlock was broken.
A poor pass from Nelson left Campbell short and Pompey nicked in to win it before Pigott was found in the box. He mis-hit the shot first time, but he won't have cared when he watched it back into the back of the net off the post.
And the defender's night went from bad to worse when he hauled down Michael Morrison in the box to concede his second penalty in as many games. The referee took his time to award it, but eventually pointed to the spot. Curtis did not mess about and belted it as hard as he could - almost bursting the net as he doubled the visitors' lead.
And just four minutes later the knockout blow was served. A corner put to the back post saw Colby Bishop rise above Joel Bagan and head well, back across goal, to make it three.
Some nice footwork and go-forward from Rubin Colwill, who it was nice to see out on the pitch, was about as promising as it got in the late stages for Cardiff, who never really looked like registering another meaningful attempt on goal. The frustration built and Campbell got hot-headed and flew into a tackle on Joe Rafferty. It looked nasty and he paid the punishment. The icing on a very ugly cake, as far as Cardiff were concerned.
Out of the Carabao Cup at the first time of asking. A disheartening evening, to say the least, for Morison, his players and the fans in attendance.
Cardiff City XI: Alnwick; Campbell, Denham, Nelson, Bagan; King, Ralls; Whyte (Ojo 52); Tanner (R. Colwill 52), Philogene (Etete 72); Harris (Semenyo 90).
Subs: Allsop, McGuinness, Wintle, J. Colwill, Watters.
Portsmouth XI: Griffiths; Swanson, Mnoga, Raggett (Morrison 45), Rafferty; Dale (Hackett 63), Mingi, Pack (Lowery 45); Curtis, Pigott (Jacobs 64), Scarlett (Bishop 62).
Subs: Oluwayemi, Freeman, Thompson, Jewitt-White.