A superb performance from Jaden Philogene helped Cardiff to a well-deserved 2-0 win over Bristol City in a thrilling Severnside derby that ended with defender Perry Ng in goal.
By Media Wales
The Bluebirds were the better side throughout Saturday afternoon’s game, with a stunning header by Sory Kaba giving them the lead before a brilliant solo effort from Philogene gave them some breathing room.
The visitors had their fair share of chances too, with Alex Scott, Mark Sykes and Anis Mehmeti all going close, but they were kept at bay by Ryan Allsop, who was solid in the Cardiff net before being given his marching orders in the dying moments of the game for handling the ball outside his area.
That red card saw defender Perry Ng pull on the gloves and get between the sticks with five minutes of injury time remaining, with the few interceptions he made met with rapturous cheers from supporters inside the Cardiff City Stadium.
Allsop’s dismissal was the only blemish on what was a brilliant result for Sabri Lamouchi’s side as they found themselves back in the goals and with three points in the bag.
It looked like it could be a long day for the Bluebirds defence from the off, with Allsop called into action in the opening seconds to block a teasing ball into the box from Mark Sykes, who went close himself minutes later with a stinging wayward shot.
Cardiff had early chances too, with Philogene imposing himself on the game right away and linking up well with Ojo and Joe Ralls, with the skipper wasting an early opportunity when the ball fell to him at close range.
The presence of Conor Wickham and Sory Kaba kept the Bristol defence busy but the visiting side did well to control their physical threat early on, with the Guinean star growing frustrated as he was crowded out in the box.
City’s first real shot on target came from Sheyi Ojo, who caused the Bristol defenders trouble all afternoon. His stinging effort from outside the box tested goalkeeper Max O’Leary who parried but Kaba was unable to turn home the rebound.
Allsop didn’t have his busiest half of this season in goal but stepped up when it really mattered, putting his body on the line on more than one occasion , first to deny Mehmeti who found himself with the goal at his mercy before blocking substitute Andreas Weimann’s header minutes later.
Wickham had another golden opportunity to open the scoring as the game reached the half hour mark, but the Bristol defence stood strong and snuffed out the searching balls forward to him and Kaba.
Philogene grew into the half and showed the most determination of anyone on the pitch to keep chances alive, sparking more than one counter attack single handedly, with the Bristol defence struggling to contain him.
Two Cardiff free-kicks in a threatening position weren’t capitalised on in the dying moments of the first half and you wondered whether they would come to rue them as Bristol started the brighter of the two teams after the break.
Mark Sykes and Cameron Pring were afforded plenty of time and space around the home side’s box and they nearly capitalised on the Cardiff defence standing off them as they found Alex Scott on the edge of the box. The Premier League target let fly, but skewed his shot well wide.
But Cardiff pushed back and the deadlock was finally broken just five minutes into the second half through Kaba. The ball was picked up by Wintle on the right, with the midfielder given all the time in the world to pick out his options in the box.
His searching cross was met by the head of Kaba, who rose above the City defence to power the ball home past O’Leary.
The goal lifted City but there was still plenty of work to do at the back, with the visitors looking for an instant response through Scott, whose heels were clipped as he looked to put Allsop under pressure from outside the box. Mehmeti’s thunderous effort from the resulting free-kick was well saved by the Cardiff keeper but the hosts looked under pressure once again.
With Bristol threatening, Wickham sinking into the game and goalscorer Kaba taken off, it didn’t seem immediately apparent where a second goal was going to come from for Cardiff.
But fans needn’t have worried as Philogene, City’s bright spark all afternoon, had things covered. Picking the ball up inside the opposition half, the loanee created something brilliant out of nothing, firing a low shot past O’Leary from long range to spark joyous scenes in the
Bristol were clearly deflated by Cardiff’s second and despite more good work from Sykes, just couldn’t find a way through.
Ojo nearly made it three with quarter of an hour to go as he rounded O’Leary in the Bristol box, only for the keeper to gather. Substitute Kion Etete went close himself moments later but fired wide.
With six minutes of added time at the end of the second half, however, there was still plenty of time for more drama. That came from Allsop, who had performed well all day, but found himself in real trouble as he raced out of his net to challenge the advancing Harry Cornick outside of the box.
The keeper couldn’t stop himself from handling the ball and he was promptly shown a red card by the referee.
With all substitutes used, Ng had to see out the match between the sticks, receiving a huge cheer as he collected a late cross.
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