" Match report Cardiff v Burnely 15 Feb 2011 "
Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:11 am
Sometimes you can curse the weather. Lets get this straight from the off, this was not the same Burnley team that we should have played December. Well it was in a way that they still have the same players from the game that was called off last December but with one big difference, a new manager. So here is a prime example of what can happen when you have the right boss in place and we witnessed it last night.
Cardiff sent out a pretty strong team even though the captain Bellamy was missing in the starting line up. Heaton is goal and our newly discovered defence of McNaughton, Hudson, Keinan and Quinn, in midfield central there was Rambo and Oli with a starting place for Burke and Whittingham, finally up from the formidable attack line of Chops and Jay. A tasty line up indeed.
Cardiff started lively and nearly took an early lead when on the 7th minute from a poor clearance by a Burnley defender Chopra hit the crossbar from 18 yards. Moments later Chopra found himself in space in the Burnley penalty area and had time to set up Whittingham whose curled shot was palmed away by the goalkeeper for a corner.
After Whittingham effort Burnley started to take control of the game and produced the better chances. One such chance forced Heaton to make a point blank save from 6 yards. As the half progressed Cardiff struggled to create anything in front of the Burnley goal and relied on the work rate of Bellamy who tried his luck from distance a couple of times but hardly troubled the opponents goal. In contrast Burnley played some good football in midfield and fed their attack force down the centre. Fortunately for Cardiff the defence line of Hudson and Keinan held firm. Then against the run of play Cardiff took the lead.
As the half neared its end Bothroyd picked up a pass out wide and managed to skip pass a couple of defenders. His cross into the area found Chopra unmarked inside the 6 yard box. Chopra had plenty of time to chest the ball down and then slam the ball into the back of the net.
From the kick off Burnley went straight on the attack down the right wing and the prevailing cross was met with a fierce shot that looked goal bound. However the ball hit Bothroyd inside the 6 yard box practically knocking him out. Thankfully the referee soon after that blew for half time and Cardiff had their lead intact.
The second half belonged to Burnley as they took total control of the game. However the best chance was created by Jay Bothroyd who picked up the ball outside the Burnley area where he was closely being marked by a defender. Bothroyd beat his marker and from a tight angle forced a low diving save from the keeper.
Burnley ran the show but could not break the Cardiff defence with Hudson having an excellent game. As the game went into the last quarter Cardiff made some substitutions with Bellamy coming on for Chopra, Burke for Quinn and a few minutes later Koumas for Burke. However unlike last Saturday against Scunny these substitutions made no difference as Burnley looked more dangerous as they came forward. In fact it was the Burnley substitution that made the impact. Ex Cardiff favourite Steve Thompson came on, did the Ayatollah then with 7 minutes left and from a Burnley corner scored the equaliser for the visitors.
For the closing stages of the game it was the Burnley who went for the winner but the rejuvenated Cardiff defence held out and the referee brought the game to an end with the honours all square.
Summing up: Personally I felt we would have been lucky to have held on for the win. Although it was disappointing to concede that goal I was not surprised. Our defence has been good of late but when under so much pressure they will concede a goal, any defence would. Excluding Rambo I felt our midfield was poor, hardly won any ball and basically did little. The attackers had little to work with because of that. So we sort out defence out but the other 2 departments go to sleep. To me it’s one of two things, we don’t have the team thing going or we are just about to gell and take this league by storm.
Cardiff sent out a pretty strong team even though the captain Bellamy was missing in the starting line up. Heaton is goal and our newly discovered defence of McNaughton, Hudson, Keinan and Quinn, in midfield central there was Rambo and Oli with a starting place for Burke and Whittingham, finally up from the formidable attack line of Chops and Jay. A tasty line up indeed.
Cardiff started lively and nearly took an early lead when on the 7th minute from a poor clearance by a Burnley defender Chopra hit the crossbar from 18 yards. Moments later Chopra found himself in space in the Burnley penalty area and had time to set up Whittingham whose curled shot was palmed away by the goalkeeper for a corner.
After Whittingham effort Burnley started to take control of the game and produced the better chances. One such chance forced Heaton to make a point blank save from 6 yards. As the half progressed Cardiff struggled to create anything in front of the Burnley goal and relied on the work rate of Bellamy who tried his luck from distance a couple of times but hardly troubled the opponents goal. In contrast Burnley played some good football in midfield and fed their attack force down the centre. Fortunately for Cardiff the defence line of Hudson and Keinan held firm. Then against the run of play Cardiff took the lead.
As the half neared its end Bothroyd picked up a pass out wide and managed to skip pass a couple of defenders. His cross into the area found Chopra unmarked inside the 6 yard box. Chopra had plenty of time to chest the ball down and then slam the ball into the back of the net.
From the kick off Burnley went straight on the attack down the right wing and the prevailing cross was met with a fierce shot that looked goal bound. However the ball hit Bothroyd inside the 6 yard box practically knocking him out. Thankfully the referee soon after that blew for half time and Cardiff had their lead intact.
The second half belonged to Burnley as they took total control of the game. However the best chance was created by Jay Bothroyd who picked up the ball outside the Burnley area where he was closely being marked by a defender. Bothroyd beat his marker and from a tight angle forced a low diving save from the keeper.
Burnley ran the show but could not break the Cardiff defence with Hudson having an excellent game. As the game went into the last quarter Cardiff made some substitutions with Bellamy coming on for Chopra, Burke for Quinn and a few minutes later Koumas for Burke. However unlike last Saturday against Scunny these substitutions made no difference as Burnley looked more dangerous as they came forward. In fact it was the Burnley substitution that made the impact. Ex Cardiff favourite Steve Thompson came on, did the Ayatollah then with 7 minutes left and from a Burnley corner scored the equaliser for the visitors.
For the closing stages of the game it was the Burnley who went for the winner but the rejuvenated Cardiff defence held out and the referee brought the game to an end with the honours all square.
Summing up: Personally I felt we would have been lucky to have held on for the win. Although it was disappointing to concede that goal I was not surprised. Our defence has been good of late but when under so much pressure they will concede a goal, any defence would. Excluding Rambo I felt our midfield was poor, hardly won any ball and basically did little. The attackers had little to work with because of that. So we sort out defence out but the other 2 departments go to sleep. To me it’s one of two things, we don’t have the team thing going or we are just about to gell and take this league by storm.
Re: " Match report Cardiff v Burnely 15 Feb 2011 "
Fri Feb 18, 2011 8:37 am
Cheers Ian. 
Look forward to Forest Match Report
Look forward to Forest Match Report
Re: " Match report Cardiff v Burnely 15 Feb 2011 "
Fri Feb 18, 2011 9:09 am
Cheers Ian , could not get to the game so your match report is very much appreciated, thanks again mate.
Re: " Match report Cardiff v Burnely 15 Feb 2011 "
Sat Feb 19, 2011 7:53 am
Cheers Ian look forward to to todays match report
Re: " Match report Cardiff v Burnely 15 Feb 2011 "
Sat Feb 19, 2011 9:33 am
Cheers Ian, I must have missed this one 
really appreciated, look forward to todays game report, hopefully it will be a winning one.
really appreciated, look forward to todays game report, hopefully it will be a winning one.