Cardiff City’s season finished in fairly typical fashion this lunchtime at Norwich – they played some football that was easy on the eye at times, but they folded like a pack of cards the first time they were put under any pressure as, once again, I was left thinking how lightweight we are.
City were on top having forced home keeper Angus Gunn into three diving saves after ten minutes, then 3-0 down having been reduced to ten men after twenty three – in complete contrast to Gunn, the statuesque Ethan Horvarth had conceded three and seen Norwich hit post and crossbar before he finally deigned to dive for something.
Midway through the first half, it looked like we were on our way to a repeat of the 7-0 at Leeds or worse. Norwich have it in them to hand out that sort of thrashing, but, more than any other side in this season’s Championship, they give you a chance.
Therefore, instead of the hiding which we probably would have got from the league’s more ruthless outfits, we got a final hour or so where City were able to take some credit for making a decent and quite watchable game of it as youngsters Dylan Lawlor and Tanatswa Nyakhuwa got their first taste of league football by caming on as subs.
An end of term type atmosphere only helped add to the basketball feel of the second half as both sides took it in turns to attack – as I said, it all made for quite an enjoyable watch, but whether it had anything to do with the sort of stuff to come in League One next season is a completely different matter.
It was a surprise to me to see Ronan Kpakio starting at right back because he had missed virtually all of the second half of the season with the injury he sustained in the FA Cup tie at Sheffield United. In the event, he did pretty well – there were one or two shakey moments during our horror quarter of an hour, but he came out of his contest with Borja Sainz, who was in such prolific form in the first half of the season, with honours even.
City have been willing to give Kpakio games from the start of the season and were willing to use him in league games in the winter, not just meaningless end of season affairs, all of which makes me think that he is probably the one out of the group of highly rated teenagers at the club who should be considered a serious candidate to be a first team regular next season.
Whether Lawlor would have got on so early were it not for Calum Chambers being sent off is doubtful, but he was introduced after thirty three minutes and, just as in the FA Cup game at Villa, was quietly impressive. Joel Bagan had been brought on to replace David Turnbull as City adjusted to the loss of Chambers, but it wasn’t until Lawlor’s introduction and the switch to a back three that a semblance of order was restored to our defending.
Nyakhuwa had less chance to shine when he came on for the last twenty five minutes as it was for Kpakio which meant he had to play in a right wing back role which I’ve never seen him play in for the under 21s and i suspect he’ll be someone who City will be looking to loan out next season.
Best of the subs though was Rubin Colwill who replaced Joe Ralls at half time, in fact I thought he was superb. With Alex Robertson off for Chris Willock at the same time as the Kpakio/Nyakhuwa switch, Rubin played the final twenty odd minutes virtually as a one man central midfield and revelled in the responsibility.
However, there is a caveat to all of this, it was a very open game which played into Colwill’s hands in many ways and his critics, of which there are an increasing number, would say”it’s all very well doing it now, but where were you the pressure was really on in recent games?”. It’s not an unreasonable question, but I’m left scratching my head as to how someone can play like he did today, and at Villa, and yet end up as almost a bit part player in the matches in which our relegation fate was decided?
On to the game then, I’ll not take up much time with it because, in truth, it was the most meaningless one we played all season. Norwich awoke from their early slumbers on the thirteen minutes when a single pass found Jack Stacey in yards of space in our penalty area and his cross was converted on the far post by the unmarked Marcelino Nunez. Horvarth may have been somewhat unsighted by Kpakio, but the ball wasn’t far away from him as it entered the net and it didn’t look good that he was just stood there watching the ball go in.
Four minutes later Chambers was last man following weak play by Turnbull and he was always going to be sent off for bringing down Josh Sargent. It went from bad to worse when Nunez curled in the free kick past the stationery Horvarth – it was a really good finish, but, again you wondered about the goalkeeping.
Sargent then hit the upright as City remained clueless as to how to deal with the home team’s attacking movement and it was soon 3-0 when we were undone by a pass to Sainz who shot home from fifteen yards as Will Fish appealed for offside and Horvarth again decided not to get his kit dirty.
Horvarth was a spectator again when Ruairi McConville out jumped Yousef Salech to head a free kick against the crossbar a few minutes later.
The switch to three at the back and wing backs helped City limp to half time with no more damage and forty five minutes was enough for Ralls who may now have ended his time at the club with his contract due to run out in less than two months time.
City face awkward questions about Ralls and Aaron Ramsey this summer. It seems increasingly likely that the latter will not be in contention for the manager’s job as he has indicated that he wishes to carry on playing and does not feel him doing a player/manager job is feasible. However, there can be no circumstances whereby Ramsey’s two year deal signed in summer 2023 can be called a success (thirteen league starts during that time tells you why) and is it realistic to expect Ramsey to play enough games next season to justify another playing deal given his injury record throughout his career?
Sadly, something similar now applies to Ralls who, at one time, you could almost guarantee forty plus games a season from. The fact that both of them are among the best paid players at the club is another factor to contend with and the possibility has to be there that two players who are right up there in any discussion on City’s best central midfielders of the past twenty years will be leaving us in a few weeks time.
Just like the first half, City made a decent start to the second period and this time they got a reward as Lawlor did well defensively and then showed his passing ability to find Salech who went on a great sixty yard run past three defenders which was only ended by a foul by Callum Doyle – Salech put away the spot kick nervelessly to score our first penalty of the season.
After the game there was a message board discussion as to whether a back three of Fish, Lawlor and Bagan with Kpakio and Luey Giles would be the way to go next season. Others drew attention to Norwich’s fourth goal as a reason why this would not be on. Shane Duffy was one of two unmarked Norwich players who could have nodded in Jacob Wright’s corner and you have to wonder if the veteran has ever scored an easier set piece goal.
Salech took his goal tally for less than half a season to eight (plus one in the FA Cup) when he completed the scoring as Willock’s cross from a short corner with Colwill was headed on by Callum O’Dowda into the path of the Dane who shot in from around the penalty spot.
It came as a surprise to me that it was Luton who filled the third relegation spot as they went down 5-3 at West Brom after all of the other candidates for the drop drew their games. The Hatters seemed to have turned the corner following their win here in March and had lost just the once since then before today – you would guess that they’ll be the pre season favourites to win the League One title come August.
Like the seniors, the under 21s season was spluttering to an end with three straight away losses, but they played well in beating Watford 3-1 at Cardiff City Stadium yesterday. Freddie Cook opened the scoring with a header from a free kick and Cody Twose added a fine second following good work by Raheem Conte and Josh Beecher. It was Beecher who made it 3-0 early in the second half with an emphatic finish after he’d been sent clear by a Giles pass that you really should get to watch if you can. A tremendous shot from thirty yards late on from one of the Watford centrebacks meant there was no clean sheet for City who wind up their season on Tuesday with a visit from Burnley.
The under 18s finished their season today and the Academy’s Twitter site was very eager to mention that they had clinched a second successive third placed finish in their league (this is in total contrast to the club’s continuing reluctance to mention the word “relegation/relegated” in the public domain when it comes to the senior team and you’ll not be surprised to learn that the first team’s finishing position is not being acknowledged either!). It finished 1-1 for the Academy side at Barnsley with Hayden Allmark scoring.