Unsweet FA for Darren!

RANT: Darren Purse. He has become so accident prone as to be a liability. I can't make out whether the tackle for which he was sent off on Saturday was deliberate or not but it was certainly rash and leaves the team short of cover in central defence for Wembley. OK - he wouldn't have been ahead of Johnson and Loovens for selection but he was at least a credible back up. I think it is time for Darren to move on, providing an accepatble replacement can be found (and I'm sure there are many of those).

RANT: The club are appealing to the FAW to have his red card overturned. No chance. Even if he was innocent, or even if the referee admitted he had sent off the wrong player, or if Andy Cole said "It's a fair cop, he never touched me and I dived!", the FAW would still uphold his red card because they can't stand the fact that Cardiff have reached the FA cup final. The small minded old farts hate any Welsh club playing in the English system and will do all in their power to undermine Cardiff and all the others whenever possible. Lets leave the Welsh FA and join England. Leave the FAW to play with themselves while we move on with the rest of the world.

I'm not sure what sort of game we will have on Sunday against Barnsley - I hope Johnson and Loovens look after themselves. We have plenty of midfield cover at the moment and the strikers are all equally inept so I am not worried about injuries there, but these 2 are our only central defenders so lets keep our fingers crossed for them!

Thrown to the Wolves

NEITHER RANT NOR RAVE: The team seems to have suddenly run out of steam. If the FA Cup wasn't in their mind before this game then it certainly is now! The defeat at Scunthorpe appears to have knocked some of the stuffing out. This game showed yet again the urgent need for a top class striker - reports suggestthat we played well in the first half but couldn't turn those chances into goals and as a result went in 2-0 down. Dave Jones has made some very shrewd signings but we have not had a Michael Chopra or even a Cameron Jerome this year and that has probably cost us a play off place. Ironically, we are likely to inish lower in the division than last year but actually came closer to a play off place.

Lets hope for a good showing and a point or three at Burnley, although I fear that Burnley's physical appraoch is just the sort of team to cause us problems.

Fat lady warms up for Wembley.

Well, it was bound to happen eventually, and the 10 match unbeaten run came to an end on Saturday. The defence finally made some mistakes, which was bound to happen eventually after being the main strength of the side over the last few months. A goal from JFH just before half time made it look possible to win but it was not to be, and a late penalty finished it.

Although the playoffs are all but out of reach, lets hope the team give it one more go at Wolves tonight and pull off a win. I would hate to think that the team will just fold for the last 3 games with the cup final coming up - lets face it, you couldn't blame the players but a couple more wins will really give us some impetus in to the Cup final and for next season.

Tangerine Dream - at the double!

RAVE: Feels like I haven't had a rant for a while and why should I after the team have gone 10 games in all competitons undefeated! It was almost an anti-climax against Blackpool when we went 2-0 and then 3-0 up. I think I am right in saying that the last time we were 2 goals up in a league match was against QPR on the 29th Janaury. We don't do 'comfortable' league wins these days, we do 'lets try and hold on to a one goal lead'! (The only games with a 2 goal lead were the FA Cup matches against Wolves and Middlesbrough).The other thing in common with the QPR game was that it was the second time this season that we have done the 'double' over a team.

Blackpool semed to be lacking a bit in the passion department and never looked like recovering from the early spectacular goal from Stephen McPhail. They played like they thought safety was theirs, but other results have combined to drop them right back into the relegation battle and they will have to play better than this to get out of it.

A solid Cardiff performance for their 5th game in 15 days, and the chance of a playoff spot, although unlikely, still remains. We lost a little concentration in the last 20 minutes but that was only to be expected. A week's break to the next game at least gave Dave Jones the chance to let the players have a couple of days off - I hope they enjoyed the Player of the Year awards on Saturday night! The fact that we have to play away at Scunthorpe on Saturday to a team that are definitely relegated ought to help, although some of our worst performances recently have come against some of the weaker teams.

With Wolves losing to the Baggies this week, and Hull winning at Barnsley, West Brom and Hull are my favourites now for the automatic promotion slots. Lets hope we win on Saturday to set up a cracking match next week at Wolverhampton.

(Many Thanks to Eleri David for the pictures)

East is East

NEITHER RANT NOR RAVE: A good performance but a result that did neither side any favours. Dave Jones said after the game that the Bluebirds need a minimum of 13 points from their last 15 to make the final playoff place. I would add a caveat to that in that a win and not a draw against Wolves is also a part of the equation. City held the lead for an hour against an Ipswich team which has only lost once at home this season. I have to rely on second hand information for this blog report but it suggests that a draw was a fair result although both teams had a chance to win it.

At least we have been able to keep up the effort despite the fatigue which must be setting in to such a small squad. Lets hope they can hold it for another couple of days and put together a winning performance against Blackpool on Saturday. At this time of the season you are better off playing against mid table teams, and Blackpool are the only team of Cardiff's last 5 fixtures who are safe from relegation but can't get into the playoffs. Lets hope for an open game and a Cardiff win, as they then have a week's break before the final run-in of the Championship season. I hope its not a game too far.

Wembley - Part 1 !

RAVE: Cardiff City are in the FA Cup Final. I never thought that I would be able to write that in my lifetime. The game was almost irrelevant - the result and the occasion paramount.

For the record, Joe Ledley's 9th minute goal turned out to be the winner. Its occasions like this which make you realise why you are a football fan. I feel proud to be among the 13,000 regulars who made the trip to Wembley along with the 20,000 occasionals. It didn't matter - we don't mind who was there to see it.

And now we have a trip to the F A Cup final.

Words fail me.

FANTASTIC!

No quarter given - no goals scored!

RAVE: As nil-nil draws go this was a pretty good one. both sides really went at it and West Brom looked one of the better teams to visit Ninian Park this season. The Bluebirds played their part too and arguably had the best chance of the game which fell to Steve Thompson early on. Unfortunately he muffed it. however, from my angle he looked at least 2 yards offside but the linesman didn't give it. All in all, a fair result where neither team deserved to lose and will give both sides good heart going in to the weekends FA Cup semi-finals.

All Cardiff players made some contribution, although I'm afraid to say that Steve Thompson had a shocker and was probably a strategic half time substitution and his hamstring strain was probably convenient in the circumstances. Man of the match went to Trevor Sinclair, who ran relentlessly and never gave up, despite being forced to play as a lone striker for much of the second half with all of the other 3 strikers substituted. Lets hope everyone is fit for Sunday.

It was nice to see Kevin McNaughton back at right back - his enthusiasm really seems to rub off on the rest of the team and they look a different side when he was there.

A good performance against a good team. Now - lets go to Wembley!

Good Result !

RAVE: the result. Lets face it, we have played better than this at times this season and come away from the game with nothing, so lets be grateful for this result if not the performance. Some of the players were a bit anonymous (McPhail and Whittingham to name but 2) but somehow the team pulled together and got the result. Southampton, however, were very poor and if I was a saints fan I would be getting rather anxious about now.

RANT: McPhail man of the match. This match? I could have sworn he was playing somewhere else as he went missing for long periods of the game, especially in the second half.

And so to the game with the Baggies on Tuesday. A win here would really set up the rest of the season, although the small number of players in the squad could yet cause problems. Mind you, it makes selection easy!

(Thanks to Eleri for the goal celebration picture)