Our Cup Runneth Over!

RAVE: Thats all I can say- Yes, I know I said that there is no way we could win the FA Cup, but I am going to say I've changed my mind. The odds are against us but who cares? At least one trip to Wembley. I take back all my criticism of the FA Cup and say well done boys!

This result is well documented everywhere and you all saw it on TV so you don't need me to say more than Boro wer rubbish and we were brilliant. Lets hope we can carry some of this enthusiasm into our league form.

RANT: The court case gets heard today (12/03/2008). Lets hopw we can get that out of the way aswell.

Drawn a blank.

Its really difficult to get the full flavour of a game via newspaper and radio reports. However, the quotes from Dave Jones do suggest that this was a much better performance - it could hardly be worse than the Leicester game.

RAVE: The report by South Wales Echo reporter Terry Phillips was also positive, although I'm not sure that any player can be worth 8 out of 10 in a nil-nil draw except perhaps a goalkeeper. I trust Terry Phillips' judgement more than any other local reporter - his opinions on a game usually are very close to my own, unlike certain writers for the Wales on Sunday who sound as if they have been to a different game. Terry gets a "RAVE" for his work throughout the season, not just for this game.

Today's Daily Mirror reports that Arsene Wenger is going to launch a bid for Aaron Ramsay - worrying but not surprising. The lad must have his price, and if he is to go lets hope its a good deal. Keeping on the good side of Arsenal may be useful if we want loan players in the future.

And so to the Cup match. We have nothing to fear from Middlesborough, although we must be underdogs. I wish the boys luck, despite my previous misgivings in this blog about cup football, and I will willingly swallow my pride and admit my hypocrisy to go to Wembley for the semi-final should they get through!

Toothless!

RANT: Dreadful.Awful. Incompetent. Useless. The only vaguely redeeming feature about this performance is that at least they appeared to be trying for some of the time. Of course, they were useless but at least they were trying. Even young Arron Ramsey (see pic) had a dreadful game. We couldn't have scored if we had played till Christmas and it was very much a reminder of our early season performances where we seemed unable to create anything.

RANT: Darren Purse. I know the goal was unlucky, but Dazza seems to have become very accident prone and it is difficult to know what he can do about it. Mistakes, penalties and now an own goal. I suspect we will need another central defender sooner or later.

Yet again, lets hope that this season doesn't drift away like the last 2 - we have as much chance of relegation as the playoffs, but surely we can't play that badly again?

(Thanks to Eleri David for the picture)

Remember that deja vu?

The report on the BBC site was as follows:-

" The visitors dominated the match with Aaron Ramsey hitting the post, Gavin Rae heading just over and Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink keeping Lee Grant busy.
But Tudgay's eight-yard strike against the run of play four minutes from the break was enough for the three points.
Cardiff have now gone four games without a win in the Championship."

Sounds familiar to me - rather like the Stoke and coventry games last August. To think that Sheff Wed were so poor at Cardiff a few weeks ago but we have contrived to lose against them.

Lets hope the season doesn't peter out like the last two years. Apart from anything else we need at least another 4 points to be safe from relegation. Still, four of our next five league games are at home so lets be positve - 12 or 13 points from those games will shoot us up the table again.

Up For The Cup!

RAVE: As you know, I am not a big fan of Cup football. However, the enormity of this win suddenly hit me on Saturday night. The fact that this is the first time Cardiff have reached the quarter finals of the FA Cup since the famous year 0f 1927 is obviously momentous in its own right. This means that it is the first time it has happened in my lifetime. In fact, this is the first time this has happened in my parents' lifetime, which makes it even more amazing!

RAVE: A cracking goal from JFH!

It seems that a slow start by Wolves and a fast start by the City was enough to see us 2 up in 11 minutes and that was effectively that!

And OK, I admit it - I will be glued to the quarter final draw on monday lunchtime. Mind you, I'm not sure I would like us to have Bristol rovers or Barnsley away, never mind the Baggies. Or we could get Man Utd or Chelsea.

Perhaps this will give the whole club a lift we can take forward to our Championship form.

Bore Draw

A suppose a draw was inevitable in the circumstances - Cardiff struggling to find form and Coventry without a manager. According to the radio the game was pretty dire and it was only after the break that Cardiff managed to show a bit of form, although for the second time this season they were unable to break down the Coventry defence.

Only one point from the last 9 has put our playoff hopes in some disarray, although the same could be said for many teams at present, and we are as good (and no better) than many teams in this division. Two fairly good teams are likely to make it to the playoffs so it might as well be us as anybody.

However, we now have "the magic of the cup" with a 5th round game against Wolves on Saturday. Could this be the first time we reach the 6th round since 1927? Although I am not a fan of cup football a match like this where the pressure is off could be just what we need at the moment.

Welshman Stars!

RAVE: Unfortunately, he wasn't one of ours. I think this is the first time that I've given a "rave" to an opposition player, but in this case it goes to Ched Evans. The Wales under 21 international is on loan at Norwich from Manchester City, and what a player he looks! He was by far the best player on the field, scored both Norwich goals, including astunning winner 2 minutes from time. This boy could be really good and be a big star in the future.

NEITHER RANT NOR RAVE: The Cardiff performance. It was reminiscent of some of the early season form when we were playing well without getting a result. A draw would have been a fair result, and it would have been if not for the late intervention of Mr Evans.

We created a number of chances at least, and I would say that Norwich are one of the better teams to visit Ninian Park this season. If they continue to play like this then they too could make their way into a playoff position.

Coventry tonight (Tuesday). You can never tell with teams who have just lost their manager - they could fall apart or they could rally the cause - lets hope it is the former as another defeat would be very deflating for the team.

Gavin Rae scored his first home goal on Saturday.