14.8.2011
CCFC 3 v 1 BRISTOL CITY
Welcome back! Was it really less
than 12 months ago that a certain Jay Bothroyd was falling over himself (on and
off the pitch) to declare his allegiance to the Bluebirds – ‘I may be from
London but I’m a Cardiff boy now’? To put this into context, by the time he
came to us at the age of 26 he was at his 8th club. Presumably he
was a Perugian for a couple of years from 2003 and a Stokie for a couple of
months before we took him on as a last minute panic buy after Marcus Bent got
the call from his agent , did a swift U-turn at Leigh Delamere and drove off to Brum never to be heard of
again.
Well maybe it’s because Jay’s a
Londoner that Jay loves London Town and he’s gone home. Along with Chris Burke
who was desperate to go back home to Scotland for ‘family reasons’ and so
inevitably wound up in, erm, Birmingham. The assorted loanees went back to the
bosom of their mother clubs before being abandoned again, all except Bellamy
who it appears really is desperate to come home and stay but is keeping Mum for
now. And clearly he’s the only one we’d want back.
Some of us grew up supporting the
team that included the likes of Brian Clarke, Gary Bell, Don Murray, Peter King
and others who came to the club, played out their careers here and stayed. They
didn’t need to kiss the badge, wack themselves on the head and claim that they
were weaned on Brains Dark to bond with the fans. We knew they were on our side
because we delivered papers to their houses (Don Murray), they walked the short
distance to the ground from their homes (Peter King), they played bowls with
your Dad (Gary Bell) and they lived round the corner from your mate and patted
his dog (Brian Clarke). Those links have been broken and there’s no going back.
Today’s players are no less driven to achieve, to make their mark and to do the
best for the whichever club their agent has found them but the distraction of
big money payday informs any loyalty and commitment. So thanks for coming boys,
we’ll make you very welcome but no kissing-the-badge-I-love-this-club nonsense
please.
Today’s squad included 10 new
faces (if you include the welcome return of Gerrard and Earnie) and a new
manager charged with crafting a promotion-challenging team from a rump of
deflated play-off veterans, a rag-bag of unproven talent, and perhaps one or
two genuine contenders.
After the crushing disappointment
of the anti-climactic conclusions to the last three campaigns under Dave Jones,
I sensed expectations were low. Plenty of low key pre-match banter suggesting a
consensus that an outside chance of a stab at the play-offs is as good as we
can hope for. Even on the back of a morale-boosting win against the ‘ammers.
There were signs however at Upton
Park that this squad is prepared to commit to the cause in a way that those of
us tired and frustrated at the prima donna antics of some of our higher profile
stars of recent years and the ex-Gaffer’s endearing lack of charisma had
thought unlikely.
We took the game to a very
ordinary Bristol side from the off. We were always first to the ball, completely
dominating midfield with a gutsy performance of commitment, passion and no
little skill. The midfield powerhouse was led by the indefatigable Cowie a
revitalised Whittingham and young Joe Mason who came on for the injured
Gunnarsson after only 10 minutes and was
a revelation, deservedly taking the sponsor’s Man of the Match. I thought we’d
bought him as a replacement striker(?) but he ran the Robin’s ragged with a
virtuoso performance. His no-nonsense, understated role as an attacking,
creative midfielder showed maturity beyond his years and really took the eye.
On 18 minutes the impressive
Craig Conway created the opening goal for Hudson who stole in unmarked to
deflect a header past the hapless Calamity James in the Brizzle goal. 1-0.
A rampant City doubled the lead 5
minutes later as Mason set up Conway to blast one from outside the box past
England’s finest. 2-0.
The Bristol defence was a
shambles, incapable of passing the ball out of defence and every panicky
clearance landing at the feet of the rampant home side. No surprise then when
we extended the lead on 35 minutes as the ball landed at the feet of Earnie the
Returnee who poked the ball in from no distance to record his first City goal
for 7 years, celebrating in the time-honoured fashion with a perfectly executed
triple salko with double pike in front of his adoring public. 3-0.
The second half was predictably a
relatively tame affair as City consolidated, controlling the game, creating a
few more chances which might have added to the general revelry and good humour
but it wasn’t to be. As we tired towards the end of the game Bristol pulled one
back from Maynard. But no-one really noticed.
All in all then, a very positive
start. A long season beckons with no doubt many twists and turns, intrigues,
plots, sub-plots, heroes and villains but if they can keep this up one or two
of them may just earn the right to kiss the badge.
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