Match Report Cardiff v Millwall 25/09/10

Andy Keogh made his Cardiff debut in the last 10 minutes of the Portsmouth away game. He showed what type of player he is when he made a run into space in the Portsmouth area to head home a goal. Unfortunately he was flagged offside but from that move you could see if you provide him the service that is what he can do. That was 4 games ago and since then he has not received any such service up until the 89th minute of todays game.

I prepared myself for a walk into Beirut as I parked up in the stadium car park and made my way to the Ninian pub. With all the talk about Millwall coming to town you would have thought Al Qaeda would be present ready with their cameras to take back to their training camps to show their recruits how to cause carnage. Fortunately my walk was tamer than a Sunday afternoon ramble and I'm glad to say hardly any trouble occurred during the day. So well done to the authorities for getting this bit right.

As I met up with old and new faces from the forum in the Ninian pub I got the impression that todays game was a must win but confidence was worrying due to the last 2 performances. I felt most of us just wanted to get the game out of the way with 3 points. Well unfortunately life is not like that and we were to witness a very frustrating 90 minutes. I hear people say this is Cardiff City and we never do things easy. Well today it could have not been made easier for us.

As I walked into the stadium and made my way to my seat I could feel the atmosphere was going to be different to most games we have had this season. The Millwall fans came in good numbers and were up for this more than any other visiting fans we have had this season. A large contingent of them had gathered right up to the segregation area and they were ready to give back to us anything we gave them. They were in good voice and kept this up all the way through the game. Credit where it is due.

After the last 2 games I had my reservations about the team today. I eagerly awaited the team annoucement and was rather concerned after it was made. It was practically the same team that faced Ipswich last time out except for Tom Heaton making his first start in a league game. There was no Oli or Bellamy which was disappointing and with the likes of Danny and Chops still out it was a question of battle down the hatches, lets get the 3 points and lets get out of here.

The game kicked off with the Cardiff attacking the Grangend. The first thing I noticed was Jay getting involved in the first few minutes. He looked like he has gained his full fitness, unlike at Ipswich where he struggled, so that was comforting to see. However it was Millwall that took the game by the scruff of its neck and they managed this by dominating the midfield. Basically they just seemed to have more players in that area and were hounding our guys impressively. They also quickly discovered an avenue to attack us. That was our left side where Naylor was going to have a bad day at the office.

Once Millwall saw this opening their very first attack resulted in Heaton picking the ball out of the net. The impressive Millwall winger had the making of Naylor and skipped passed him with ease. From a resulting low drive across the area a Millwall striker was quicker than any of our standing and watching defenders to the ball and the Londoners were one up. The ease of the goal was a worry for us fans and questions were being asked this early.

For the next 10 minutes everything seemed to be going Millwalls way. Their players look keener and fitter than ours. Their midfield seems to be supporting their attackers nicely while our midfielders were very slow in getting up to support Keogh and Jay. This was not looking good and a hangover from Portman Road was looking scaryingly obvious.

In the 24th minute some how the ball ended up halfway in the Millwall half for a throw-in to Cardiff. Dont ask me how, perhaps Millwall were getting bored so decided to give us a chance. Naylor took the throw-in and the ball ended up just outside the Millwall 6 yard area. Did anyone know he could throw the ball that far? Anyway the ball was knocked on and found its way to Whitts in front of goal who could only snapped at it. This resulted in the ball bouncing off one of the Millwall defenders and finding its way to Jay who coolly put it pass the ex Cardiff goalkeeper David Forde for the equalisier. Somehow we were back in it and this was against the run of play.

Well most will say we were lucky to get back into it and they could be right. However lady luck was to smile on us even more soon after. Just after the restart one of the Millwall midfielders had a rush of blood to the head and went stud first into a challenge on Darcy Blake. This was right in front of the referee and if ever I have seen a red card prodcued so quickly this was it. All of a sudden the game was there for the taking, that is if the Cardiff players wanted it.

Unfortunately I dont think our players realised this at first because it was the Millwall that went for it. They concentrated down the Naylor flank again and another low driven pass went through the area. I think someone should have told their winger that their striker had been sent off as fortunately there was no Millwall there this time to put it away, thank God. I say thank God because our defenders decided to watch it again.

Then something different started to happen in the last 10 minutes of the half. We decided from a defensive position to bypass the midfield and go straight up to the strikers. From this tactic Jay produced 2 chances that pressured the Millwall goal. Working well with Keogh Jay found himself clear in the area and caused a good save from that man Forde. Moments later and this time working with a 1 2 with Burke he fired a volley just over the bar. However he had another chance which was perhaps his best one.

Whitts had found out that running at the Millwall left back was producing something good like getting pass him and putting a cross in. One successful mission by him down that side saw a pulled back pass into the area where the waiting Jay was. Sadly Jay lent back too much on this and the ball ended up going over the bar. This was a good bit of pressure from Cardiff and us fans for once felt we could go in at half time one up. We thought we were going to do that at one point.

As we came to the end of the half Whitts changed wings and ended up attacking the Millwall right back. He smartly put the ball through the guys legs but looked like he had overdone it. As Whitts made effort to chase the overhit ball the Millwall man left his leg out and brought Whitts down. The ref was right on the spot and immediately pointed to the spot.

Whitts picked himself up to take the penalty. Jay intervened as he wanted to take it himself. From the discussion Whitts won the argument and took the penalty. He hit is well, to the goalkeepers right and low. However the dive from Forde was top notch and produced a great save. At the time it felt that we were going to regret this big time then the referee blew for half time.

We went into the second half with the hope that we would get a winner somewhere. We all hoped the Millwall team would fade as the game went on. Unfortunately they did not and actually went out to win the game. They reverted to a 4 4 1 and played it very well. They continued to hound our midfield and started to frustrate us. Then they made advances forward and created a chance that although went wide caused Heaton to dive. People were beginning to ask which one was the 10 man team.

When you are up against 10 men you have to make them work. The only way to do this is play the ball wide. Cardiff failed to do that for most of the half until the last 15 minutes. Then the ball was now finding its way to the sidelines and chances were finally being created. The best coming from a Burke cross that resulted in a header being cleared off the line. In all fairness Millwall threw themselves at their defence duties and it did look like it was going to pay off for them.

The 89th minute came and the play was in the Millwall half over on the right wing as Cardiff attacked the Canton End. Millwall were holding their line very well as Whitts collected the ball from Burke. He sent a left foot inswinger into the penalty spot area but it looked like it was covered by a Millwall defender. From no where though Keogh appeared and beat this defender to the ball with his head and glanced it pass the guy and we all watched the ball make its ways into the inside netting of the goal for the winner. The relief amongst the Cardiff supporters must have been felt all over the Riverside. We had got out of jail.

The saying football is a funny game is only true when you see it yourself. Today I witnessed it because I am finding it hilarious we won that game. I actually feel for Millwall because although they played most of the game with 10 men they did not surrender or use any time wasting tactics. "No one likes us" their fans sang. Well I dont think no one will dislike them for playing football that way.

Summing up we were lucky today. I feel am I'm being generous if I say it was an average performance. I personally think we had a team out there that should have quite easily beaten this Millwall side. However I felt our tactics were wrong. Our midfield looked like it was outnumbered, even when they went down to 10 men. Before the sending off Millwall had most of the possession and this was down to them controlling the midfield. They seemed to have played 5 across the midfield with their back 4 supporting them well. We struggled with just having 4 in midfield and got it wrong here. After the sending off Millwall went 4 4 2 but seems to still overcome our midfield. This was down to their defence concentrating in the centre. They compacted the centre midfield and defence line leaving the wide area open. We should have played wide after the sending off but left it until the last 15 minutes. Fortunately that was just enough time to break them down. We got lucky.

Excellent report Ian and I agree we got lucky with that win, a draw was the fairest result but I am not complaining I will take 3 points and move on.

Keep up the good work

Millwall are a good side - we shouldn't underestimate anyone in this division, from teams like Scunthorpe to Boro !

It was always going to be tough.

Excelent report, do you work in the media? i forgot to ask earlier.

got lucky with the 3 points totally agree with you

As usual an Excellent report Honest and Neutral with it. Keep up the Good Work

Fantastic report and as usual it knocks spot of any journalist, as long as it is I just want to read more. Well done Bakedalasker

Fantastic report

Amazing stuff and what a way to return to winning ways . Back in 2nd place after Ipswich failed to win.

Seeing Blackpool on MOTD with the Blackpool Tower in the background of their home ground does make me feel as sick as a parrot, but we'll be there in the Premier League soon .

I was quite impressed with their boy Morison up front (yes, it is only 1 'r'). Even when he was left alone up front he always looked dangerous. You can see why he has gone from non-league football to international level in such a short space of time, albeit for Wales.

IMHO he would be ideal back up for Jay - do you think Millwall would sell him to us in January?


Great report.

Didn't Bothroyd set up the goal?

Didn't Bothroyd set up the goal?

He did Neil. I got that bit wrong.

Hey ho, excellent report though. I only saw it on the football league show.

Good report and thats from a wall fan. thought your lot seemed so laid back even with ten to go against ten man at home didnt really seem to have alot of tempo to your play surpose u are missing some real key players but i thought millwall were good for a point at least and on the way down i thought it might of been a worse scorline then r last one against watford. Hope u f*cking smash palace.

Good report and thats from a wall fan. thought your lot seemed so laid back even with ten to go against ten man at home didnt really seem to have alot of tempo to your play surpose u are missing some real key players but i thought millwall were good for a point at least and on the way down i thought it might of been a worse scorline then r last one against watford. Hope u f*cking smash palace.

Thank you. You definately deserved to take at least a point away with you. What impressed me most with your team is the way you still gave it a go after going down to ten men. We found ourselves in the same situation against Sheff Utd on the first game of the season and when they went down to 10 men they resorted to time wasting tactics. Your team did the opposite and tried to win a game from a very difficult position. All credit to Millwall for that. On that performance alone I hope you stay in the league because you deserve it. Good luck for the rest of the season.

enjoyed that one a lot more than the first one, a lot more neutral good read

enjoyed that one a lot more than the first one, a lot more neutral good read

Cheers Luke. I've been working on my neutrality. That is what I see minus my DJ bias

Good report and thats from a wall fan. thought your lot seemed so laid back even with ten to go against ten man at home didnt really seem to have alot of tempo to your play surpose u are missing some real key players but i thought millwall were good for a point at least and on the way down i thought it might of been a worse scorline then r last one against watford. Hope u f*cking smash palace.

Thank you. You definately deserved to take at least a point away with you. What impressed me most with your team is the way you still gave it a go after going down to ten men. We found ourselves in the same situation against Sheff Utd on the first game of the season and when they went down to 10 men they resorted to time wasting tactics. Your team did the opposite and tried to win a game from a very difficult position. All credit to Millwall for that. On that performance alone I hope you stay in the league because you deserve it. Good luck for the rest of the season.

thanks pa,l r team is built on sprite really, with propley only got 3 or 4 players that r championship quality really the rest of em r there on merit think we should be ok this year but not counting on it. good luck to your lot this year and hope we can do u favour at QPR and u can cane palace for us like everyone elese is doing

Another great match report and spot on in every aspect.
Jes

Not a bad effort at a match report, but to say its better than a journalist is a bit unrealistic (to a trained eye) !!!

A tip for the future would be, try not not to over use the same words too much in the same paragraph eg. Millwall, use words such as the Lions, the visitors etc !

As for Millwall's goal, the ball was played into central defence and met by a sliding challenge from Mark Hudson, the ball went straight to the Millwall winger who got to the by-line and crossed for an unchallenged midfielder to score !

A tip for the future would be, try not not to over use the same words too much in the same paragraph eg. Millwall, use words such as the Lions, the visitors etc !

Good advice and noted, thanks.

As for Millwall's goal, the ball was played into central defence and met by a sliding challenge from Mark Hudson, the ball went straight to the Millwall winger who got to the by-line and crossed for an unchallenged midfielder to score !

Yes saw my mistake there after seeing the highlights. I write my report as soon as I get in and thats without taking notes. I'm going to change my tactics for next game.

Thanks for taking it constructively !

A few more points you might find useful are: Always start local eg Cardiff City entertained...., paragraphs should ideally be no more than 30 words long ( this would aid you with the over use of the same word) , use words for numbers one to ten, then numbers after eg 11,12 13 etc.

Depending on your readers, a story should ideally be around 450 words, some people look at the length of a story before reading, see how long it is and think I'll give that a miss, or read so far and give up (this may not happen on a website, but in a newspaper it does !).

Carry a small notebook to take notes of key events such as goals, bookings etc, (you've already said about doing this) !

Write your story asap, because you are not going to print, you can give yourself until sunday morning to read it again and you will be surprised at how many changes you might make !

I did an NCTJ Pre-entry to Journalism a few years back and these are just a few of the things we were taught !

Good luck, I look forward to your next report !

Thanks for taking it constructively !

A few more points you might find useful are: Always start local eg Cardiff City entertained...., paragraphs should ideally be no more than 30 words long ( this would aid you with the over use of the same word) , use words for numbers one to ten, then numbers after eg 11,12 13 etc.

Depending on your readers, a story should ideally be around 450 words, some people look at the length of a story before reading, see how long it is and think I'll give that a miss, or read so far and give up (this may not happen on a website, but in a newspaper it does !).

Carry a small notebook to take notes of key events such as goals, bookings etc, (you've already said about doing this) !

Write your story asap, because you are not going to print, you can give yourself until sunday morning to read it again and you will be surprised at how many changes you might make !

I did an NCTJ Pre-entry to Journalism a few years back and these are just a few of the things we were taught !

Good luck, I look forward to your next report !

im half way through writing my CV any tips

one point id like to make to bakedalasker

remember first and formost you are a very loyal cardiff city FAN seen you at many away games and spoken to you many times.

remember the reason you watch cardiff city is to watch and enjoy the game.

its upto you, but dont get wrapped up in everything. enjoy the game mate

Well said Milly !

I was once in the press box at Cambridge and Jason Bowen went through on goal, he shot and I went up only to receive a tap

on the shoulder from a local radio reporter who missed the incident (Bowen missed) !

As for the CV, best advice I can give you is don't lie, it has an habit of biting you on he arse.

I went into training after Journalism and liars soon get found out !!!

Had one guy tell us he was a full-time soldier, took us all in, until I met a former workmate of his, who told me he was only in the T A's !

THANKS Ian

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