Andy Munro on Blues 1-1 draw at Cardiff.
One swallow doesn’t make a aummer and certainly a draw against some Bluebirds isn’t a game changer in our terrible run of form. Still, it’s at a stage when we’re thankful for small mercies and our last gasp leveller was a fair reward for a decent, if slightly laboured, effort.
Mind you, the original Grumpy Old Man(ager), Neil Warnock was as usual lacking in magnaminity with phrases like “It takes two teams to make a game” and “The opposition were a disappointment considering the money they have spent!”. On the latter point, who would have thought any manager would be making that comment on the Blues, a few months ago?
For this match, Zola set out the Blues side in a fairly defensive mode with only three changes, although one of these was because of an injury. Enter Jon Grounds in the role of wing back, one he filled in a typically uninspiring way. One wonders whether Zola shouldn’t have reverted to 4-4-2 but he stuck with three central defenders. One bright spot, however, was the introduction of Belik who turned in an impressive performance – once Morrison returns, they could form a useful backline. On the topic of back lines, Shotton is rapidly turning into Darren Purse (although I would prefer the latter) as he seems to always have at least one mistake in him however well he plays.
When we went a goal down, the introduction of Frei and Adams made a difference although one wonders whether Adams is one of those supersub players who can’t cut it over the full ninety. The talented Frei is also a bit of a mystery in terms of the manager’s plans and it seems that the stage is being reached that when his name is announced even the Blues crowd will be shouting “Whoooo?”
It’s a bit of a shame that the next match is against the Barcodes when they will be trying to bounce back from a couple of indifferent results. Deja vu? Let’s hope not!
