Stay-away fans miss a trick as Cardiff serve up treat of a display

NEWPORT County boss Michael Flynn is gearing up to create some FA Cup memories to cherish, starting with beating Walsall this weekend.

County put their stuttering League Two form to one side this week as they host the League One outfit in the first round of the FA Cup on Saturday evening (kick-off 5.15pm).

The world’s oldest cup competition was not too kind to Flynn in his playing days but he’s approaching his first tie as a manager in a positive mood.

“I’ve don’t have that many good FA Cup memories, if I’m honest,” said the Exiles boss.

“The worst was when I was at Gillingham and I was captain away to Burscough [of the Unibond League Premier Division].

“We were winning 2-1, I got sent off and we lost 3-2.

“I was supposed to be staying up north after the game but the manager Ronnie Jepson said ‘no chance, get on the coach – you’re in tomorrow’ so that wasn’t very good.”

Flynn didn’t make it beyond the second round as a player with the Exiles and he says the fact that they eventually missed out on a trip to Liverpool in the third round last season ultimately helped the team to survive in League Two.

“There has been good moments in the cup but I’ve never really had that special one,” he said.

“The closest I got was when we drew Liverpool away last season and then we had it swiped away in the end.

“But, in all honesty, if we had gone to Anfield I think it might have derailed us staying up even more so I’m glad in a way that it worked out.

“So the best is still to come. It can’t get much worse, let’s be honest!”

Flynn insists that the potential cash windfall that a run to the third round could generate means he will be taking the cup very seriously.

“We want a good cup run for the club and for the fans, because they deserve it more than anybody,” he said.

“The FA Cup means everything to me.

“If we can get a couple of good results and get a good draw then we can almost guarantee the club’s financial future.

“It’s huge when you look what it did for Cambridge and for Stevenage.

“When Graham [Westley] was there they managed to build a new training ground through it.

“And Cambridge had that match against Manchester United and that has extended their budget.

“It’s huge for all the lower league clubs and it’s something we’ll be taking very seriously.” BRISTOL City may well have thought they were timing the visit of Cardiff City to Ashton Gate just right.

There were those who believed the Bluebirds may well have been running out of a little bit of puff, having trouble working back up the gears to the kind of form that had got them up and running in this Championship season.

After all, there were those quick to point out that it had been six-and-ahalf hours since Neil Warnock’s side had found the net from open play since that eye-catching win over Leeds. Think again. The Severnside derby awaits the Bluebirds this weekend with Warnock’s side having offered up a performance of pace, purpose and intent that will give plenty of opponents second thoughts about fancying themselves when up against Cardiff in this kind of mood.

Three goals scored and it could have easily been more, such was the way Junior Hoilett and, in particular, Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, lapped up the opportunities to drive fear into Ipswich’s Halloween visit to South Wales.

Indeed, perhaps the only disappointing facet of the night was those who stayed away with the family fright festivities perhaps a factor. They missed a trick given the treat of the performance served up.

But the Cardiff fans here will spend the next few days enjoying the thought of taking on near rivals, should their side be able to repeat this kind of display just over the Bridge.

Ironically, it came with an old Bristol favourite in the side, Lee Tomlin linking well as Cardiff countered and carved open their visitors, pushing into second in the table as a result.

He wasn’t the only newcomer to the side to make the most of the opportunity. The busy Omar Bogle grabbed a first goal on his first start, adding to Hoilett’s opener before Danny Ward got one in injury-time just after Bersant Celina had given Ipswich a consolation.

Cardiff deserved a two goal cushion for their play. Indeed, their intent and intensity was obvious from very early on.

Yet, if those who had witnessed the games here, such as the wins over Villa and Leeds, they would see it as no surprise to see the Bluebirds in this kind of mood. What did shock was how Ipswich were so unprepared for it. Or, at least, unable to do anything about it.

While they seemed ready to be combative to begin with – Tommy Smith’s fifth minute wrestling of Sean Morrison the first and loudest of three ignored penalty claims at Cardiff setpieces – the foolishness of the space they were affording Warnock’s men would have quickly worried Mick McCarthy.

The one-time boot boy of the Cardiff manager would be quickly proven correct in his concern.

With Hoilett and Mendez-Laing hungry and Bogle busy, the slowness of the visitors to react was being shown up by the pace and purpose of Cardiff’s attacks. With 12 minutes gone, the pressure told as Mendez-Laing swept a cross from one far edge of the box to the other and Hoilett took his time to get pick his spot with a placed volley. It didn’t need power to beat Bartosz Bialkowski when it had such precision.

It was a trait Hoilett, full of direct running all night, quickly followed up. As another counter ensued soon after, the Canada international switching flanks in a fluid move, he put in a quite superb cross behind defenders that begged Bogle to reach. The striker did so, reading the arc just right and getting in between red shirts to connect – only for Bialkowksi to deny with his legs.

A great save, though the Ipswich goalkeeper would be stretching the truth if he claimed he knew much about it.

There were reminders from Ipswich for Cardiff to stay alert. On a couple of occasions Cardiff played themselves into unnecessary pressure, a case of a slight lack of concentration rather than being forced into errors. Neil Etheridge and Sol Bamba were both guilty of giving Ipswich some undeserved hope with poor clearances or passes, while Joe Garner’s flick from a corner that almost reached an unmarked Smith.

Still, even when Ipswich attacked, they were quickly snuffed out by the work-rate of the likes of the again impressive Paterson or Joe Ralls, the latter making a superb covering tackle to shut down Joe Garner’s attempts to shoot.

And it only served to hand Cardiff the chance of countering at speed, something Hoilett, Mendez-Laing and Tomlin were itching to do.

It should have provided the second before the break, Mendez-Laing not quite reading the pass from Tomlin when everything else about the attack had been done in understanding.

Yet any concerns that it could become an issue to have seen such chances passed on were blown away with just 35 seconds on the secondhalf clock. The interchange between Mendez-Laing and Tomlin was too quick for Ipswich, Bogle left in space