PREM PUSH GOES DOWN TO WIRE
DERBY: 3 CARDIFF CITY: 1
CARDIFF City had been counting down the days to this tantalising clash with Derby County, yet it ended with an agonising defeat that damages their Premier League dream.
Disaster struck in the final 10 minutes – usually the Bluebirds’ most productive period – as substitute Yanic Wildschut pondered on the ball and Matej Vydra hit Cardiff with a hammer blow.
Cameron Jerome’s poacher’s goals either side of that pivotal moment ensured a comfortable Rams win in the end.
Now – assuming Fulham swat Sunderland aside on Friday night – this topsy-turvy season will boil down to the season’s final day.
Before Vydra’s telling finish, a familiar scourge of Cardiff, Jerome, had been the fly in the ointment all night, first cancelling out Callum Paterson’s eyecatching first half strike and then turning home calmly in the 90th minute.
It was a game full of intriguing subtexts and you felt before kick off anything was possible. Cardiff just dreaded it would be this. The first shock of the night came when Neil Warnock selected misfiring Gary Madine over Kenneth Zohore, with on-loan Nottingham Forest winger Jamie Ward making just his second Bluebirds start in place of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing.
Gary Rowett’s teamsheet provided its own surprises, 20-goal Vydra dropped to the bench. More on him later.
The Cardiff fans came in numbers, 2,700 fans determined to enjoy themselves after last month’s snow frustrations.
But despite the vocal visiting support, it was the hosts who started better: Richard Keogh cannoned a shot for a corner via a Ward deflection.
Tackles flew in on both sides. First Paterson was booked for an cynical early shove on Marcus Olsson, then Sol Bamba was fortunate to avoid caution after taking out ex-Bluebird Jerome.
As the game started to stretch, Derby looked to pounce. Another err from Bamba allowed Andreas Weimann to storm into the visitors’ box to feed Tom Lawrence.
But as the goal gaped, Neil Etheridge did tremendously to close the angle and dive at the feet of the Wales international.
It wasn’t a game to regain composure, it was too frenetic for that.
Cardiff hadn’t had time to dwell on that let-off before they had their own appeals for a penalty.
Bradley Johnson was the alleged perpetrator with the Bluebirds incensed nothing was given by referee Andrew Madley. TV replays suggested the visitors ought to have had the chance to score from 12 yards. No matter, not at that point anyway. Paterson found the bottom corner minutes later with an arrowing volley that stunned Scott Carson after Joe Bennett’s diagonal missed everyone – except the ever-so clinical Scot.
His 10th goal of the season triggered wild scenes in the visitors’ end.
But Cardiff should have doubled their lead inside 33 minutes as Paterson nodded another diagonal across goal but Madine couldn’t get the decisive touch, amid more penalty appeals.
Weimann spurned a decent chance on the turn, but then both Ward and Joe Ralls worried Carson with long-range efforts just before the break.
Derby traipsed off at the break knowing they’d been second best in a bruising Championship battle. The question was: could Rowett’s men react?
The hosts responded in style, knowing they needed a win to keep their
play-off hopes alive. Lawrence was always a threat, the Welshman’s twinkle toes bewitching the Cardiff back line at times.
If it was bruising before the interval, blood was drawn after.
Bamba was left in a bloody mess after being caught by a stray Jerome elbow and was forced into an emergency change of shirt.
And then the Rams smelled blood, sending on Vydra for Olsson.
There was tension in the Pride Park air, but palpable excitement too. Madine wasted the chance to kill all of that when, on 64 minutes, a barnstorming Ralls run forged another big chance for the frontman.
The game was still very much alive – even more so after Jerome muscled through Morrison and Bennett to poke home the scruffiest of equalisers to cue Pride Park pandemonim.
The former Cardiff striker has a horrible knack of scoring against the Bluebirds and enjoyed a stellar evening against his former employers, latching onto Keogh’s headed pass to score a deserved leveller.
Cardiff’s suffering was to get worse. Wildschut – send on to offer more forward thrust in place of Ward –delayed horrubly in his own box. Wisdom picked out Vydra, the top scorer, who made no mistake.