Moody Blues in Welsh shadow
AFTER the elation of Euro 2016 with Wales – Paul Trollope came crashing back to earth with a frustrating bump.
Cardiff’s red shirts and the blazing sunshine would have evoked memories from the fields of France last month where Trollope served as a trusty lieutenant to Chris Coleman in the march to the semi-finals.
That’s where the similarity ended for the new Cardiff boss, who is desperate to instil the same spirit generated by the national team into his new squad to meet owner Vincent Tan’s expectations of a promotion bid.
There was no shortage of effort and unity, but a summer of bargain basement buying came back to haunt Tan’s lack of investment.
The prime example was the horror miss of free signing Fred Gounongbe as the Benin striker somehow managed to scoop his shot over the bar from three yards after Declan John robbed David Cotterill and fired the ball across the box.
“It was very frustrating. We have put a lot of work in that area of the pitch and it was the chance of the game. I am not sure he knows how he missed it,” said Trollope.
“We missed a couple of chances that we should have put away.
“The competition is fierce and the spending power of some of the teams is massive and we have to compete in other ways.”
Trollope knows they will have to be far more ruthless in front of goal after he watched his side waste a host of chances. Lex Immers struck the bar from distance and saw a header saved by Tomasz Kuszczak, following an excellent free-kick from Peter Whittingham, who also forced the Blues’ keeper into another flying save with a 30-yard volley.
Anthony Pilkington wasted another glorious chance after a mistake by Ryan Shotton, whose slip presented him with an easy lob over Kuszczak but he only succeeded in lifting the ball gently into the keeper’s hands.
There was a similar lack of quality for Blues’ boss Gary Rowett who will step up his bid to secure the £1.9million signing of Sheffield United striker Che