AGONY FOR BLUEBIRDS AFTER THE ECSTASY OF EQUALISER
THE ecstasy ended up being all too brief. But what ecstasy it was.
The noise from the away end had reverberated around Villa Park throughout the opening exchanges, a sea of 2,500 Bluebirds buoyed and encouraged by their side’s confident and confrontational start.
Albert Adomah’s opener was deflating, the response exhilarating.
A roar as Cardiff nicked the ball, tension as Hoilett spun and broke.
Silence, as Rickie Lambert stroked the ball nonchalantly into the corner. Surely, it was offside? No, the movement and awareness was simply too good for the hosts.
1-1, and limbs flying in every direction. A wall of noise and the obligatory strains of ‘Don’t take me home’. Mark Hudson said Neil Warnock would bring the good times back, and it really did feel like it for a while.
The elation was too brief, a matter of minutes, in fact.
The reality check was brutal, a defensive lapse ruthlessly punished by the vision of Adomah and a flawless header from Jonathan Kodjia.
A third was harsh, and Cardiff headed back to South Wales in the knowledge that they are still very much mired in a relegation fight.
After all, a visit of Chris Hughton’s superb Brighton means it only gets tougher in the immediate future and it’s now clear that there will be no remarkable, Rotherham-esque surge away from trouble.
There have been good results over the last couple of months, but their revival has been more than matched by the league’s other slow starters. They have even dropped back into the bottom three after Blackburn Rovers, at one stage seemingly doomed, landed a scarcely-credible win away at Newcastle United.
At the moment, they simply cannot pull away from the trapdoor.
So, why does the mood feel so much more defiant than it had last time they found themselves at the foot of the table? Cardiff competed, physical as they always are under Warnock, but genuinely putting together some smart moves.
Peter Whittingham was helping to get Joe Bennett into dangerous areas, Lambert was bringing others into play. Aron Gunnarsson was here, there and everywhere. Having regrouped at the break, they came haring out the blocks and twice came close from set-pieces.
Lee Peltier’s sending off gave Jack Grealish the space out wide and able to escape the close attentions of Gunnarsson, he ran riot and ultimately Cardiff were simply left overwhelmed.
Yet there is no denying that the scoreline really did flatter the hosts.
That these improvements are not bringing the results needed to get up the table is, of course, a major concern and Warnock was blunt when he said that he didn’t see a lot changing until January. You can see what he means. He may not be one who likes to rotate but the lack of options off the bench to add variety in attack are hurting him. He said Frederic Gounongbe has been the best finisher in training, but major question marks still have to be raised. Is he good enough for this level? When he was presented with a free header to bring the scores level, the effort was tame.
All the motivational and organisational skills of the new manager cannot correct a squad that was simply not fit for purpose when the transfer window shut.
Villa just had too much pace in attack, better finishes and far more speed out wide. Not until January can that really be solved.
Still, those brief moments of ecstasy in the away end will give Cardiff something to cling onto. What a nine minutes it was.