SLOW START COSTLY FOR BLUEBIRDS AS THEY DRAW AGAIN
CARDIFF City were left frustrated again as Lee Tomlin was forced to rescue yet another draw against Birmingham City at St Andrew’s.
The Bluebirds started dreadfully, with Jude Bellingham tapping home unopposed with just four minutes on the clock to put the hosts into the lead.
And, truth told, Birmingham battered Cardiff in the first half and the visitors needed to show a lot more after the break.
In their defence, they did improve, and Tomlin was the beneficiary, but they couldn’t do enough to get this one over the line.
Cardiff fans are now becoming accustomed to sluggish starts from their team and yesterday was no different.
A poor corner dribbled across the box and no-one dealt with it as it trickled all the way through to an ecstatic Bellingham, who slotted home unchallenged from just a couple of yards out.
And the Blues, with their tails up, did not let up.
Jeremie Bela was the next to cause the visitors some concern, when he was found with his back to goal but, under so little pressure, he could turn and volley brilliantly from 25 yards out, only for it to clatter into the crossbar.
That then prompted the 2,000-plus Cardiff City fans to sing: “Harris, sort them out, Harris, Harris sort them out.”
But there was no such change of fortune and the Blues were banging on the door.
On the half-hour, Lukas Jutkiewicz was found in the box and his header fell sweetly into the path of Bellingham, who looked certain to double his and the hosts’ tally, but his volley was denied brilliantly by Alex Smithies.
When the half-time whistle blew, Cardiff trudged down the tunnel, battered and bruised. The Bluebirds, by contrast, had barely laid a glove on Birmingham.
Another chorus urging Harris to sort it out rang out and he had 15 minutes in the changing room to do just that.
Whatever the manager said at the break appeared to work as his side finally got a foothold in the game and began to impart some pressure on the hosts.
Tomlin was finally afforded some room to work his magic and the setpieces were proving troublesome for the Birmingham defence, with Callum Paterson the destroyer-in-chief now up top.
The pressure and territory soon began to tell when Tomlin took a tumble in the penalty area under a clumsy challenge, but referee Andy Davies waved it away. On first glance, it looked a good shout and Harris was incensed on the touchline as he marched over to the fourth official to make his point sternly.
But City reverted to type and continued to hammer on the door – it soon paid dividends.
Marlon Pack whipped in a lovely cross to the near post and Tomlin beat his man to it to head home his fifth of the season.
And it was the Bluebirds who continued to look most likely as they gripped the second half by the scruff of the neck, playing in their traditional, abrasive manner.
It was Tomlin again who sent the away fans up in arms when, having been laid off by Joe Bennett on the edge of the area, his sledgehammer of a shot whistled by Lee Camp’s post to ensure the scores stayed level with just 15 minutes left.
So, another draw on the board, incredibly Cardiff’s 12th of the season – no other team has more.
It means the Bluebirds have just one win in their last eight Championship games, which will be cause for concern.
One thing is for certain, the slow starts are crippling them.