WIN WALES v IRELAND TICKETS
JUNIOR Hoilett was Cardiff’s hero off the bench as he netted an 88th-minute winner against Huddersfield to earn the Bluebirds a much-needed three points.
It came after Trevoh Chalobah appeared to have claimed a point after cancelling out Joe Ralls’ firsthalf strike at Cardiff City Stadium, but Hoilett had other ideas.
All told, it was a deserved ending to a match dominated by the hosts, who produced a performance which bore little resemblance to the display at Reading on Sunday.
The Bluebirds had much more in
attack, chiefly thanks to the longawaited return of Lee Tomlin, and regathered their steel in midfield and organisation in defence.
And with eyes honed in on Tomlin, desperate to see if he was the man the Bluebirds have been so desperately missing, he certainly delivered.
It was his first game in a Cardiff City shirt since a drab 0-0 draw at home to Mansfield on January 6, 2018 and, given the circumstances, boy did he have a point to prove.
Neil Warnock said in his prematch notes some players had been banging down his door for the opportunity to play and there is no prizes for guessing Tomlin would have been one.
Early on, it all still looked a little unstructured still. Tomlin, perhaps a little overzealous upon his recall, was often caught playing as a second striker before Warnock barked at him to retreat, with Huddersfield gaining
confidence and a foothold in the game.
But Tomlin was having none of it. He kept pushing forward and demanded the ball in dangerous areas and pulled the strings masterfully.
He then delivered a pinpoint freekick into the feet of Robert Glatzel just five yards, but the German, relatively unchallenged, somewhat amazingly managed to sky it over the bar after the linesman kept his flag down, much to everyone’s dismay. He couldn’t have wished for a more gilt-edged chance to open his Bluebirds account, but it went begging.
As the first half wore on, Tomlin visibly gained confidence.
He played in Josh Murphy on the flank and was a constant outlet for Ralls and Leandro Bacuna, but his interplay with Glatzel was the biggest takeaway.
A sumptuous one-two with the German on the edge of the box saw Tomlin go agonisingly close with a tremendous, bending effort and the Cardiff fans were up off their seats applauding from all corners of Cardiff City Stadium.
After Ralls scored the first of the night just before half-time, Glatzel and Joe Bennett each missed great chances from close range.
And it came back to bite them almost immediately after the restart. Chalobah was afforded so much time on the edge of the box and he shuffled to his left, looked up and thumped it into the bottom corner of Alex Smithies’ net.
The Terriers dropped deep and Cardiff hurled everything they had at them, but every shot appeared to hit a defender, every half chance was poked wide.
Tomlin was eventually hooked for Hoilett and the standing ovation spoke volumes of what the crowd thought of the player’s return to the side.
Omar Bogle came was also introduced late on in a bid to find the equaliser, his first contribution was to rattle the crossbar from a lovely, whipped free-kick.
This wasn’t going to be their night, was it? Everything they tried seemed to be just a fraction off the mark.
The hosts then began looking a little desperate, Bacuna shot from distance and a groan echoed around the stadium,.
That was, of course, until Hoilett received the ball in the box with the clock reading 88 minutes.
He ghosted into the danger area, shifted one way, looked up, struck it, deflection, goal. Bedlam.
It certainly looks, on the evidence of these four games anyway, like we are in for a rollercoaster of a season.
Cardiff City: Smithies; Peltier, Flint, Morrison, Bennett; Ralls, Bacuna, Tomlin (Hoilett 76); Murphy, Whyte ( Vaulks 90), Glatzel (Bogle 76) Subs not used: Day, Nelson, Brown, Vassell
Huddersfield Town: Grabara; Hadergjonaj, Elphick, Schindler, Kongolo, Hogg, Chalobah Bacuna (76); Pritchard, Van La Parra (Campbell 85), Mbenza (Diakhaby 74); Grant Subs not used: Schofield, Kachunga, Brown, O’Brien
Referee: Jarred Gillett (Australia).
Attendance: 21,821.