Young guns honour Whitts’ memory
ON a night when we remembered one of Cardiff City’s legends, Peter Whittingham, it was the new, young talent sprouting through the club, just as he once did, which earned the Bluebirds a 3-1 victory over Aston Villa in his memorial match.
A first-half goal from Ollie Tanner and a double from Kion Etete helped City make it a special night for the 10,000 in attendance at Cardiff City Stadium for the match held in Whittingham’s honour.
An emotionally-charged evening began with photos of Whitts with fans on the big screens and countless highlights of him curling balls into the corner of opposition nets, before Mark Hudson, Sean Morrison and Joe Ralls led the Bluebirds out with Peter’s sons, Sebastian and William, and his nieces and nephews.
As the hairs on the backs of necks settled down after James Fox’s rendition of “Here’s to you, Peter Whittingham, City loves you more than you will know”, the game could finally begin.
On seven minutes, referee Andre Marriner blew his whistle and the game ground to a halt as those inside the stadium erupted into a minute’s applause for the great man.
The Canton End belted out “He does what he wants, he does what he wants, Peter Whittingham, he does what he wants”.
On the pitch, it was a tightlyfought contest, with both sides giving as good as they got, which is testament to Cardiff given the strength of Aston Villa’s team.
But before the half was over, young Tanner, who had looked lively early on, smacked a wonderful low drive across Filip Marschall and into the bottom corner of the goal. A crisp, left-footed effort to hand City the lead, how fitting.
City’s second came through Etete, who had his best outing in a City shirt by a country mile.
Niels Nkounkou fizzed in a low cross to the striker on the edge of the box before he swept home expertly to double the lead.
He proudly held a ‘Whittingham 7’ shirt aloft to the Canton End in a touching gesture during his celebration.
After Jacob Ramsey pulled one back with a header he knew very little about, Etete set about capping off his night in perfect fashion when he nodded home after a pinpoint cross from academy kid Morgan Wigley.