Best win so far, Etheridge is top of the stoppers and Pat’s a threat WHAT WE LEARNED FROM CARDIFF CITY’S WIN AT BARNSLEY
CARDIFF City secured a second successive Championship victory as they edged past Barnsley 1-0 on Tuesday this week.
Callum Paterson’s 83rd minute strike proved to be the difference at Oakwell.
Here are the main talking points to emerge from the game... Etheridge is this team’s unsung idol It is becoming increasingly obvious that Neil Etheridge is Cardiff City’s silent idol.
He rarely gets major plaudits and at Oakwell was never forced into a spectacular stop, but his glove-work was consistently smart, tidying up with Barnsley’s forwards snapping up his heels and catching cleanly under pressure.
When the former Walsall ‘keeper was brought to the club on a free transfer in the summer there were some doubts about his ability to step into the No.1 jersey, with fellow newcomer Lee Camp injured.
However, Camp’s route into the side is unclear, after Etheridge started his 18th consecutive league match for the Bluebirds.
He has seven clean sheets to his name and looks a more confident and imposing figure between the sticks.
Most importantly, Etheridge seems to have built a rapport with his defenders.
That communication was evident during Cardiff’s superb defensive rearguard at Barnsley. We were warned about Paterson’s goal threat Callum Paterson arrived at Cardiff City with a big reputation as a goal-scoring right back.
And although he was playing on the right wing at Oakwell, this was a perfect time for the Scot to open his Bluebirds account, in timely, albeit scrappy fashion.
It was almost a tackle instead of a shot, but it was lightning-fast reactions from Paterson at the back post to bundle home when Barnsley failed to clear Junior Hoilett’s corner, which had initially fallen at Sol Bamba’s feet.
If a goal was ever going to come in this dour contest, it was going to be on like this. Not that Paterson cared as he raced away in ecstasy, ‘dabbing’ before sliding on his belly beside the incensed Barnsley fans.
The 23-year-old had endured a mixed display on the flank before that, yet won countless aerial duels to keep Cardiff going forward and ran the channels selflessly.
With a goal record at Hearts that spoke volumes of his all-round ability (nine goals in 22 games last season), it was only going to be a matter of time before Paterson scored in the blue of Cardiff. He’s a huge asset to Neil Warnock’s team. Cardiff getting under the skin of opposition managers Brentford manager Dean Smith was unhappy with Cardiff’s perceived underhand tactics last weekend, claiming he’d ‘want his money back’ and believing the Bluebirds wasted time following their second goal.
Tykes boss Paul Heckingbottom – perhaps feeling just as irate as Smith had – also watched his side succumb to the Bluebirds when another result might have transpired. He was similarly perplexed. “I’m not having a go at Cardiff, as they’re so difficult to play against,” the Barnsley boss began. “They have lots of goals in them, lots of experience and gamesmanship.
“I’m not having a go, but you expect stronger refereeing. I knew what the game was going to be like. It was going to be like that.
“It was the exact same game as last season. I’ve been working with some of the players a long time. There’s probably only two or three who could stand up to the challenge and not let certain tactics intimidate them but then impose themselves on the game.” Warnock would disagree. He claimed the win was founded on ‘character’ and a great defence, not intimidatory tactics.
Whatever, it simply shows that Cardiff are proving extraordinarily difficult to cope with, home or away. Barnsley are no mugs in this division, yet once again Warnock’s troops went on the road and unsettled their opposition. Best win of the season? Warnock’s post-match assertion that this was ‘the best win of the season’ certainly wasn’t a comment on the quality of Cardiff’s football on the night. Even he admitted the Bluebirds have played much better this term.
He knew it wasn’t a victory to file next to the triumphant trampling of Aston Villa or Leeds United. In fact, it was more of a hard-fought battle than almost any game Cardiff have played this season.
In that regard, Warnock was right. Because to pick up three points when you’re not at your best, shorn of two star forwards in Kenneth Zohore and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, is a sign of success.
Cardiff will hope to play better, more expansive football in the future. But a trip to South Yorkshire amid lashing rain and swirling wind wasn’t the place for it.