Preston make it three defeats in a row for Bluebirds
For a year that has brought so much hope and excitement to Cardiff City, this wasn’t exactly the way you’d imagined 2017 to come to a close.
Yet, in an unfitting tribute to the 12 months that’s just been, a second home defeat in as many games and an unprecedented third successive loss under Neil Warnock is how the calendar ended for the Bluebirds.
While there are those who have followed this club for far too long to have got carried away with anything or too much expect too much too soon, taking zero points from the three festive fixtures surely would have been too pessimistic for most in this period. Yet here we are after this latest loss.
Sealed by a 90th minute Tom Clarke goal, it was both a result and a performance out of sync with what has gone before this past year.
It should mean very little of course, apart from the fact it allows others to play catch up with a Cardiff side who failed to take advantage of playing first in this round of fixtures, with Wolves and Bristol City playing each other.
But there will now be a far greater urgency to start 2018 as Cardiff mean to go on if it is to be a memorable year and to take advantage of the foundations laid in 2017.
QPR are first up, Warnock heading to the last side he took to the Premier League, where at the very least he will need to stop the rot.
While this was not a game to write home about, it at least seemed Cardiff had managed that here as an uninspiring game played out to what seemed to be an inevitable goalless conclusion.
Yet failing to deal with a late setpiece, and failing to get a little bit of a bounce of the ball or a favourable referee call when the performance needed such a helping hand, all cost in the end.
It will have irked Warnock who, aside from wanting the win to rediscover momentum, had been itching for Preston payback.
Coming on the back of that Boxing Day disappointment against Fulham, Warnock at least tried to make sure he didn’t suffer for the same reasons he did the last time out against the Lancashire outfit.
Back then, in early September, the veteran had opted against making changes in fear of changing an unbeaten side only to end up bemoaning his own decision as he saw tired legs overrun at Deeepdale in what was Cardiff’s first loss of the campaign.
Here there were three changes from the Fulham defeat – Cardiff’s first at home this term – and it did provide some signs of freshness with Callum Paterson, Liam Feeney and Lee Tomlin all initially adding a bit of energy.
Cardiff’s problem that it was nowhere near enough as a drab firsthalf played its way out. Preston, as physical, cynical and fast-moving as they were in autumn, found an early front foot to play on.
But it led to little. Alan Browne made the odd inroad, yet his biggest contribution was hauling back a Tomlin break in one of the most obvious shirt pulls you will see.
It might well have been the type of foul the wily Warnock would have – privately at any rate – nodded a grudging approval at, if it had not been one of the too few times Cardiff threatened.
They had struggled to sustain any amount of play, though did start to add some pressure in the final third as the game dragged its way to the interval. The fact neither side had enjoyed a shot on target – the first time in a Championship match this season – told a story.
There had been precious little to get the home crowd off their seats, let alone the neutrals watching on television. You would have thought many might have been sorely tempted to reach for the remote and caught some of the darts on the other channel.
Certainly, there appeared little chance of someone hitting the bullseye here as the expected second-half surge never really materialised. The odd flash from Tomlin, the odd glimpse from Zohore, but not concentrated or cohesive enough and never enough to test Wales’ Chris Maxwell in goal for the visitors.
Not that Preston offered much more at the other end. When they did look to counter, Manga stood tall. Indeed, his challenge was vital with 14 minutes remaining as Tom Barkhuizen got clear of a struggling Lee Peltier and squeezed a shot across Neil Etheridge’s goal, the Philippine stopper’s save touching the ball towards the onrushing Jordan Hugill before the striker hit a brick Manga.
Having already impressed, the stage was set for the Gabon international to really top his night as an 81st minute free-kick provided him with an opportunity to head at goal. Frustratingly, Maxwell was equal to it leaving all to look to the heavens.
Warnock was soon looking somewhere else, eyes boring into the fourth official as a sly kick on substitute Omar Bogle was missed as Cardiff looked to launch a late attack. The ball given up, Preston’s counter was seemingly thwarted by Paterson’s header behind his own goal.
Yet, in the game’s final minute of normal time, Cardiff couldn’t adequately deal with the danger from the corner and Preston skipper Clarke scored from a goal as ugly as the game.
Roll on 2018 and all it still threatens to bring.
TEAMS:
Cardiff City: Etheridge; Peltier, Manga, Bamba (Capt), Paterson; Damour, Ralls; Mendez-Laing, Tomlin (Healy 76), Feeney (Hoilett 63); Zohore (Bogle 84). Subs Not Used: Murphy(gk), Halford, Connolly, Pilkington.
Preston: Maxwell; Clarke(Capt), Davies, Huntington, Cunningham(Woods 84); Pearson, Gallagher (Harrop 68); Barkhuizen, Browne, Horgan(Robinson 69); Hugill. Subs Not Used: Rudd (gk), Welsh, O’Connor, Mavididi.