It might not have been pretty but last night the Bluebirds found the perfect stinker to go on the rebound with after their weekend Geordie heartbreak.
A two nil victory courtesy of goals from Chris Burke and Anthony Gerrard against an atrocious Peterborough side cemented their playoff place and helped fans temporarily forget about off-field matters.
There is now a useful six point gap emerging between City and seventh place Sheffield United, and the Bluebirds have a game in hand, while Notts Forest and Newcastle also dropped points last night.
Make no mistakes about it, it wasn’t pretty, and Cardiff were not helped by a shocking playing surface, (apparently we can’t afford to fix it) but they dug deep, hobbled around, and found the two goals that mattered.
The midfield is really beginning to struggle for numbers. Ledley is out for the season. Rae out for at least another week, and yesterday Darcy Blake and Steve McPhail both went off injured with knocks.
Come Saturday it could be a central pairing of Wildig and Taiwo versus Ballack and Lampard. Ouch.
Cardiff started well with Bothroyd hitting the post from just outside the penalty box, and Chopra sliced wide when put through on goal.
Peterborough meanwhile look quite the relegated side. No pace to their game, no technical ability and a lack of cutting edge.
They will do well not to finish bottom this season. How on earth we managed to surrender a four goal lead against these mugs earlier this season in beyond belief.
Whitts had a free kick turned over the bar by England Under 21 keeper Joe Lewis before City opened their account. Whittingham and Wildig combined down the left before Kennedy delivered a swooping cross to the back post.
Bothroyd won his header and guided it perfectly into Chris Burkes’ path who finished well. 1-0 City.
The rest of the second half was scrappy. The main problem was the game was played at such a slow pace but apart from a few hairy moments when Gyepes went missing Cardiff were always in control.
The second half started in familiar fashion with City coming out sluggish after munching on their half-time pies. Peterborough soon created their only real chance when Boyd shot straight at Marshall from six yards out.
Bothroyd and Marshall had a furious row after the Scot punched a ball that should’ve been caught and the fans became nervous. But gradually, with the help of the effervescent Chopra and Burke, the Bluebirds began to reassert themselves.
Finally, Gerrard sealed the win in the 78th minute after Bothroyd had again flicked on a cross, this time from Peter Whittingham. It was no more than they deserved. City was not great, but far superior to the Posh.
Not much else happened. Bothroyd has his usual five minute sit down in the opposition half, Taiwo came on for McPhail, and everyone left early.
As for off-field matters, as far as I’m aware the protest was very poorly attended. Looks like the three points and bitterly cold weather was enough to send the Riddler-haters home.
One fan in the Canton End did get his “Ridsdale Out” banner confiscated by a steward but other than that it all passed quietly.
Roll call to Chelsea? Happy days.
Cardiff
Marshall, McNaughton, Gyepes, Gerrard, Kennedy, Whittingham, McPhail (Taiwo 77), Burke, Blake (Wildig 21), Chopra, Bothroyd (Feeney 90+5) Substitutes Enckelman, Quinn, Taiwo, Matthews, Wildig, Feeney, McCormack
Peterborough
Lewis, Williams (Simpson 82), Morgan, Bennett, Frecklington, Rowe, Whelpdale, Livermore, Mclean, Boyd, Mackail-Smith (Gilbert 46)
Substitutes: McKeown, Gilbert, Griffiths, Geohaghan, Lee, Simpson, Reid
Ref: Andy Penn
Att: 17,686
