It's been a long time since I had zero expectations from a City game. I'm glad I didn't because we lost 4-1.
The day began with a 6.30am start at Junction 34 as a car-load of us made our journey down to Hounslow.
There were plenty of City fans heading down the M4 as we successfully dodged any heavy traffic. One slightly worrying sight was a Volvo with one Wales flag and one Chelsea. I guess we South Walians aren't all plastic Liverpool fans then. ;)
After a welcome early bird fry-up we headed on to Wetherspoons in Hounslow for a 10am start. A hung-over barmaid looked distraught as about 30 City lads piled in for a 10am booze-up.
We arrived outside Stamford Bridge at a late-ish 11.30am hoping we’d missed the party. Thankfully we had and managed to avoid any trouble. There was one hairy moment when we managed to get cordoned off with hundreds of Chelsea fans as cops on horses blocked off a road but it all passed.
There'd obviously been some kind of row but I honestly didn’t see anything. There were rumours flying around about a bus getting smashed up, police attacking Cardiff fans and vice versa but I honestly didn’t see a thing.
There were the usual muppets in our lot giving stewards stick. It wasn't particularly well-organised operation from the officials in the Upper Shed but that's no excuse for grown men to hurl racist abuse just for checking your ticket - something I saw on two or three occasions. Dont get me wrong, we're talking a tiny minority – but there's just no need for it.
And so to the game – I missed Drogba's first goal because of the aforementioned chaos and obviously feared the worse that we had gone behind so early.
Thankfully, City didn’t lie down and as the game went on we looked increasingly comfortable. Mark Kennedy did a cracking job marshalling Joe Cole down the left aided by Whitts. Young Wildig was working tirelessly while Bothroyd was winning fouls left right and centre.
Chopra's goal was absolutely fantastic. We'd already threatened on a few occasions with a Bothroyd header being tipped over the bar and another shot getting blocked.
Bothroyd combined with Burkey. He swung in a lovely cross to the front post and Chopra heads in leaving Alex in his wake.
It was pandemonium in the Shed. At one point I was considering a leap of faith from Upper to Lower but decided against it at the last minute. That’s how it stayed until half-time. If only it was the final whistle.
Deep down we all knew Chelsea would step up a gear come the second half and unfortunately they did. A defence-splitting pass from Drogba sent Ballack free and he dinked the ball over Marshall. It was classy and it was game over really.
Fair play to our lot. The players didn’t give up and the City fans never stopped singing. Even the Chelsea fans were chuckling at some of the John Terry songs. One 'large man' who had been hurling abuse at the Shed from the start got dragged out of the stadium by stewards but in the main it was good natured fun.
Chelsea added two more goals courtesy of Sturridge and Kalou but by then it was all academic really. McCormack scuffed a rare chance wide with his first touch and Darcy Blake managed to rob Drogba of the ball with a cheeky nudge.
As for Stamford Bridge – we enjoyed it. It makes such a difference being in a ground with four stands as opposed to a bowl like ours. As one of my mates said to me: "I’d swap this one game for ten home games. Our stadium is crap."
We managed to hop on the tube away from any trouble after the game. By the time we got back to Cardiff there were plenty of rumours on CCMB about the fighting but like I said I didn't see any of it thankfully.
All in all a good day, despite the result. Now back to league business. The Baggies is a massive, massive game.
Chelsea
Hilario, Carvalho, Ferreira, Alex, Lampard, J Cole (Kalou 46), Mikel, Ballack, Zhirkov
Drogba (Borini 88), Sturridge (Malouda 78)
Substitutes: Turnbull, Ivanovic, Bruma, Malouda, Matic, Kalou, Borini
Cardiff
Marshall, McNaughton, Gyepes, Gerrard, Kennedy, Rae (Blake 74), Whittingham, Burke (McCormack 78), Wildig (Taiwo 90), Chopra, Bothroyd
Substitutes
Enckelman, Quinn, Taiwo, Blake, Matthews, Feeney, McCormack
Ref: Marriner
Att: 40,827
