Cardiff City 3-1 Fulham
A brace from Steven Caulker and
an unfortunate own goal by Sascha Riether meant Cardiff City took a big step
towards Premier League safety on Saturday as they beat a poor Fulham side 3-1.
The hosts came out of the traps
quickly, giving Fulham as little time as possible with the ball. However, there
was a general lack of creativity shadowing the game. Both teams were content to
pass the ball around in their own third and then launch hopeful long balls to
their target men. This was understandable given the positions of the sides but
there was a sense of “must not lose” rather than “must win.”
This changed on 15 minutes when
Fraizer Campbell produced the first moment of excitement. On the edge of the
box, he quickly shifted the ball from his left foot to his right before bending
a fierce shot on target, forcing a good save from Martin Stekelenburg.
During the rest of the first
half, in which Cardiff were marginally the better side, there were very few
opportunities for any goals. When the half-chances came along, most notably
from a Kenwyne Jones header and a mazy Craig Noone run, nothing could be made
of them.
Fulham were missing the midfield
anchoring that Scott Parker gives them as he was out with a knee injury.
Consequently, Cardiff found it quite easy to run with the ball through the
middle third of the pitch and get at Fulham’s back line.
As it looked like a dull first
period was going to fizzle out goalless, former Spurs player Caulker opened the
scoring. As the ball was played in from the right hand side, a volleyed
cross-come-shot from Craig Noone deflected kindly into the path of the unmarked
centre-back four yards out where he duly tapped in. The goal came at the
perfect time for the Bluebirds as it was virtually the last kick of the half.
Fulham began the second half
much better than they had the first and were rewarded for their efforts just
before the hour mark. An inswinging corner came in from Giorgios Karagounis
which was flicked on Johnny Heitinga. Similar to Caulker’s goal, Lewis Holtby
found himself unmarked a couple of yards out with the simple task of tapping
home.
Even with the scores back level,
there seemed to be little invention from either side and it became clear that a
mistake could lead to a winner. It actually ended up being a series of mistakes
that led to it. Fulham fell asleep at a corner on 66 minutes, allowing Kim
Bo-Kyung to shoot on goal almost completely uncontested. The resulting save
forced a corner, which itself led to a third in quick succession. The third was
played directly into the box by Jordan Mutch where, yet again, Caulker was
unmarked at close range and powered a header past Netherlands’ number one
Stekelenburg.
It was noticeable that Brede
Hangeland was not tasked with marking Caulker at set pieces, something that was
very confusing given that both of them are considered highly skilled in the
air.
The win was sealed just four
minutes later. A cross from the right hand side was met with a header from
Jordan Mutch that was well saved initially but unfortunately for the Cottagers,
Sascha Riether was unable to prevent himself from bundling the ball into his own
net, sending the home fans into raptures.
Steve Sidwell thought he’d got a
goal back 10 minutes from time, but his fine headed finish into the far corner
was correctly disallowed for offside.
The result leaves Cardiff in the
bottom three on goal difference only, but having played a game more than West
Brom who occupy 17th place. Their next games give them no respite
though, as they face Everton and Liverpool. It’s difficult to say if they’ll
survive or not but if they can repeat Saturday’s performance six or seven more
times, they may just do it.
By Daniel Frazer
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