By Jack Watson
What a game. I was not expecting this scoreline, I have to say, not least because Cardiff were just three points below us, we rarely win two on the trot. But, that did not seem to bother us today and every player put in a great shift; there were no faults and playing out from the back actually worked.
The Bluebirds were one of the worst teams to come to the MKM Stadium: they could not get into our box, made sloppy mistakes and gave the ball away. Also, they only managed to get one shot on target which came in the latter stages of the game when we gave some of our academy players some playing time. They definitely did not look like a team who were three points from the playoffs. But, the good news: we look absolutely robust and unstoppable.
Rosenior made no changes to the starting line-up, save for Ozan Tufan replacing Regan Slater. That meant we lined up–in a 4-2-3-1 formation–as follows: Ryan Allsop between the sticks; Lewie Coyle, Alfie Jones, Jacob Greaves and Cyrus Christie as the back line; Tyler Morton and Jean Seri below them; Liam Delap, Ozan Tufan and Scott Twine were above Aaron Connolly, who was leading the line.
The first half got off to a great start when, in the first minute, the ball was played over the top by Allsop, which landed perfectly for Connolly, who went around the keeper and tried to roll it into the far-left corner, but it was stopped by a diving block from Dimi Goutas. Alas, the next 30 minutes were a bit dry and it was mostly The Tigers who were keeping the ball at the back and not allowing the visitors to have any possession.
Then, we put our foot on the gas and began to push forward at Cardiff, which was rewarded in the 32nd minute. Great link up play on the right allowed Delap to get in behind Cardiff’s back line, who could not keep up with him, and drive into the box before sending a low cross into the box, which was met by Connolly, who could not miss and smashed it in. It is great to see him on the scoresheet again as he had a lot of problems over the past few months, preventing him from having time on the pitch.
For the remainder of the half we fought for a second, but Cardiff were good defensively and kept it 1-0 at the break.
The second half was very similar to the first and Cardiff did not even put up a fight. Our second came in the 56th minute; Connolly was driving towards the goal, with a pocket of space to run into, before he was upended on the edge of the area and the referee awarded us the free-kick. Twine, who has been criticised by our fans for his poor set piece form, was put up to the job and he beautifully arched the ball into the top right corner. I was right behind this masterclass and Alnwick, their keeper, could not do anything about it.
Thus, was followed up with another fantastic goal just three minutes later. In the 59th minute, Morton whipped one over for Tufan, who took it down neatly and calmly chipped the keeper, who was off his line, putting the ball into the back of the net. That's two in two for the Turkish international; may it continue.
Cardiff made some substitutions to try and get back into the game, however, that was not enough to beat our fantastic back line and goalkeeper, who were able to keep the clean sheet. The only shot on target they had came in the 76th minute after a nice hit from substitute Kion Etete from range was well saved by Allsop. A mere flicker of hope for the travelling fans, who went back to Wales empty handed.
What a relief to be able to beat a top half team comfortably, putting three goals past them. If we can do that to these and Boro, we should be able to do it to everyone. But, I do not want to get my hopes up as we are the most inconsistent team. Nonetheless, Bristol beat Sunderland, which allows us to go fifth for now, unless West Brom win tomorrow, and in that case we will go sixth, which is still a great position to be in at Christmas. Our next game is Bristol away on Friday night, which I wont be going to. Hopefully, this was the start to a little run.
