No pity for Parr as we’re at Wembley yet again 31/01/2012
Posted by NB in Cardiff City, season 2011/12.Tags: Crystal Palace, Darcy Blake, Jonathan Parr, Kenny Miller
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Cardiff City 1 Crystal Palace 0 a.e.t., 3-1 on penalties, League Cup semi-final 2nd leg
For the fourth time in under four years Cardiff City are to play at Wembley, and although the win on penalties against Crystal Palace last week might not have been convincing, it was thoroughly deserved. Norwegian Jonathan Parr was one of three Palace players failing to score on penalties, but it was Tom Heaton who was the hero with his two fine saves.
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Advantage Palace and another away draw in the League 18/01/2012
Posted by NB in Cardiff City, season 2011/12.Tags: Crystal Palace, Doncaster Rovers, Jonathan Parr, Tom Heaton
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Crystal Palace 1 Cardiff City 0, League Cup semi-final first leg
Doncaster Rovers 0 Cardiff City 0
It’s literally 1-0 to Palace after last week’s tight game at Selhurst Park, but although the defeat was a cruel blow after some good play and a disallowed goal that should have been allowed, it’s still very much “game on” before the return leg at the Cardiff City Stadium next week.
In the Championship we’re now called “away draw specialists” by the press with 0-0 at Doncaster being our eight away draw in fourteen away matches, but a goalless draw at the Keepmoat Stadium is perhaps not as bad as it sounds. What’s more disappointing that not getting all three points is the fact that we didn’t play that well. That has to be put right when Portsmouth come to Cardiff this weekend.
A weekend of mixed emotions for Jonathan Parr and me 09/11/2011
Posted by NB in Cardiff City, season 2011/12.Tags: Aalesunds FK, Brann, Crystal Palace, David Marshall, Elliot Parish, Erik Huseklepp, Joe Ralls, Jonathan Parr, Kenny Miller, Paul Rachubka, Peter Whittingham, Steffen Iversen, Tom Heaton
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Cardiff City 2 Crystal Palace 0
SK Brann 1 Aalesunds FK 2, Norwegian Cup Final
Norwegian Jonathan Parr was an unused sub for Crystal Palace in our excellent win over the Eagles on Saturday. On Sunday Parr went to Ullevaal Stadium in Oslo for the Norwegian cup final, and although he of course didn’t play there either, he at least left the ground happy and with a cup winners medal, as his former club Aalesunds FK, for whom he played in a few cup rounds before his transfer to Palace, beat my Norwegian favourites, SK Brann, 2-1.
An unhappy return to the Palace 12/03/2011
Posted by NB in Cardiff City, season 2010/11.Tags: Dave Jones, Stephen McPhail, Aaron Ramsey, Crystal Palace, Peter Whittingham, Kevin McNaughton, Paul Quinn, Craig Bellamy, Steffen Iversen, Mark Hudson, James Vaughan, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Dekel Keinan, Kagisho Dikgacoi, Stephen Bywater
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Back in Britain to see Cardiff play almost a year after my last trip, it started out bad footballing wise. Shortly after having arrived in London I watched on the telly as the Bluebirds lost the match against Ipswich. On Tuesday night I returned to Selhurst Park to watch City play Crystal Palace, a match Cardiff won 2-1 last season. It proved to be an unhappy return to the Palace with Cardiff disappointingly loosing 0-1.
Welcome to Parkin as Iversen makes his mark 04/01/2011
Posted by NB in Cardiff City, season 2010/11.Tags: Andy O'Brien, Crystal Palace, Dave Jones, Jon Parkin, Leeds United, Preston North End, Ross McCormack, Steffen Iversen
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A warm welcome to Jon Parkin! I think the signing of this experienced striker was a god one, as we desperately need a golascorer at present. However I hoped for a long time that Dave Jones would bring in Steffen Iversen. The 34 year old Norwegian international played well and scored the winning goal on his debut for Crystal Palace tonight against Parkins’ old club, Preston, and I think Iversen will prove a great signing for Crystal Palace. For all I know Dave Jones might have been after Iversen, but it was predictable that he ended up in a club from London, as that’s where his family lives.
A bit surprising to see Cardiff miss out on another transfer target, Andy O’Brien, as the Bolton defender opted to sign for Leeds where he’s been on loan this season. What bad things has Ross McCormack been saying to O’Brien about Cardiff I wonder?
It was nice to see all the teams above Cardiff lose points Monday evening, but not so good to hear of all the uncertainty with injuries and illness ahead of the Tuesday showdown with Leeds… It’ll not be a walk in the park like the away fixture, that’s for sure!
Andy O’Brien
When the going gets tough… 29/09/2010
Posted by NB in season 2010/11.Tags: Andy Keogh, Craig Bellamy, Crystal Palace, Millwall, Peter Whittingham, Seyi Olofinjana
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Cardiff City 2 Millwall 1
Cardiff City 0 Crystal Palace 0
When the going gets tough Cardiff obviously don’t get going as much as we’d like.
I was a bit hasty when I after the win against Hull proclaimed this had to be our season. I still believe that we’ll be “there or there about”, as they say, come May, but it’ll be tougher than it looked only a few weeks ago.
Injuries to key players has set us back and shown that even our current strong squad has got it’s limits.
Beating Millwall in a dramatic match with a sending off for the opponents in the first half, an ex-Cardiff goalie saving Whittingham’s penalty just before half time and a late Keogh goal securing three points was of course was joyful. We didn’t play very well though from what I gather, and against Crystal Palace – a team who had yet to take any points away from home this season – we didn’t impress either, failing to break down their five man midfield and defensive minded play. Not even Olofinjana returning from injury was enough for us to overcome the Londoners, but I guess had we been without him we could even have lost. It was very nice to have him back.
We’re still in second place, so it’s not all gloom, and seeing how Leeds amazingly let a 4-1 interval lead slip away and in the end loose 4-6 at home to Preston yesterday I’ll admit we’re not too bad off! A “feat” like that from Leeds inevitably makes me think about when we gave away a four goal half time lead at Peterborough last season to end up drawing 4-4, but compared to Leeds’ collapse that was nothing.
Barnsley away is up next. That’ll be at least as difficult a game as the past two matches, but having only drawn against Palace we need a win even more. Hopefully Bellamy, who has now sensibly been left out of the Wales squad for the next two internationals, will be fit and provide that little extra that we seem to need at the moment.
At the Palace 30/03/2010
Posted by NB in Cardiff City, season 2009/10.Tags: Chris Burke, Crystal Palace, Darcy Blake, Gabor Gyepes, Jay Bothroyd, Kelvin Etuhu, Peter Whittingham, Selhurst Park
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EAT WHEN YOUR WINNING: yours truly enjoying a burger outside Selhurst Park before kick off.
Crystal Palace 1 Cardiff City 2
Just like when I last went to see Cardiff play (the 1-0 away win against Reading in September) Chris Burke became the match winner as the Bluebirds fought hard to beat Crystal Palace 2-1 at Selhurst Park Saturday.
It was exciting to again be there to watch Cardiff from the stands. I went with my brother-in-law who lives in London, and having driven to Selhust Park from Twickenham we arrived at the ground with plenty of time to look around and suck in the atmosphere. Well, to be honest there wasn’t much of an atmosphere before close to kick off, as it seemed most of the 13,464 crowd only found the way to their seats just as the game was about to start. From then on the Cardiff contingent started to make some noise, and it was great to be able to celebrate two goals and a win along with fellow Bluebird supporters.
We didn’t have to wait long for the first goal, and from where we stood there was an excellent view to where Gabor Gyepes scored from. The Cardiff section (including two Hungarians right behind us) went bananas and cries of “Bloooobirds” rung around Selhurst Park. From then until half time City struggled as Crystal Palace mostly hoisted the ball high and they put City under pressure having some great chances and producing some excellent saves from David Marshall. I felt we were a bit lucky to going into the break 1-0 up, and it was a bit disapointing that Cardiff weren’t able to get the ball more down on the ground.
Selhust Park reminded me of grounds I’ve been to in the past to watch Cardiff play in the lower divisions (apart from it’s 26,000 capacity perhaps), and that means it wasn’t too impressive. The playing surface didn’t look very good either. Has this really been a Premier League venue?
In the second half it continued to be an encounter between two very mediocre looking teams. The play was in tune with the weather really: a bit cloudy and changing with both sunny and rainy spells, and for the neutral spectator it most have been a dull game.
When Palace equalized in the 58th minute it wasn’t unfair, but all along I felt Cardiff could manage the win. When Burkey made it 2-1 in the 67th minute I was certain, and how great it was letting the joy burst out as Burke ran towards the Cardiff fans celebrating! City managed to hold on to the lead and in securing another three precious point even climbed up to fourth as Swansea drew and Leicester lost.
David Marshall did the job in goal. In front of him Darcy Blake was impressive and together with the tall, strong Gabor Gyepes formed a solid pair at centre back. In midfield the most notable thing for me was how Peter Whittingham had a real off-day missing even the simplest of passes and losing the ball far to easily at times. Up front it was a bit surprising to see Kelvin Etuhu in the starting line up in Jay Bothroyd’s absence, but I thought he did a good job before being replaced by (and that was a bit of a surprise too) Warren Feeney.
The programme for the Crystal Palace vs. Cardiff City match.
Now I’m back in Norway and look forward to listening to the Leicester match tonight on Cardiff City Player. It’s not quite like being there, but it’ll do. Hopefully Ill be able to visit the Cardiff City Stadium next season and perhaps then even watch Premier League football!
Warnock warning 03/03/2010
Posted by NB in Cardiff City, season 2009/10.Tags: Crystal Palace, Dave Jones, Neil Warnock, Q.P.R.
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It was disturbing that Neil Warnock decided to leave the sinking Crystal Palace ship to hunt for glory with moneybag London rivals Q.P.R. Why? Because his decision might encourage Dave Jones to do the same.
Cardiff aren’t as bad of as Crystal Palace. Not yet. But Dave Jones is a manager working with at least one hand tied and it must be so frustrating to not be able to bring in the players he wants and not even being able to make the loan signings he wants. Just like every Championship player have an ambition to one day play in the Premier League and get the most out of their careers, every manager wants and needs the right foundations to be all they can be in their profession.
As a Crystal Palace supporter I would be loathing Neil Warnock right now, but being objective you can’t really blame him for making the move that he has. I just hope I never have to see the day that Dave Jones gets fed up and leaves Cardiff City, but I fear it’s a question of when rather than if… It would be both fully understandable and fully unforgivable.
