Cardiff City 2-3 West Ham Utd

Out !
By Rogero
September 24 2003

Once again Cardiff City throw away a lead, and after defeats at Reading and Sheffield United they lost at home to West Ham in the Carling Cup after being two goals to the good. We are becoming easy touches it seems.....

For the neutral this was a great game, 5 goals and reasonable atmosphere considering the size of the crowd and some excellent football.

Robert Earnshaw bagged a brace, the second a cracker from outside the box to put the Bluebirds in control, however a dubious penalty just before half time silenced the majority of the 10,700 crowd which was cooly converted by Defoe in front of a sparsely populated Grange End home section.

The game contained many chances and good saves from both keepers, David James looked a bit dodgy on occassions but that could have been down to his new hair colour.

City started with Jason Bowen in midfield who assisted in getting a two goal lead, but to be honest it never looked enough. The Hammers were never out of the game and the penalty gave them the fillip they needed.

The second half was dominated in the main by the visitors although Cardiff had some good chances. The key difference was their man Defoe who looked extremely sharp and dangerous. He deserved to be their Man of the Match.

There is a problem festering at Ninian Park and it had nothing to do with hooligans! It is the team has not belief in their ability to kill off teams, the sooner this is rectified the better.

Good game for the missing thousands who probably watched it on TV, but unless the potential crowd trouble got any worse the evening passed off reasonably quietly. The ravings of Rogero and Claude excepted in the pub afterwards!

Gavin Gordon had a nightmare as substitute, Gabbidon made some super tackles, Kavanagh was great but tired towards the end.

Bring on Crewe............