Cardiff City 3-1 Stoke City - Match Report
Brace of Goals
By Chris O'Brien
November 9 2003
Robert Earnshaw was once again the Cardiff City saviour with a brace, as the Bluebirds beat Stoke City 3-1 at Ninian Park. Daniel Gabbidon was also on target for the City, with the winning goal only minutes from time.
| Cardiff City 3-1 Stoke City - Match Report |
| Robert Earnshaw was the Cardiff City
hero once again with a brace, as the Bluebirds beat Stoke City 3-1 in a
closely fought encounter at Ninian Park. The Zambian-born forward gave City the lead with a magnificent strike on the 24-minute mark, but Kris Commons restored parity with an impressive equaliser with 30 minutes to go. Close friends Robert Earnshaw and Daniel Gabbidon both scored in the final 20 minutes though to give City another yet home victory. Lennie Lawrence made 2 changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Burnley at Turf Moor. Loan signing Julian Gray made his first competitive start in the Cardiff City shirt, keeping Richard Langley on the bench. Earnshaw's first goal was probably the best of the 90+ he has scored in the Cardiff City jersey. Stoke had started the brighter of the two sides before John Robinson headed Ed De Goey's goal-kick to Earnshaw, who looked in a hopeless position. The Welsh international stunned the 15,000 Ninian Park crowd by letting the ball bounce before unleashing an incredible strike that gave the Dutch 'keeper no chance. Earnshaw continued to cause problems for the Stoke City defence throughout the half, with former Feyenoord 'keeper De Goey being forced to make a series of good saves to stop the home side increasing their lead. However, Stoke were also causing problems, and looked a better side than their lowly league place suggests. Stoke started coming back into the game more in the second-half, and sent their 600 travelling supporters into ecstasy with an hour-mark equaliser. Kris Commons saw his corner cleared back to him, and the midfielder cut inside the Bluebirds defence and fired home a fantastic drive to draw the Potters level. However, the lead returned to the Bluebirds as Robert Earnshaw netted his 14th league, and 19th City goal, of the season. The pint-size striker latched on to a John Robinson through-ball and neatly pushed the ball past De Goey, which hit the post before finding its way into the net. Stoke began to throw men forward, desperately looking for something to take back to the Potteries, but the final goal of the game was to go to the men in blue. Centre-half Daniel Gabbidon smashed the ball home from point-blank range after Chris Barker had had his header blocked on the line. The victory means Cardiff City have risen to an incredible 8th in the First Division table, with our next game coming in two weeks time away at Wimbledon, or should that be Milton Keynes? Man of the Match - Graham Kavanagh |