Bluebirds and Bluebirds Share Friendly Spoils

By Chris O'Brien
July 18 2004

A weak Cardiff City 'XI', made up mainly of youth team players, drew 1-1 with Chippenham Town, also nicknamed the Bluebirds, at Hardenhuish Park. Michael Parkins got the visitors only goal, opening the scoring from the penalty-spot on the hour.

Chippenham Town manager Steve White, an ex-City player himself, will have been disappointed with the quality of the side Cardiff sent to Hardenhuish Park to face his side but will surely still be pleased with the 1-1 draw his side took from the game.

White played under Cardiff boss Lennie Lawrence at Charlton Athletic, but Lawrence wasn't even in attendance as reserve boss Paul Wilkinson took charge of the Cardiff 'XI' made up totally of reserve and youth team players.

Many youth team regulars were representing the Welsh under-17 side, so the game gave Wilkinson a chance to look at some of the players who will be challenging for places in the new academy set-up next season. Goalkeeper Arran Lee-Barrett was the only player for City who had a squad number last season, but the hosts still billed the game as one against First Division opposition.

After a tight first-half, the Bluebirds broke the deadlock on the hour mark from the penalty spot. The highly-rated Michael Parkins made no mistake with the spot-kick to the disappointment of the majority of the 300-odd fans in attendance. However, Chippenham fought back hard and equalised with fifteen minutes to go with Sam Allison's free-kick taking a deflection for finding its way into the back of the net.

There were a barrage of substitutions from both parties during the second-half, which really sucked the competitive nature out of the game. Nevertheless, this warn-up friendly will have worked as a good build-up for both sides as preparations for the 2004/2005 season get underway. City's youth players can expect to play some much tougher opposition this year following the promotion to academy status, and 90 minutes against the ambitious and motivated Chippenham Town team will have done them no harm at all.

Full Time - Chippenham Town 1-1 Cardiff City

Cardiff City Starting Line-Up: Lee-Barrett, Huggins, Jacobsen, Khalil, Parslow, Anthony, Kift, Parkins, Hartley, Thomas, Ingram.