City 3 v Port Vale 1 - Match Report

MoTM
By CCFCSleepingGiant.com
August 14 2002

City soared into second place with an easy 3-1 win against Port Vale. Goals from Peter Thorne, Leo Fortune-West and Andy Legg did the damage to a poor Vale team.

Report from CCFCSleepingGiant.com

Kav fires wide from the spot

City were never really troubled against Brian Horton's Port Vale.

Lennie Lawrence made one forced upon change from the XI that beat Oldham on the weekend. Veteran Andy Legg came in for the suspended Willie Boland, and the 36-year old did not disappoint, setting up our first goal and scoring our third.

Andy Legg made an immediate impact after just 4 minutes. City won a throw-in by the corner flag and the Welsh International launched it into the area for Peter Thorne to head his first goal of the season.

It was a scintillating start by the Bluebirds, but it soon got better. Five minutes later, Thorne played a beautiful ball through to Leo Fortune-West, who weaved his way past a couple of Vale defenders before firing into Mark Goodlad's top left hand corner with the outside of his boot. It was a truly magnificent goal by the big man.

The Valiants, who suffered a 4-1 defeat against Tranmere on Saturday, were being absolutely destroyed by a phenomenal Cardiff start. They were losing their cool and, in the 14th minute City won a penalty. Rhys Weston was charging forward and Vale's only answer was to hack him down. It was an easy decision by the referee.

It looked like being a six or seven-nil triumph, but Kav's spot kick was lazy and Goodlad saved to his right.

Victory seemed assured for the home side when Vale were reduced to ten men. Just minutes after being booked for catching Gareth Whalley, defender Sam Collins scythed down Andy Campbell near the touchline. "Cheerio" were the shouts from the Cardiff faithful. The game just couldn't get any better.

But, just when it seemed as if Vale may throw in the towel, they were awarded a 40th minute penalty of their own after Kav was adjudged to have handled Stephen Brooker's shot. Weston and Kavanagh were both booked for dissent before Mark Bridge-Wilkinson coolly beat Alexander from 12 yards.

That changed the course of the game. City were no longer in total control, but the result was never in serious doubt.

Half time - Cardiff City 2 v Port Vale 1

City started well in the second half with Gary Croft coming close in the 52nd minute. However, our midfield and attack was not linking up as it had done in the opening 20 minutes and Port Vale enjoyed their best spell of the game.

The 13,000-plus crowd breathed a huge sigh of relief when Andy Legg smashed home from outside the area after 68 minutes. Kavanagh's corner was cleared as far as Legg, who volleyed home superbly.

That goal assured City of a deserved victory. City played some better football in the last 22 minutes with Croft, Maxwell and Kavanagh all coming close in the dying minutes.

The win makes it six points from six for City and continues Lennie Lawrence's fine run as manager - he has still only lost one match while at the helm.

The man of the match was Gary Croft. Other good performances include Rhys Weston, Andy Legg, Leo Fortune-West and Chris Barker. No-one really had a bad game and City were good value for their win.

City's next match is against Northampton on Saturday. They have started their campaign with two 1-1 draws against Crewe and Wycombe.

Cardiff: Alexander, Weston, Gabbidon, Barker, Croft, Whalley, Kavanagh, Legg, Thorne, Campbell, Fortune-West. Subs: Earnshaw, Hamilton, Maxwell, Collins, Margetson.

Port Vale: Goodlad, Walsh, Collins, Cummins, Brightwell, Brisco, Bridge-Wilkinson, Charnock, Durnin, Brooker, Angell. Subs: Delaney, Ingram, McPhee, Armstrong, McCarthy.

Referee: P Rejer (Worcestershire).