Match Report: Cardiff City 2-1 Cheltenham Town
Scorer.....at last!
By Chris O'Brien
January 18 2003
Cardiff City made hard work of it, but escaped from today's Division Two clash with Cheltenham Town with a 2-1 victory. Peter Thorne ended an 8-match goal drought with City's opener.
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It was the battle of the birds at Ninian Park today, as the struggling Robins looked for a change in fortune against the Bluebirds. Before the game, Cheltenham sat 23rd in the Division Two Table, with only one win in their last eight league encounters. It was the Robins' first game since sacking manager, Graham Allner .
Cardiff made two changes from the starting XI which lost 3-0 at Highfield Road midweek. Andy Campbell replaced Willie Boland who started his suspension today and Spencer Prior stepped back into the defence due to Gary Croft's injury. Former City attacker, Paul Brayson was named on the bench for the visitors. With the money which has been spent assembling this 'star-studded' Cardiff squad, you would expect the boys to brush aside a team such as Cheltenham who were in the Conference just 3 seasons ago. But the Bluebirds made heavy work off the game and can count themselves lucky to escape with all 3 points against a hard-working Cheltenham side. Peter Thorne's goal drought has seen him go without a goal since City's FA Cup Second Round win over Margate back in early December, but he finally got himself back on the scoresheet today after giving City an early lead just 6 minutes into the game. Thorne slammed home the loose ball from Chris Barker's header into the box . After conceding so early, I half expected Cheltenham to roll over and Cardiff to go on and score 4 or 5, but to be fair to the visitors they kept battling hard and found themselves level just 10 minutes after Thorne's opener through a John Finnigan strike. Finnigan was given to much space by the Bluebirds defence and drilled his shot into the bottom left corner of Alexander's goal. Cheltenham were growing in confidence, and possibly deserved a second after long spells of pressure, but couldn't find the finish, and it was Cardiff who led at the break after Robert Earnshaw netted his 26th goal of the season. Earnie's strike was a carbon copy of Thorne's goal. Half Time Score - Cardiff City 2-1 Cheltenham Town The Second Half was poor, and Cardiff failed to string a decent spell of passes together. There were 11 Cardiff players on the pitch today but they did not play like a team. In fact, there is very little to comment about on the Second Half. Cardiff weren't created the chances to try and finish off the game, and Cheltenham continued to battle hard in the hope that something would fall their way, and it nearly did in the dieing minutes when Damian Spencer broke passed Prior and Young but his shot was stopped by Alexander - he should have done much better. It was Cheltenham's last chance of the game, and Cardiff fans were relieved to hear Dermot Gallagher's full-time whistle to secure Cardiff's first win of the year. Leo Fortune-West and Layton Maxwell were both introduced into the game for the last quarter of an hour, replacing Campbell and Bowen. Wigan's victory keeps them well clear at the top of the table, but with Bristol City and Oldham only getting draws, a win at Vale Park on Tuesday will see the Bluebirds return to the top two. Full Time Score - Cardiff City 2-1 Cheltenham Town Editor's Thought:
After his early striker, Thorne's increase in confidence was clear to see as he made several impressive runs through the Robin's defence. Well Done Thorney - Keep it Up! |
Peter
Thorne finally got himself on the scoresheet after a goal drought lasting 8
games. Having said that, Earnshaw wouldn't have netted anywhere near as many
goals as he has this season without Thorne's excellent set-up play.|
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