Posts Tagged ‘Cardiff City’

Middlesbrough v Cardiff City, Tuesday 3rd October 2023, 7.45pm

December 16, 2023

After the wins against Southampton and Watford, I was hoping that we could continue the run against play-off placed Cardiff. Alistair was available to come along with Harry and I and we were there early enough for him to have a go on one of the game consoles in the Generation Red area of the ground where we sit.

I watched him for a while, playing Manchester United against Manchester United. It was the same players on either side and therefore a fairly well-matched contest. So much so that it ended up nil-nil. Thankfully he didn’t opt for a replay, and we were able to let some other kid have a crack at it.

There was a better outcome on the real pitch. After a quiet first half Cardiff had the chance to go ahead when hitting the woodwork, before Jones tapped in a cross from close range for us. We scored a second goal towards the end when Latte-Lath broke at pace, checked his run with a trip and then recovered to finish with the coolness of someone who hadn’t just fell over his own feet in front of twenty-odd thousand people.

That was enough to clinch the points and move us up from the edge of the relegation area to the dizzy heights of sixteenth place in the table.

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Middlesbrough v Cardiff City, Tuesday 13th September 2022, 7.45pm

October 2, 2022

I wasn’t sure if I’d get to this game as we had a fairly tight train connection in London on the way back from our Belgium trip. It went ok though and I was back in the house by six o’clock. I picked up Harry and we were at the Riverside in plenty of time.

A quick glance at the team news revealed that Roberts was still in goal, so presumably Steffen wasn’t yet fully fit. I was happy enough with that as Roberts has done well in the games that he has played. The other talking point was Wilder’s persistence with McGree in the number ten role. I sort of understood this when the transfer window was open, if he was trying to make a point that we needed another striker. However, with the deadline passed it’s time to revert to his regular system of two hard-pressing strikers that are replaced by another two front men when they tire.

The first half performance was flat, so flat that we went in at the break three-nil down. We had plenty of possession but never looked like creating anything worthwhile whilst Cardiff seemed likely to score whenever they broke up field.

A few people around us left at half-time and others followed them early in the second half. Watmore added some urgency to proceedings when he came on and notched a consolation with fifteen minutes to go. Muniz then quickly added a second goal and suddenly it was game on. We pushed for an equalizer, but Cardiff held on for the points.

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Middlesbrough v Cardiff City, Wednesday 27th April 2022, 7.45pm

May 7, 2022

This was another game that needed a brisk walk to make kick-off. Harry had been at his final rugby training of the season and with them not finishing until well after seven we had to get a move on. One of his teammates laughed at the idea that he was going to watch us play Cardiff, presumably that lad only considers the games against the likes of Spurs or Chelsea worth turning up to.

For most of the walk to the ground we were the only people around. It wasn’t until the Riverside was in sight that we caught up with the other stragglers. We arrived just as the Cardiff players were taking the knee and then sat down at exactly the time the ref blew his whistle to get things underway.

The atmosphere seemed a little on the flat side. Understandable, I suppose, considering the way that we’ve dropped to the edges of the play-off race. We started slowly but once Tav had knocked home the opener there wasn’t really much doubt about us taking the points. A second goal from McGree made sure.

I’d have been happier if we could have added another to peg back the goal difference with Sheff Utd, but there are a couple of further opportunities to do that and if, a big if, we can win our final two games then I think that there’s a chance that we can overtake them for that sixth spot.

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