Onwards and .....Upwards?

March is a month where the fixtures have been disrupted by unseasonably late bad weather, and as a result we have only played 3 fixtures so far. Of course, it should have been 4, but for a surprise and slightly suspicious late postponement of yesterday's game at Derby. There appeared to be very little reason to postpone yesterday's game, as despite there having been a fall of snow the approaches to Pride Park, as well as the pitch having the customary undersoil heating. Surely it was coincidence that Derby are in the middle of an injury crisis and now have the 2 weeks of the international break to get their team fully fit? Surely? Hmmm. Lets just say that Cardiff manager Neil Warnock was not impressed! 

However, on the field, the team continues to move forward. 3 more wins since my last post, and a couple of slip ups from Fulham and Aston Villa, our closest rivals for automatic promotion. We are now only 6 points behind top team Wolves too, with a game in hand. The 3 wins in March make it 7 consecutive league wins in total and even in cynical fans like me there is an air of optimism that we could actually do this!

Top of the Championship table 19/03/2018.

Results since my last post:-

CARDIFF 2 BARNSLEY 1

CARDIFF 3 BIRMINGHAM 2

BRENTFORD 1 CARDIFF 3

Its been an unusual run of games where we see to have been playing lots of teams beginning with the letter 'B'!. Barnsley were the first team up in March - a team struggling near the relegation zone - but a good footballing side nevertheless. This was a further match where we had to play without club captain Sean Morrison. Barnsley passed and attacked quite well, but always looked defensively frail. When Marko Grujic increased the Cardiff lead to 2-0 just after half time, then you would think that this should be a comfortable win. However, a deserved goal from on loan striker McBurnie saw the defence look a bit fragile for a while, before settling down and seeing out the last 15 minutes with the minimum of fuss. 

 Marko Grujic celebrates his first Cardiff goal against Barnsley.

The following Saturday saw the visit of another relegation threatened side, Birmingham City. Like Barnsley, Birmingham looked very dangerous in attack, but were poor defensively and as a result the game was all but over by half time, when Cardiff led 3-0 with goals from Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, Calum Paterson and Craig Bryson. After halftime, Birmingham were awarded a slightly dubious penalty which got them back into the game, and their second goal came deep into stoppage time at the end of the game. One of the encouraging points of this game was the first goal since August for Nathaniel Mendez-Laing, who appears to be returning to some of his early season form.

Nathaniel Mendez-Laing celebrates his goal against Birmingham - his first since August.

Three days later was a trip to Brentford for the re-arranged match postponed from earlier in the month. Just to add pressure to the team, this game was selected for live coverage by SKY TV. We have been featured on TV quite a lot this season, but at this point hadn't won any of our away games. However, this was the time to break that record. Despite going behind early on, and lucky not to be 2 behind, the team started to take control of the match from the 20 minute mark. A stunning equaliser from Sol Bamba and a third goal in 3 games for Calum Paterson just before half time turned the match around. A Kenneth Zohore goal after 52 minutes gave us a 2 goal cushion, and after that Cardiff were in control. The statistics say that we only had 33% possession during the game, but still won comfortably.

Calum Paterson does his now famous "Fortnite Dance" goal celebration against Brentford - his third goal in the last 3 games.

Meanwhile, our closest rivals for the automatic promotion places have helped us out too. Fulham managed to throw away a 2-0 lead on Saturday at home to QPR, whilst Aston Villa have lost their last 2 games after a very convincing 4-1 win against League leaders Wolves. This means that we are now 7 points clear of those 2 teams having played one game less. Exciting times for Bluebirds fans. 

Now comes a two week international break where hopefully we can get some of our own players back from injury. There are various theories as to how many points we require to get automatic promotion. My personal guess is 15 points from our remaining 9 games, although it is possible that as few as 11 would do it. Either way, its in our own hands. Really looking forward to the last 6 weeks of the season.