Crystal Palace take a point at Cardiff
Cardiff City and Crystal Palace played out a goalless draw in the League Championship yesterday.
The draw was Palace’s first away points of the season and they frustrated the home side for the majority of the match.
The home side were expected to run out comfortable winners especially with midfielders Seyi Olofinjana and Jason Koumas returning for the Bluebirds.
Crystal Palace had picked up no points in their away games this season and visiting Cardiff who were second in the table seemed like a daunting task. However, Palace stifled any momentum that Cardiff had in the opening minutes.
Cardiff were missing Craig Bellamy, Michael Chopra and Danny Drinkwater, but they still appeared lacklustre in a dull first half.
The best chance of the opening 45 minutes fell to Chris Burke who’s effort was saved by Julian Speroni.
Cardiff failed to seize the initiative in the first-half as Palace were disrupted by injuries to Claude Davis and Neil Danns.
The Eagles had their first chance on 30 minutes, but Owen Garvan’s header was well saved by Tom Heaton.
Julian Bennett and Pablo Counago also had chances for Crystal Palace in the second half. Heaton denied Bennett after he turned his effort around the post, while Counago was stopped brilliantly after Heaton parried his save in what was Palace’s best chance
of the game.
Cardiff City struggled and had only a few half chances in the second half. They seemed devoid of attacking options and they could not create chances similar to the one Burke had in the first half.
Without Bellamy and Chopra Cardiff didn’t seem to have the spark necessary to break down the Crystal Palace defence.
As the match wore on Palace seemed the more likely to score on the counter-attack. For all off Cardiff’s possession, they found it difficult to break down Palace who seemed content with a draw.
Cardiff City manager Dave Jones said,"[Palace] came to counter-attack us and we couldn't get the ball in behind."
"It was one-paced and we needed to move the ball quicker. We lost our width too much.
"We have spoken after the game and will speak about it again because we will get more teams who will come here and shut up shop and catch us sleeping at the other end."
Jones added, "Seeing Seyi Olofinjana and Jason Koumas get 90 minutes under their belts is a bonus to us. It takes time but they will get sharper."
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