Stuart James was at the Cardiff City Stadium to see the home side’s Premier League hopes slip away. Here’s his report. Commiserations to the Bluebirds, and congratulations to Brighton & Hove Albion, who will be playing in the top division next year. Thanks for reading this MBM. Nighty night!
It’s Cardiff’s last home fixture of the season, so the players give a shy, subdued lap of honour. A small tear running down the cheek of Neil Etheridge. But the fans aren’t subdued. They know how difficult it’s been for Cardiff to compete in the Premier League, and they holler hosannas in honour of their team, who fought from the get-go to the very end. It’s a celebration, not a wake. Bluebirds captain Sean Morrison says that he’s “immensely proud of our city and the boys” and that the squad want Neil Warnock to stay for next year’s promotion push. “We adore him.”
A magnanimous Neil Warnock smiles and shakes Roy Hodgson’s hand. Then he gives a brief but emotional interview to BT Sport, as the fans sing his name. “They were better than us up front. We had our chances. We haven’t had the rub of the green. But you’ve heard this lot, fantastic, they’re unbelievable. I’m proud of the lads, they’ve tried hard. We’ve showed our limitations, that’s why we are where we are. But the club’s arrived again, it’s alive and kicking and that’s the main thing. When we first came here, it was almost gone.”
FULL TIME: Cardiff City 2-3 Crystal Palace
The whistle goes, and Cardiff City are relegated. The home fans sing their hymns and arias. Crystal Palace are the saviours of their rivals Brighton & Hove Albion. Football’s funny like that.
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90 min +3: Cardiff can’t get the ball. “Always loved the Palace me!” smiles pre-match patter merchant Simon Dobinson.
90 min +2: Sako runs down the clock by taking the ball for a walk along the right wing.
90 min +1: There will be three added minutes. The first flies by without incident.
GOAL! Cardiff City 2-3 Crystal Palace (Reid 90)
On the stroke of the 90, Reid cuts in from the right and curls a delicious shot into the bottom right. Guaita, at full stretch, couldn’t get a finger on it. A lovely strike, but it’s too little, too late.
89 min: Mendez-Laing pulses down the right and lashes a shot towards the bottom right. Guaita tips the ball onto the right-hand post and out for a corner. The set piece doesn’t come to much.
88 min: Kouyate has a look from 25 yards, sending the ball off down the M4.
86 min: Mendez-Laing romps down the right, reaches the byline, and dinks a sensational cross to Hoilett, coming in from the left and on the edge of the six-yard box. Hoilett meets the ball on the half-volley and spoons it over the bar from close range. No, it’s not to be Cardiff’s day.
84 min: That’s Townsend’s last contribution tonight. He’s replaced by Kouyate, having been a constant thorn in Cardiff’s side.
83 min: Zaha pushes the ball past Morrison and beats him in a footrace. He can’t beat Peltier as well, though. But the ball breaks to Townsend, who arrows a shot towards the top right from distance. Etheridge does very well to gather.
81 min: Cardiff win a corner down the left. Hoilett takes. The ball ends up with Morrison out on the right. Morrison returns it to Hoilett, on the edge of the box on the left. He skelps a shot straight down Guaita’s throat.
80 min: Zaha makes good down the right. He curls to Sako at the far post. Sako contorts himself into a very strange shape and volleys clumsily wide. The flag goes up for offside, so it didn’t really matter. Murphy comes on for Hoilett.
79 min: Another long throw by Gunnarsson on the left. More head tennis. Palace clear. Cardiff need three goals in the last ten minutes if they’re to have any realistic chance of Premier League survival.
78 min: A corner for Palace out on the left. McArthur meets it at the near post, and flicks it on. The ball loops over Etheridge and nearly nestles in the far corner. It flies out for a goal kick. Then Meyer comes on for Ayew.
76 min: Gunnarsson throws in from the left. Morrison has the ball at his feet in the Palace box. He swivels and tees up Mendez-Laing, bombing in down the inside-right channel. Mendez-Laing shoots low and hard towards the bottom left. It deserves a goal, but McArthur’s on the line to hook clear. It’s just not Cardiff’s day.
75 min: A free kick for Cardiff just inside the Palace half, out on the left. Murphy plays it long for Morrison, who heads across the goal wonderfully. But there’s nobody in blue taking a gamble, and Guaita can gather. Then another attack, as Mendez-Laing skitters down the left and wallops a low ball into the middle. Dann does extremely well to stick out a leg and block for a corner.
74 min: Batshuayi is replaced by Sako.
73 min: The Cardiff fans know the jig is up. Their team are going down. But the fans rise as one for a chorus of There’s Only One Neil Warnock. They know what a brilliant job he’s done for the club. It’s a lovely bittersweet moment.
72 min: A free kick for Cardiff out on the right. Murphy swipes it to the far post. Morrison rises but can only send his header harmlessly wide left.
GOAL! Cardiff City 1-3 Crystal Palace (Townsend 70)
Cardiff are on the brink now. Townsend sashays in from the right. He thinks about shooting. Thinks about shooting. Thinks about shooting. Then eventually creams one towards the bottom-right corner. He beats Etheridge. The ball bounces off the bottom of the post, across the line and into the other corner. Consider: Murphy’s shot in the first minute hit that very same post, but bounced out. The small margins, huh.
68 min: Cardiff have been much more dangerous since the restart, but Palace are beginning to
67 min: A free kick for Palace in the middle of the Cardiff half. Milivojevic has an ambitious dig. The ball pinballs out for a corner. Milivojevic takes that set piece too, but it’s easily cleared by Mendez-Laing.
66 min: It’s end to end now. Batshuayi dribbles at Morrison down the left, and nearly makes it into the box, but the Cardiff defender stands his ground well.
65 min: Reid splits the Palace defence with a fine ball down the inside-right channel. Zohore’s clear! He only needs to carefully round Guaita and he’ll be walking that in. But he opts to slide the ball under the keeper instead. It’s half saved, and the loose ball’s put out for a corner by Kelly. The set piece leads to nothing. Cardiff should be on terms.
63 min: Good work by Mendez-Laing down the left, sent on a dribble by Reid. He cuts back for Murphy, who opens his body and shapes a shot towards the bottom right. It looks to have beaten Guaita, but Kelly makes himself big and blocks. What a stop! That plenty makes up for the own goal.
61 min: Wan-Bissaka crosses deep from the right. Zaha chests down at the far post, but he’s bugged by Peltier and can’t get a shot away. Eventually the ball squeaks through to Etheridge. Cardiff constantly on the brink of conceding the third goal that would surely condemn them.
60 min: Cardiff make their second change of the match, their first by choice. Zohore comes on for Ward.
59 min: A long ball down the middle. Kelly dallies and nearly lets Ward in, but just about manages to shepherd the ball back to Guaita.
57 min: Palace push Cardiff back. Ayew has a shot from a tight angle on the right. Zaha dribbles down the left. Townsend takes a dig from 20 yards. Nothing quite comes off, but Cardiff look extremely vulnerable whenever Palace run at them.
55 min: Space for Mendez-Laing down the right. He performs a glorious stepover to swan past Ward, then sends a long cross towards Murphy at the far post. The ball drops perfectly, but Murphy snatches at the shot, dragging it wide left from six yards. What a cross that was, and what a chance to haul Cardiff back into this match.
53 min: After their fast start to the second half, Cardiff’s momentum has stalled a little. Their fans do their best to whip them into action with songs of defiance.
51 min: Palace’s Ward makes off down the left at speed. He pulls a low ball into the centre for Batshuayi, who swipes a first-time shot over the bar from the edge of the box. A very loose feel to this game now, with Cardiff obliged to pile forward. This isn’t going to end 1-2, is it.
49 min: Cardiff have come out for this second half on the front foot. They’re getting to most of the loose balls first right now. And they win a free kick on the halfway line. Bennett launches it into the Palace box. Ward takes it down, swivels, and from the right of the D hits a rising shot. It’s high and wide, but it gets the crowd going.
48 min: Incidentally, neither manager made a half-time change.
47 min: Murphy copped a sore one there, foul or not, and he requires a bit of treatment. He’s soon up again though.
Here we go, then. Cardiff’s membership of the Premier League is hanging by a thread. They’ve got 45 minutes to find the one goal that will mathematically keep them in with a shout of survival, and the two that would give them a realistic chance. Palace get the ball rolling again, and Murphy is soon chasing it down the Cardiff left. Wan-Bissaka comes sliding in. He gets the ball and hooks it away. Murphy goes down, caught on the follow-through, but there’s nothing wrong with the challenge. Not that you’ll get agreement with the Cardiff fans on that.
Half-time reading. A reminder that it’s the Women’s FA Cup final today. Manchester City take on West Ham United, and Alex Hess has the latest.
HALF TIME: Cardiff City 1-2 Crystal Palace
Palace are doing their arch-rivals Brighton & Hove Albion a big favour here. Unless Cardiff can find a goal in the second half, they’ll be playing Championship football next season.
45 min +4: Zaha dribbles down the left and torments Peltier. Eventually he lays off to Milivojevic, whose shot from 2o yards is blocked.
45 min +2: After mopping up a long, lame Manga free kick, Palace stream upfield on a dangerous counter once again. Batshuayi, Zaha and Townsend all take turns to look for space to shoot; Ayew eventually does, to little effect.
45 min: Batshuayi clattered into Etheridge during that Palace break. He’s down receiving treatment. And now he’s back up. There will be four minutes tacked onto the end of this very lop-sided half of football.
43 min: This game was dismal for 27 minutes; it’s brilliant fun now! Cardiff win a corner down the left. Manga wins a header that’s tipped over by Guaita. Then a corner on the right leads to a melee at the far post. Morrison can’t quite get his header into the bottom left. Reid can’t flick it in. Palace counter at speed, Zaha nearly bundling in from 12 yards only to be denied by Etheridge, Townsend lashing over from distance. What a wild and crazy 60 seconds!
41 min: Palace were this close to putting Cardiff in all sorts of bother. McArthur works his way down the right, dancing his way past Murphy. He pulls back for Zaha on the penalty spot. Zaha must score, but slams the ball straight at Ayew, his own man doing the defending Cardiff seemed incapable of.
GOAL! Cardiff City 1-2 Crystal Palace (Batshuayi 39)
Some good work from Zaha out on the left. The ball’s worked inside for Batshuayi on the edge of the box. Batshuayi executes a smart one-two with Ayew, and whips an unstoppable shot into the top right!
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38 min: Zaha glides in from the right and shapes to shoot. But instead he dinks a cute pass down the channel for Batshuayi, who seems a little surprised to be put in. He’s forced to turn back and is eventually robbed of possession. But no worries, because ...
37 min: Another Milivojevic free kick, this time from the right. It’s hit deep, and Dann’s presence forces Bennett into conceding a corner. The set piece is hit long. McArthur tugs at Morrison’s arm, and that’s the pressure off.
35 min: Townsend dribbles down the inside-left channel and is clipped illegally by Mendez-Laing. Milivojevic hoicks the ball into the mixer. There’s a spot of head tennis, then Batshuayi leans back and sends a shot high over the bar, a nonsense that will at least earn the respect of a few local rugby purists.
33 min: So that escalated quickly. This game had been bloody dreadful for the first 27 minutes.
GOAL! Cardiff City 1-1 Crystal Palace (Kelly 31 og)
What a fiasco this is! Bacuna crosses from the right. Ward is lurking on the edge of the box, but Guaita comes out to claim. Unfortunately, Kelly gets there first, in front of him, and pokes the ball backwards, haplessly slicing it past the outrushing keeper and into the empty net! That is appalling, though to be fair Bacuna’s cross was a teaser and needed to be dealt with.
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30 min: That was Zaha’s sixth goal on the road this season. It’s a 2018-19 Premier League record he shares with Gerard Deulofeu of Watford and Leicester City’s Jamie Vardy.
GOAL! Cardiff City 0-1 Crystal Palace (Zaha 28)
That last move got Zaha’s juices flowing. He picks the ball up deep, and one-twos with Townsend down the inside-left channel. Zaha, on the edge of the box, takes a touch inside to make himself some room, before twisting and slamming a shot into the bottom corner! A fine goal that puts Cardiff in serious bother now.
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27 min: A throw for Cardiff deep in Palace territory down the right. Gunnarsson launches it long. Morrison flicks it on to nobody, and Palace clear. And then, at last, a moment of quality as Milivojevic creams a lovely pass through a gap down the inside-left channel to release Zaha, who twists and turns and slaps a shot just wide of the bottom-left corner. The best moment of the match so far, though it’s not been a high bar to clear.
26 min: Gunnarsson gifts possession to Batshuayi, who looks for a second like getting the better of Bennett down the right. But he doesn’t have any confidence to drive at his backtracking opponent, and eventually turns tail. Townsend tries to rescue the attack with a deep cross from the right, but it’s no good.
24 min: Gunnarsson, having gone off, comes back on. I’m stringing this out so I’ve got something to report. Nothing is happening. This is miserable fare.
23 min: Gunnarsson goes down having taken Batshuayi’s arm in the mush. The referee stops the game.
21 min: A frisson of excitement as Ward nearly closes down Dann, who dithers over a backpass. Eventually Dann makes the backpass and Guaita clears. And the flag goes up for offside anyway. Excitement here a relative concept.
19 min: Palace are beginning to dominate the midfield. All very sterile at the moment, but baby steps. They’ve gained a smidgen of control.
17 min: This continues to be a gentle affair. The Palace fans making what little noise there is. Cardiff’s support understandably nervous.
15 min: Zaha dribbles hard at Gunnarsson down the right. He very nearly twists his way past the Cardiff midfielder, but Gunnarsson sticks to him like glue. Zaha slips, Gunnarsson goes to clear, and draws a foul. Danger over. That’s good football all round.
14 min: Mendez-Laing flicks a cute pass down the right to release Ward into a little space. Ward shoots for the bottom left, but his low diagonal hammer is blocked well by Dann. The resulting corner is a non-event. The set pieces haven’t been up to much so far.
12 min: It’s not really happening yet, this match. No juices flowing. The atmosphere’s now a little flat as a result.
10 min: Camarasa is down again. He’s surely unable to carry on. He took quite a whack off Ward, a total accident in a fair 50-50 challenge. Off he goes, grimacing with pain. Straight down the tunnel. Bacuna comes on in his stead.
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8 min: The Cardiff corner comes to nothing. Camarasa comes back on, his leg heavily strapped. Then he takes the strapping off, and throws it off the pitch.
7 min: Camarasa is down receiving treatment, having hurt his right leg sliding into a shot from distance. He’s won a corner in doing so, but at what cost? He limps off, and it’s not certain he’ll be able to run that sore one off.
5 min: Incidentally, before kick-off, Neil Warnock looked extremely relaxed as he took his place in the dugouts. At one point he lunged towards BT Sport’s roaming camera with the simian come-on-then-let’s-’ave-ya gait of Liam Gallagher. I wonder if he’s been on the Manc Walk 2000 course?
3 min: ... Ayew latches onto a long corner and works his way down the right. He reaches the byline and stands one up for Kelly, who wafts a weak header straight at Etheridge. A lively start, this!
2 min: What a start that would have been! The resulting corner comes to nothing, then Palace go up the other end and win one of their own. From which ...
37 seconds: Josh Murphy hits the post! A bit of space down the inside-left channel. He shifts the ball to the left and from 25 yards sends a dipper towards the bottom right. Guaita is beaten, but the ball takes a little deflection and clanks off the base of the post.
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And were off! Cardiff get the ball rolling. A huge passionate roar pierces the air. And once more with feeling. It’s all on the line for the hosts now. Remember, if Cardiff lose, they’re down. And while a draw won’t technically condemn them, it’s not really much use, given that, as well as the four points that cut them adrift, they’re currently 14 goals worse off than 17th-placed Brighton.
The teams are out! Cardiff are in their famous blue shirts, while Palace sport second-choice white with Team of the Seventies sash. Anticipation and nerves crackle around the stadium. We’ll be off in a couple of minutes. “As a Brighton fan I’m already nervous and completely rooting for Palace,” admits Simon Dobinson. “It doesn’t feel right, the whole world is out of kilter at the mo! It’s not a comfortable feeling.” Ah the singular joy of the business end of the football season. It’s been nine months in the making, all this.
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Here’s his opposite number Roy Hodgson! “I don’t think my players will ease up. I have every faith in them, they have been fantastic so I have no reason to doubt them. They will be giving their all to get a result. Between the 14 players I can use, I hope we can give a good performance. Cardiff have everything to play for, it’s their last chance, so we have to expect a fast start and a strong and aggressive approach, because if we were in their situation that’s what we would be trying to do.”
Not sure whether we’re going to hear from Neil Warnock before the game. Time will tell. But he has done a pre-record with BT Sport, and during it rather marvellously declared that he won’t miss the Premier League if Cardiff are relegated. “I don’t think I’d miss it that much if I’m honest. It’s a great league but there are a lot of minuses. But I won’t go into that because I can’t afford it.” Full marks for honesty, having been painstakingly teed up to give England’s top division the big sell. Not having it. He then launched into a paean in honour of VAR, just in case you missed the subtleties inherent in his statement. He’s not letting the referees off the hook, is he. Warnock might not miss the Premier League if his team go down, but the Premier League sure will miss one of football’s great pantomime villains. He’s great value and always entertaining, whichever way you look at it.
Cardiff make three changes to the team that went down 1-0 at Fulham last weekend. Josh Murphy, Danny Ward and Bobby Reid take the places of Leandro Bacuna, Junior Hoilett and Oumar Niasse.
Crystal Palace make four swaps from the side named for last week’s goalless draw with Everton. Joel Ward, Michy Batshuayi, Andros Townsend and Jordan Ayew replace Patrick van Aanholt, Cheikhou Kouyate, Max Meyer and the injured Christian Benteke.
The teams
Cardiff City: Etheridge, Peltier, Morrison, Ecuele Manga, Bennett, Mendez-Laing, Gunnarsson, Victor Camarasa, Josh Murphy, Reid, Ward.
Subs: Richards, Zohore, Bacuna, Cunningham, Brian Murphy, Healey, Hoilett.
Crystal Palace: Guaita, Wan Bissaka, Kelly, Dann, Ward, Townsend, McArthur, Milivojevic, Zaha, Batshuayi, Ayew.
Subs: Van Aanholt, Meyer, Kouyate, Hennessey, Wickham, Sako, Riedewald.
Referee: Michael Oliver (Northumberland).
Preamble
It’s not over, not quite yet. Cardiff City haven’t done themselves too many favours during the run-in – eight defeats in ten, the last a miserable attack-too-late effort at everyone’s whipping boys Fulham – but there’s still hope.
They may be four points behind 17th-placed Brighton & Hove Albion with just two games to play. However the Seagulls face Arsenal and Manchester City in their final matches. True, Cardiff’s last fixture is away at Manchester United ... but this is 2019 not 1999. And three points today would give the Bluebirds a genuine chance of scraping to safety on the final day. There’s still hope.
Only problem is, today’s opponents Crystal Palace have won four of their last five away matches. Their last trip on the road ended in a 3-2 victory at Arsenal. Palace, who have been safe for a while, have nothing to fear here.
But if there’s one thing you can always say about a Neil Warnock team, it’s that they’ve got moxie. Last time round, they asked a few serious questions of Liverpool. If they can do that to a team chasing the title, they surely can do it to Palace. Accepting that as the case, it’s on. It’s on!
Kick off: 5.30pm BST.
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