Cardiff hopes of play-off boosted

Cardiff raises their hopes of making it to the play-off by beating Derby 2-1 on Saturday.  This victory put Cardiff only two points behind Derby.

The game was held before an energetic crowd with Cardiff recording a record attendance for this game overtaking the previous record which was against Liverpool in the Premier League.

The host makes the best possible start by leading 1-0 after a difficult first half. The goal came courtesy of aEcuele Manga, who jumped higher that everybody else on a corner. His powerful head met an equally good corner by Peter Whittingham to open the scoring for Cardiff.

Derby for all their possession did not manage to create a whole lot of goal scoring opportunities and ended the first half trailing 1-0.

After the break, Derby improved and recorded their first shot just after 4 minutes to equalize thanks to Martin. The Cardiff’s goalkeeper saved the latter’s first shot, but Martin was prompt on the rebound to equalize for Derby.

Following the goal, Cardiff regrouped and tried to gain control of the game again. They will manage to get chances after chances only to be denied by the Derby’s goalkeeper Scott Carson. First, it was Craig Noone who was denied by the goalkeeper when his powerful shot was saved. A few minutes later, it was Scott Malone’s shot which was stopped by Scott Carson as the keeper keeps producing fantastic saves one after the other.

Ultimately Derby’s resistance was beaten. Again it was on a Peter Whittingham’s corner. Sean Morrison managed to head the ball down in the path of O’Keefe, who made an incredible connection with the ball to give Cardiff the lead.

Despite the late pressure from Derby, Cardiff held on to record 3 important points that can be important in the future.