Cardiff 1, West Brom 1: Chris Lepkowski's report and player ratings
Feb 17 2010 by Christopher Lepkowski, Birmingham Mail
The exchanges down the field were crisp and delivered with conviction, until Joe Mattock’s final ball rolled across the face of the penalty area and fell conveniently, rather than by design, for Dorrans. but his effort sailed wide.
There was similar frustration in the 24th minute.
Moore miscontrolled the ball as he collected a pass but Slory picked up possession after wriggling his way past his marker only to be denied his first goal as he watched his shot beat David Marshall but hit the inside of the post and roll out of danger.
Cardiff were forced into an early change when Whittingham was injured after 27 minutes and was replaced by Ross McCormack.
The visitors threatened again in the 38th minute. A right-wing cross was hacked goalbound by Koren.
The scuffed shot lacked venom but was inexplicably spilled by Marshall. Luckily for him, Anthony Gerrard came to the rescue.
Three minutes of first-half injury time were added yet Albion were to score in the fourth, thanks to a number of free-kicks holding up play.
The equaliser came when Gianni Zuiverloon chased a Dorrans’ lofted pass. His initial shot hit Marshall and struck the post but Zuiverloon finished off the job by turning in the rebound.
Albion’s dominance started to fade in the second-half as the game wore on.
Andy Slory, among those whose influence diminished, made way for Chris Wood in the 63rd minute.
And the Albion sub should have scored his side’s second when he rose above his marker but planted his header wide of the post from close range.
At the other end Cardiff could have snatched victory in the 85th minute.
Michael Chopra nipped past Albion’s defence and opted to square the ball instead of trying his luck with an angled shot. The ball was half-cleared by Brunt as far as Chris Burke but the Cardiff midfielder’s shot went wide of Carson’s post.
The Baggies kept pushing and pushing for the winner and they were to go close one more time when relentless pressure resulted in a late corner.
Late sub Simon Cox went close to snatching the win in the 90th minute when his shot was cleared off the line as he tried to hook it past Marshall from close range.
CARDIFF (4-4-2): Marshall; McNaughton, Gyepes, Gerrard, Kennedy; Burke, Rae, Wildig (Blake 70), Whittingham (McCormack 27); Chopra, Bothroyd. Subs: Enckelman (gk), Quinn, Taiwo, Feeney, Matthews.
ALBION (4-5-1): Carson 7; Zuiverloon 6, Tamas 7, Olsson 6, Mattock 6; Slory 6 (Wood 63, 6), Koren 7 (Cox 82), Dorrans 8*, Brunt 6, Nouble 6; Moore 6. Subs: Kiely (gk), Bednar,Brown, Mantom, Labadie.
Referee: A Woolmer (Northamptonshire).
