Cardiff City guaranteed their place in the end-of-season lottery that is the Championship play-offs following a fortuitous 1-0 victory at Loftus Road against strugglers Queens Park Rangers. Local boy Joe Ledley netted the winner in the 80th minute, City capitalising on Alejandro Faurlin's misplaced pass to score with only their second effort on target throughout the entire game. Warnock was left ruing the obvious lack of striking reinforcements at Rangers, who could have taken the lead themselves had Adel Taarabt's shot not cannoned off the post to safety in the first-half. The R's boss lamented his side's inability to break the deadlock on the day, saying "You need goals to win games and we don't look like scoring goals. It's frustrating." Dave Jones meanwhile was understandably pleased as his side banished memories of last year's collapse by ensuring a top six finish, and a possible showdown with fierce rivals Swansea City. "The pressure now begins because we've got there, we wanted to do it our way, we didn't want to rely on anybody else so it meant to come here and we set up to get the win" said Jones, who will be hoping his Cardiff side are able to keep up the momentum going into the two, or perhaps three most important games they have faced all season. It was a game of few chances, and one from which both sides appeared set to take a share of the spoils, but City's winner means QPR still face the mathematical possibility of relegation, although it would take an extraordinary sequence of results to see the R's fall through the trapdoor. The R's frontline has been particularly threadbare this season, with only Adel Taarabt, possibly the Championship's most heavily marked and frequently fouled player, and the much-maligned Tamas Priskin, as well as the young, fresh yet inexperienced pairing of Antonio German and Angelo Balanta at Neil Warnock's disposal. Cardiff however were far better furnished, with Jones able to leave 19-goal man Michael Chopra on the bench for over an hour. How Warnock would love the luxury of such choice, but with rumours, albeit it probably exaggerated ones, of a £10 million summer war chest, perhaps it may be Queens Park Rangers chasing the play-offs come next April. In the meantime Dave Jones and Cardiff City are set to battle to return to the pinnacle of English football for the first time since 1962, and become the first Welsh side since Swansea City to play in the top flight in more than 25 years.
Saturday 17 April 2010
Bluebirds fly on towards the Premier League after lucky win in West London
Cardiff City guaranteed their place in the end-of-season lottery that is the Championship play-offs following a fortuitous 1-0 victory at Loftus Road against strugglers Queens Park Rangers. Local boy Joe Ledley netted the winner in the 80th minute, City capitalising on Alejandro Faurlin's misplaced pass to score with only their second effort on target throughout the entire game. Warnock was left ruing the obvious lack of striking reinforcements at Rangers, who could have taken the lead themselves had Adel Taarabt's shot not cannoned off the post to safety in the first-half. The R's boss lamented his side's inability to break the deadlock on the day, saying "You need goals to win games and we don't look like scoring goals. It's frustrating." Dave Jones meanwhile was understandably pleased as his side banished memories of last year's collapse by ensuring a top six finish, and a possible showdown with fierce rivals Swansea City. "The pressure now begins because we've got there, we wanted to do it our way, we didn't want to rely on anybody else so it meant to come here and we set up to get the win" said Jones, who will be hoping his Cardiff side are able to keep up the momentum going into the two, or perhaps three most important games they have faced all season. It was a game of few chances, and one from which both sides appeared set to take a share of the spoils, but City's winner means QPR still face the mathematical possibility of relegation, although it would take an extraordinary sequence of results to see the R's fall through the trapdoor. The R's frontline has been particularly threadbare this season, with only Adel Taarabt, possibly the Championship's most heavily marked and frequently fouled player, and the much-maligned Tamas Priskin, as well as the young, fresh yet inexperienced pairing of Antonio German and Angelo Balanta at Neil Warnock's disposal. Cardiff however were far better furnished, with Jones able to leave 19-goal man Michael Chopra on the bench for over an hour. How Warnock would love the luxury of such choice, but with rumours, albeit it probably exaggerated ones, of a £10 million summer war chest, perhaps it may be Queens Park Rangers chasing the play-offs come next April. In the meantime Dave Jones and Cardiff City are set to battle to return to the pinnacle of English football for the first time since 1962, and become the first Welsh side since Swansea City to play in the top flight in more than 25 years.
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