Cardiff City Brush Aside Plymouth Argyle Challenge

Cardiff City produced a high quality performance to seal a 3-1 victory against Plymouth Argyle with in-form striker Michael Chopra bagging a hat-trick. The game was barely a few minutes old when Chopra pounced on a Bothroyd pass and mis-hit his shot only to see it creep in at the near post. The Bluebirds created a number of chances but Burke, Matthews and Bothroyd all failed to hit the target. It wasn`t all one way traffic however, and despite City creating the better chances – Plymouth looked extremely dangerous at the set piece causing real problems for Hudson, Marshall and Co.

Teenager Adam Matthews looked confident and assured on his first team debut combining enthusiasm to get forward with some tidy defensive work. He did pick up a booking for a late tackle, but did a good job in keeping Argyle winger Judge quiet.

A clear turning point came before half time when a deflected long shot fell to Jamie Mackie but he missed the golden opportunity with his snapshot. Plymouth were largely restricted to set-pieces and long shots for their chances but kept David Marshall busy while he and his defence will want to work on their communication under crosses.

After the break, Plymouth applied some serious pressure but the defence stood up well to the aerial bombardment. Both sides saw headers hit the bar before Chopra bagged his second, latching onto a Whittingham through ball to calmly chip the keeper. Just minutes later, it was three as Chris Burke escaped into the area only to be felled – Michael Chopra wrapped up the points from the resulting penalty.

Plymouth Argyle did get a consolation goal, and Tony Capaldi (the former Pilgrims player) received a second yellow for a handball in the Bluebirds area. At 3-0 up in injury time, it was a needless penalty to give away – especially given our current injury problems.

A great win, and immense credit must go to the 1000-odd Cardiff City fans who were phenomenal throughout. Given the negativity and naivety that surround the club the majority of the time, our away support is fantastic and a 3-1 win was what both we, and the team deserved.