Cardiff City produced a memorable show last night as they bounced back to winning ways in style courtesy of a SIX-1 thumping of Derby County. Whittingham put the Bluebirds in front with a simple finish from Bothroyd`s lay-back before a wicked looping cross from Whitts was put away by Chopra for his first of the night. Derby offered little in the first half and thoroughly deserved to be behind.
A major blemish on the night was that yet again, Cardiff City conceded immediately after the re-start when Gavin Rae failed to clear a corner and Jon Stead poked home before Hudson could clear. That signal some nervy moments as Derby visibly grew in confidence and stature. The Rams began to knock the ball around with some fluency and audible groans rang around CCS.
However, the Bluebirds faithful needn`t have worried as Chris Burke produced a magical back-flick to set Chopra clear – there was only one outcome and he duly made the game save. However, it got better as Chopra completed a brilliant hat-trick with his next touch, this time latching onto a slide-rule pass from Stephen McPhail – who put in a really good performance on his re-call.
Derby were crushed and looked incredibly vulnerable to the through ball, however, their defence appeared set before Chris Burke produced one of his trademark jinks to bend inside from the right and finish low past Bywater for the fifth – and third in 6 minutes.
There was plenty of time to go and Chopra was not done yet and he once again combined with McPhail to seal his fourth and further delight the home crowd. Whilst this was a sparkling performance and a brilliant result – there are still cracks – most notably in defence where Marshall, Hudson and Gerrard appeared hesitant at times. Derby could and almost certainly should have scored at least one more and teams with serious promotion aspirations should not be conceding 2 goals at home to a poor Derby side – However, with Chopra in this form, conceding the odd goal does hnot seem too important!
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