Cardiff City Romp To Severnside Rout

Cardiff City romped to a three goal victory over a depleted Bristol City side who were blown away by a hard-working and silky Bluebirds performance. Paul Quinn returned in an unfamiliar left-back role for Cardiff and saw a 40 yard effort spectacularly saved by Gerken after the ‘keeper raced from his area only to direct a poor clearance to the Scotsman.

Cardiff really should have opened the scoring earlier when Chopra found Quinn who raced into the area but neglected to shoot, instead being forced out wide – Bothroyd was inches away from the deflected cross/shot. Chopra was proving a handful at every opportunity with some sublime flicks, he and Whittingham linking up effectively.

The opener came courtesy of good work from Chris Burke and teenager Adam Matthews, with Chopra waiting at the far post, Jamie McCombe could only deflect into his own net and it was the least our first half play deserved. Just a few minutes later, Bristol City created their only real opportunity as Paul Quinn slipped and cynically tugged back Haynes – lucky not to have been booked. McCombe connected with the cross and Marshall was forced into a smart save only to see Marvin Elliot smack the re-bound against a post.

Nicky Maynard had looked bright for the visitors, while they also looked comfortable in midfield. However, they were guilty of some sloppy passing under good pressure from the Bluebirds. Moments before the break, City doubled the lead with an excellent run by Chris Burke finding Chopra in front of goal (an intelligent run) where he easily lobbed Gerken.

After the break, Cardiff City continued in the same vein as Whittingham saw two efforts blocked before a Gavin Rae goalbound thunderbolt almost knocked Chopra unconscious. It wasn`t to matter however as the workaholic Scot was to score a fine goal to his obvious delight. Chris Burke was again the provider and found space on the right before feeding Rae with a perfectly weighted pass as he burst forward. Rae was calm and took his time before slotting home the killer goal low to the keepers right.

A clear hand-ball was missed for Cardiff with Burke ready to pounce, while Ledley narrowly failed to connect with an overhead kick. In truth, the nearest Bristol City came was to create a few moments of panic either with looping crosses or by overlapping down the Cardiff left against the un-convincing Quinn. Several long shots were easily saved by Marshall.

This was a very good performance and a convincing win. Chopra continues his amazing goalscoring run and looked so bright and dangerous throughout. Chris Burke contributed to all three goals, helped out the assured Adam Matthews and looks an absolute bargain for the £100k we paid.