View From The Dolan: Edged Out By The Bluetits

Ben reports on an away defeat in pre-season to Cardiff City. Femi Azeez netted an equaliser, but two from Callum Robinson earned the hosts a win.

I’ve never really looked forward to a pre-season friendly. Like, I’ve never gone: “I’m excited for this one.” But I have to say, after the showing on Saturday, I was more than a little chuffed to realise we had a game midweek.

Of course, any optimism evaporated as quickly as a dropped ice cream when the Bluetits went ahead within three minutes. That, coupled with the lad on the audio saying “Mbengway” every time Amadou Mbengue touched the ball, put me into a tailspin of moodiness.

In truth, it was a terrible goal to concede and for the next few passages of play, Cardiff were all over us. Beating the press, coping with the block well and generally dominating the possession. Credit where it’s due, the commentator was superb. I don’t know his name, probably never will, but goodness me he earned his wage. I actually liked listening to him.

10 minutes in and we were level. Take nothing away from the finish, it was succulent from Femi Azeez. But the pressure and the hassling to get the ball back was naughty too. Game on!

As the game settled down it was clear there was a mobility and fluidity to our forward play, which perhaps was missing on Saturday. Mamadi Camara looked OK on the left, Sam Smith was strong in the middle and with Harvey Knibbs/ Ben Elliot backing him up, we were making their defence work hard. Speaking of Camara, the touch in the 17th minute to knock the ball past the defender in the corner was exceptional. He dragged his shot wide but the desire, ability and skill were all there.

At this point I grabbed a chilled lager from the cooler (fridge) and sipped it heartily. The commentator continued to impress: he made a joke about red heads and the sun and I just thought “what a bloke”. He also praised Ruben Selles and this shows a decent level of research, respect and class. Back to the game and there was plenty of traffic coming down the middle for us, certainly in terms of control and shots.

Big Ben E went on a mazy run around the 34th minute which was both mesmerising and chaotic, resulting in some desperate defending from the home side. We were mixing styles well at this point: getting tackles in and pressing well out of possession while always looking forward in it, and by the 40th minute, you’d have to say we were marginally on top of the game itself.

Jay Senga went off before the water break to be replaced by Louie Holzman, who’s a player I really like, certainly from what I saw last season. I’d guess a lot of these youngsters are hoping we don’t sign anyone so that they can get into the first-team squad and I hope they do regardless. We have to start trusting these players and the fact they are being used in these games is a real positive.

The chap commentating told me to get a beer at half-time and I’m not someone who really relishes conflict, so I did just that. I nipped out into the garden to see if the cats showed any signs of wanting to come in. They did not, so I slunk back into the kitchen to catch my breath after a fairly meaty first 45 of football.

Five subs were made at the break. It’s Selles’ prerogative to do that of course, but I would have stuck with the starting 11 a little longer personally, even for another 10 mins or so.

It goes without saying but the structure of the first half disappeared at the start of the second and the home side grew into the game much more. On the 57th minute, Big Kelv did well to hold up the ball and his man and then recycle it to good effect. The resulting corner by Charlie Savage was delivered well but fizzled out.

There was an interesting discussion on comms about the League Cup official name. For me, the most iconic was the Worthington’s Cup. When was the last time you went into a pub and saw a pump of Worthington’s? Seriously? Coca-Cola I guess too, Carling. I won’t lie, after that sudden burst of brain power I felt tired. I was losing interest in what was becoming a very disjointed contest. Jayden Wareham and Andre Garcia entered the fray for the final 25 minutes or so, with Smith and Emmanuel Osho departing.

A big fat 50/50 around the 69th minute saw Tyler Sackey come off slightly worse. It was a committed challenge from both players and summed up the attritional nature of the second period. In truth, we showed no real signs of taking the lead and seemed content to do the basics. Big Kelvin had a half chance which was snatched at like an ungrateful child grabbing party bag from a tired parent.

Missed tackles and lack of awareness of running players led to Cardiff’s second goal and, on the balance of play, you’d have to say that Cardiff had been more the willing participants in terms of attacking prowess. We were beginning to get a little sloppy and looked like we were tiring.

Coniah Boyce-Clarke made a decent save to deny Willock and the resulting corner was cleared ably. He was again called into action as he pushed away a threatening free-kick from the Bluetits and the game fizzled out.

We certainly weren’t embarrassed in the game and held our own for large spells. It was a shame we couldn’t kick on from a positive showing in the first half. We showed plenty of energy throughout the 90 minutes but, much like the game on Saturday, certainly in the second half of this game, we didn’t force the issue up top.

Attention turns to Hull City in the final pre-season friendly of the summer on Saturday, when Ruben and his team will need to think about bailing their colours to the mast for the Brum game a week later. Enjoy the rest of the hot weather and we’ll see you Saturday.

Until next time.