A first defeat of André Breitenreiter’s tenure
- Cardiff City 1-0 Huddersfield Town
- First half goal from Famara Diedhiou
- Town below par in South Wales
After four points from his opening two games, Town suffered a first defeat under new Head Coach André Breitenreiter in Wednesday night’s game at Cardiff City.
In a game of very few clear chances, a first half goal from former Bristol City striker Famara Diedhiou settled the tie as Town struggled to break down a resilient opposition side.
Breitenreiter made two changes for the game, both of which were forced upon him. Jonathan Hogg’s suspension meant Ben Wiles came into midfield, whilst Michał Helik made his first start since injury at the expense of Saturday’s injury victim Yuta Nakayama.
Town had plenty of the ball throughout the opening 45, partly because Cardiff chose not to engage the Terriers until they entered their defensive half. The Bluebirds compressed the spaces in their half very well, and showed they had a real threat on the break too.
When Town did create openings, they couldn’t hit the target. The first shot of the game fell the way of the men in acid lime as early as the seventh minute when Delano Burgzorg played a low ball into the area from our left to find Danny Ward, but the former Cardiff player volleyed over after spinning quickly towards goal.
At the other end, former Town favourite Karlan Grant had a typical effort to try and get Cardiff off the mark – cutting in from the left flank before letting fly with his right foot. Thankfully Lee Nicholls got down smartly to his right side to push the effort away.
The closest Town came to an opener during the opening 45 came in minute 18, when Burgzorg won a free kick by being bundled over by Perry Ng. Thomas came over to our left to deliver an inswinging delivery and it was only the feintest of touches from centre back Dimitrios Goutas that ensured the ball flew inches wide of the far post.
Town looked to be the most likely side to score at this point, and Thomas soon created another chance. He spotted the run of Brodie Spencer and played an early cross into his path at the back post, but the Northern Ireland international couldn’t beat goalkeeper Ethan Horvath from a narrow angle with his header.
Sadly, Cardiff then took the lead on the half hour mark. A cross-field pass towards our left was touched past Spencer brilliantly by former Blackpool winger Josh Bowler, who then quickly pulled the ball back towards the penalty spot. There striker Famara Diedhiou just beat Helik to the ball and cleverly diverted it past Nicholls’ dive with a single touch.
Unhappy with the first half display, Breitenreiter introduced Jaheim Headley and Alex Matos at half time and switched the shape to a 3-4-2-1 to try and find a way back into the game.
Town started fairly brightly, with Burgzorg having two early shots that were blocked by defender and goalkeeper respectively.
Ten minutes in, a corner looped off Lees and into the path of Jack Rudoni, but his header went way off target as he tried to get around the ball and divert it goalwards.
Sadly that momentum waned as Cardiff slowed the game down, but there were still two big moments that could have turned out differently.
The first came in the 67th minute, when Headley impressively charged straight through the heart of the Cardiff defence to enter the area before going down. His request for a penalty was dismissed quickly by referee Donohue, as were the afters between Jaheim and midfielder Ryan Wintle. A member of Cardiff’s coaching staff was shown a red for his reaction, however.
Our biggest chance of the night came four minutes from time when sub Tom Edwards played Thomas in down the right; his deep cross was headed back across goal by Headley, but somehow Ward couldn’t wrap his foot around the ball to turn it home from close range.
Town’s team vs Cardiff City (4-2-3-1)
Lee Nicholls; Matty Pearson (Tom Edwards, 73’), Michał Helik (c), Tom Lees, Brodie Spencer (Jaheim Headley, 46’); Ben Wiles (Alex Matos, 46’), David Kasumu (Bojan Radulovic, 73’); Sorba Thomas, Jack Rudoni, Delano Burgzorg; Danny Ward
Unused substitutes
Chris Maxwell; Josh Koroma, Brahima Diarra, Ben Jackson, Tom Iorpenda
Town booking
Brodie Spencer (19’)
