Cardiff City 1 Stockport County 1 ( Football League 1) Saturday 24 January 2026

Cardiff

 

 

 

 

 

A high -octane encounter at the Cardiff City Stadium , saw County emerge from a rain and wind-swept visit to the Principality with a very meritorious share of the points against  League One leaders Cardiff City today.

It must be said that , at times ,the blues points haul looked more likely to be 3 from a game that saw them recreate the dominance they established last September against the Bluebirds- a side ram jam full of players with Championship experience and in some cases quality.

But all that experience and quality hardly amounted to a hill of beans in the first 25 minutes as County went into the lead via  another  nerveless finish by  Kyle Wootton, and then built on it ,slowing the game down whilst gradually forcing the Welsh side further and further into their shell.

Then the game changed in a heartbeat-as a tackle by Brad Hills on the highly rated Yousef Salech put the Cardiff man  out of the game. The 14-minute delay in restarting the game while Salech received treatment dramatically changed the complexion of the game – from a match in which County very much had control, to an entirely different affair where City , urged on by a hugely partisan and influential home crowd , gradually found their feet  and eventually an equaliser.

I should clarify my use of `influential` ……the home specs were loud and very much had Referee Paul Howard`s ear, particularly in the second half when time after time a blue shirted City player would sink to the ground……the home specs would suddenly go AS and County were dished as an embryonic break or move would be turned on its head by a highly improbable free kick to the home side.

That was disappointing to say the very least, but when push comes to pull, to come away with another point against the league should be a thing to cheer loudly, so I’ll cease whingeing and do just that……well done County a decent performance was that, and it sets us up nicely for challenges to come . starting with a trip on Tuesday to the seaside to play Blackpool!

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I was really pleased to see the team that DC had chosen , being particularly happy to see Andresson and Wootton paired up front with Stokes tucked in behind them . The back line looked good also  with Olowu, Hills and Pye forming a 3 ( or so I opined) with width and not a little defensive nous being supplied by Dacres- Cogley and Edun.

I just hoped that DC would hold his nerve and not be tempted to haul the Iceman off if he hasn`t scored in an hour- decent strikers , given the chance, can play poorly for 89 minutes then nick a tap in in the 90 th .

We would see, and the green shirted blues got a rousing welcome from the away end when they came out.

The opening minute or so saw County pushed back as firstly Bagan and Ashford combined to good effect down the left for the league leaders, then a scary dribble into the box by Ng promised much for his side but fell flat confronted by Edun`s obduracy!

County`s reply came via Dacres -Cogley who again looked in decent nick, but after 4 minutes it was still 0-0.

From that last attack , County`s momentum began to surge , but despite the encouragement of a Norwood free kick, Brian Barry-Murphy`s side managed to ride the storm out.

Back came Cardiff but Ashford`s progress was blocked by more top class defending from Edun . Cardiff would not go away though and pressed on again- Hinchliffe having to pull off a good save to deny Robertson 9 minutes in.

Then County showed their metal with some concerted attacking football that had City on the back foot and struggling. Again Dacres- Cogley was at the heart of it and not shy to have a shot at goal, but this was saved competently by Trott the home keeper.

End of then….but no…County would not accept that premise – the ball running out to Wootton who buried his shot in the Cardiff net.

County had their lead, and the away end was a wall of supportive noise!

Cardiff replied- Hinchliffe doing well for County to snuff out a cross with Salech waiting goal side for it.

Tanner  was next to show for the Bluebirds – a brilliant run by him nullified by a terrific defensive tackle by Pye.

Then it was relentless pressure from County as first Dacres-Cogley weighed in -his surging run pushing blue shirts further and further back as he went .

Edun then added his ten pennorth blotting out an embryonic City raid before feeding Andresson. City covered their tracks on this and survived but it was encouraging for the vociferous away end- another Edun / Andresson cooperation shortly after looked promising but faded to nothingness as City closed ranks in their path.

I was just thinking how similar this situation was to that in September when we were ridiculously unlucky not to win the last encounter twixt these 2 sides.

Then the pendulum swung again- Hills and Salech coming together – Hills winning possession ..Salech going down. The ref saw no foul , nor did I, and seconds later County won a free kick just outside the box, but before they could take the kick, play was stopped whilst Salech  got treatment- 14 minutes of it, which is totally the correct thing to do in these circumstances, but the delay changed the outcome of the game – County`s rhythm bushed in the delay…City`s boosted with max crowd backing!

Play resumed with that County free kick I mentioned earlier, but this came to nothing as we got an early glimpse of just what the delay had done to the game`s complexion!

 County were  forced back  next and grateful that Edun was in such prime nick – a fantastic block from him  stopping the rot for County as City looked to mount a lively attack- their momentum gradually building to the point that exactly midpoint in the 14 added minutes, they equalised!

Like one or two efforts today it was initiated by Tanner down County`s left, and County were quickly undone as Tanner slipped the ball across goal to Colwill who made short work of beating Hinchliffe and equalising for his side.

There was time after that for more pressure from Cardiff , but no more goals – Edun excelling himself defensively in County`s cause , preventing more Tanner / Ashford induced mayhem, the half ending with the score still 1 apiece.

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The second half  saw County pushed back again defending a raft of free kicks and corners, but although Cardiff were on the front foot more conspicuously, their finishing was far from being conspicuously improved- Wintle causing much merriment in  the away end by ballooning a poor effort way over the bar on 51 minutes.

In response County defended well…Hills and Edun the pick but I was disappointed to see Andresson replaced by Diamond 10 minutes into the half- there would be no 90^th minute tap ins today!

There were still plenty of free kicks and corners for County to defend- the latter the result legitimate pressure by Cardiff, the former less so being more the result of pressure on the Referee by the home specs.

But Diamond was trying to make an impact ,involved with Hills in a County attack that looked exceedingly promising when Woots showed an interest, but our interest waned quickly when the merest coming together twixt keeper and County forward resulted in the almost obligatory free kick to the keeper`s team. To say the least, I thought that Mr Howard`s interpretation of what constituted an unfair challenge , left a lot to be desired!

It was time for Cardiff to have another go at getting that second goal, but again…whilst their approach play was good ,their form in the last third was anything but , Wintle initiating a move on the hour, only for Ng to drag a poor effort wide.

If I was reassured that Cardiff`s locker was relatively bereft of armoury , this cosy position was constantly being undermined by another free kick awarded to the home side largely it appeared at the behest of the Cardiff Ultras who were by this time proving to be excessively irritating and irritable.

We needed County to find something from somewhere and sort matters ……certainly the County supporters were doing their best -the volume of supportive noise noticeably upping with 20 minutes left to play.

It all got  a touch end to end in those 20 minutes- Cardiff winning a cheep free kick then making a mess of it(71  minutes)……  Edun to the fore for County with Stokes ,whose cross flew across the box and out  on  73 minutes…….

Cue a chance 2 minutes later via a Norwood free kick , but instead of shooting ( it was within his range) he elected to dink it up into the box where the ref came to Cardiff`s rescue with a free kick as Robertson  went down improbably under little or no pressure from anyone in green.

This situation then reached its nadir moment as County swept clear through the middle in a swift move that had danger written all over it- the move halted by the ref for a County free kick !

The kick went nowhere but then we all rather felt that that was how it would pan out!

With 9 minutes left nothing changed- Cardiff were still taking nice breaks on the deck( Osho this time) and the ref was still obliging the locals , halting yet another raid by County.

A minute later DC rang the changes again bringing Osborn and Okeke on for Norwood and Olowu.

County surged forward with Edun at the helm – Okeke doing his best to add his two pennyworth , but the final ball hit Wootton and flew out of play.

Did I say `end to end`? Well , on 84 minutes Diamond saw a shot charged down…..85 saw Hills head the ball off the line following a Cardiff corner, and just a minute later I looked on totally unsurprised to see Wintle crumple in an untidy heap on the wet ground -getting Stokes booked!

This was beyond annoying ,but it was greatly uplifting to see Hinchliffe pull off an excellent save , to deny Robinson,after the County back line briefly went into doze mode with 2 minutes of normal time left.

We went in 4 minutes of added time with County having a real go at winning this game, but midst a sweeping County move, Diamond lost possession and Hills had to step up to usher the ball clear  and stop the rot for County.

County kept pegging away- right to the end – Okeke almost latching onto a late chance but foiled by a fine last gasper from Winkle.

That was it then, the points were shared, County had faced the league leaders at their midden and , against expectations , taken a point , so irrespective of the negative stuff I have thrown the way of officials and Cardiff I will celebrate the winning of a point not the loss of two!

Well done again County, see you at Bloomfield Road  on Tuesday.

 

Cardiff City line up :-

 Trott, Bagan, Osho, Wintle, Tanner (Willock 68), Chambers, Robertson (Davies 86, Salech (Robinson 40), J. Colwill (Kellyman 68), Ng, Ashford. Subs Not Used:  Fish, Kpakio, Tyrer.

Stockport County line up :-

 Hinchliffe, Dacres-Cogley, Olowu (Okeke 82), Edun, Pye, Wootton, Andrésson (Diamond 56), Norwood (Osborn 82), Bailey, Stokes, Hills. Subs Not Used: Addai, Dodgson, Fevrier, Mothersille.

Attendance: 19684 (1,353)

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