Thommo goal earns Cardiff point

Last updated : 17 February 2011 By Tony Scholes
Steven Thompson
Steven Thompson - scored against his former club
It's not the first time we've seen Thommo score in this fixture. He grabbed a late equaliser for us on the Turf in December 2008 and just over five years ago he scored twice in two minutes on his Cardiff debut as we conceded three in a five minute spell.

But last night's was so deserved because it was just crazy to be behind in a game that we dominated for all but the opening exchanges and the point, on the back of the win at Watford, made it a very productive few days for us.

Cardiff v Burnley was never quite going to be the same as it has in previous seasons. Ninian Park is now housing and the new Cardiff City Stadium sits proudly just across the road. Ninian Park had atmosphere, and a hostile one at that; this place was totally devoid of it and can just be added to the collection of cheaply built soulless bowls.

Having said that, recent form at Ninian wasn't good with six successive defeats since they were promoted in 2003, so a change in venue, I thought, might just give us a change of fortune.

The playing of 'Men of Harlech' ahead of kick off would rouse a Welsh rugby crowd but it never has worked at Cardiff City. They still persist with it though just before the teams come out with no one paying much attention to it whatsoever. It will never be Arms Park.

There were no surprises in the Burnley team. As expected, Eddie Howe named an unchanged team from that which started at Watford with the only change coming on the bench as well again Charlie Austin replaced Brian Easton.

Cardiff announced a starting eleven with Manchester City making no contribution to the wages; the subs bench was a different matter with their number 39 named as one of the eight. Even so, this looked a strong Cardiff side and I suspected it might just be a difficult night for us.

That looked to be the case as they started ever so well. Seyi George Olofinjana (Hull), partnered by Aaron Ramsey (Arsenal) in midfield took charge and we were under the cosh almost immediately. Michael Chopra (did you know he once played for Newcastle?) hit the bar after a poor clearance from Ross Wallace.

It was as close as they came in a difficult opening for the Clarets and we were thankful to Lee Grant for keeping out former loan player Pete Whittingham.

Without about a quarter of an hour gone we started to come into the game and as we started to press them there is no doubt that we had seen off their threat almost totally. What Olofinjana and Ramsey had done at the beginning had now been taken over by Jack Cork and Dean Marney. They seemed to be running the show and if I were to be critical we probably didn't create enough in the way of goal scoring opportunities.

Even so, as half time approached there was only one team in it, but then we gifted them the lead in first half stoppage time. Jay Bothroyd crossed and former Newcastle striker Chopra was allowed to chest it down and hammer it into the net from the edge of the goal area.

It really was a poor goal to give away, and so close to half time, but we did came close to levelling before referee Roger East, who had a decent enough game, blew for half time. Chris Eagles fired in a shot that cannoned off Bothroyd. He was left out cold in the box as the rest of the players left for half time.

A goal down was crazy, it really was. Overall we'd been better than Cardiff but one slip and we were behind. It looked as though we had a very tough second half in front of us.

It started quietly but then it reverted to the pattern of the first half with Burnley in the ascendancy. In fairness they defender well, and none more so than the impressive Mark Hudson.

Maybe Dave Jones was getting nervous and just past the hour he sent on both Bellamy and Darcy Blake, Chopra (formerly of Newcastle) was one to come off. Almost immediately Howe replaced Chris Iwelumo with Charlie Austin and a new minutes later Jay Rodriguez' night came to an end as Steven Thompson came on.

It was virtually all Burnley but with just around ten minutes to go the result was almost decided when Bothroyd shot. It took a top save from Grant to keep it out and that gave us one last opportunity to push forwards.

We won a corner on the right and, with seven minutes to go, our moment had come. Wallace, that early mistake apart, had had his best game yet for Burnley and it was his corner that Thompson met at the near post to head home.

I immediately looked at my watch. Seven minutes plus stoppage time to go, and I sensed Cardiff were going to have a real go at us. It could, I thought, be a difficult last few minutes for us.

I could not have been more wrong. We controlled it and if anyone was going to get a winner it was us. Thommo almost got on to a ball but in the end time ran out and a point it was.

You have to say that a point at Cardiff is always a good point. They are a good side and are not up there in second place for no reason. But this was the sort of performance from Burnley that we hoped for. It was as good a performance as we've probably seen on the road this season and the point was the least we deserved.

There were good performances all over the pitch. The two full backs played very well; Duff was tremendous and then there were the two central midfielders. It really is as well as I've seen either of them play previously and I struggled to split them for man of the match.

That point has taken us just that bit closer to the top six. It really is going to be a tough ask but if we can turn in many performances like this we really do have a chance. Preston next in the league, let's hope we've saved another of these good away performances for them.

The teams last night were;

Cardiff: Tom Heaton, Paul Quinn (Darcy Blake 67), Mark Hudson, Dekel Keinan, Kevin McNaughton, Pete Whittingham, Seyi George Olofinjana, Aaron Ramsey, Chris Burke (Jason Koumas 78), former Newcastle striker Michael Chopra (Craig Bellamy 67), Jay Bothroyd. Subs not used: David Marshall, Stephen McPhail, Jay Emmanuel-Thomas, Jon Parkin.
Yellow Card: Kevin McNaughton.

Burnley: Lee Grant, Tyrone Mears, Clarke Carlisle, Michael Duff, Danny Fox, Jack Cork, Dean Marney (Graham Alexander 90), Chris Eagles, Ross Wallace, Chris Iwelumo (Charlie Austin 67), Jay Rodriguez (Steven Thompson 74). Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Andre Bikey, Marvin Bartley, Wade Elliott.
Yellow Cards: Dean Marney, Danny Fox.

Referee: Roger East (Wiltshire).

Attendance: 21,307.