Tag: Middlesbrough

Cardiff finish in the play-offs following a breathtaking final day of the Championship- Cardiff City 3-0 Hull City

Captain Sean Morrison heads in Cardiff’s second goal

A comfortable victory for the Bluebirds over Hull meant a fifth place finish in the league and the chance to get promoted to the Premier League through the play-offs.

Going into the final day, City needed a point to seal a place in the top six. Swansea were three points behind and Nottingham Forest were level on points. However, remarkably, the two teams from South Wales, Cardiff and Swansea, finished fifth and sixth respectively with Forest missing out on the play-offs.

As for the Cardiff game it was pretty comfortable throughout. First half goals from Junior Hoilett and Sean Morrison put the Bluebirds firmly in control, with Danny Ward coming off the bench to add a third.

Cardiff started the game strongly with Robert Glatzel having a couple of close effort. The first was a long-range strike which was saved by Hull goalkeeper George Long. The second was from a closer distance which he fired wide from an angle.

The first goal came in the 20th minute through Hoilett. He received the ball from a Joe Bennett header, before driving down the wing without being closed down and firing into the far corner. It was a very good finish.

Morrison doubled the lead in the 34th minute. It was very poor defending from Hull, leaving Morrison unmarked and he took advantage by heading high into the goal to double the lead.

There wasn’t much action during the second half with Cardiff managing the game well. Hull came close once but Morrison managed to block James Scott’s effort. It was brilliant defending from the skipper. Following that, Alex Smithies saved well from Mallik Wilks to preserve the clean sheet.

To round off the scoring, substitute Ward scored past Long after the keeper’s save from Bennett’s free-kick. The result was hardly in doubt throughout the whole game.

Hull struggled to find an intensity to threaten Cardiff, most probably because were realistically already relegated due to their inferior goal difference. That made it even more comfortable for the Bluebirds.

Following all the results, City will face fourth-placed Fulham, who finished the regular season with a 1-1 draw at Wigan. At the moment Wigan will be playing in League One alongside Hull next season unless they appeal successfully against their 12 point deduction for going into asministration. The other club to be relegated are Charlton who suffered a 4-0 loss at champions Leeds. It is harsh on Charlton who have had to try and overcome many obstacles this season, including plenty of injuries and losing their star man for the games after the break.

If the 12 point deduction to Wigan remains, Barnsley will be safe, having surprisingly won 2-1 at Brentford, who could’ve gone up automatically with a victory because of West Brom’s 2-2 draw at home to QPR. Barnsley finished one point above Charlton, while Brentford were two points adrift of West Brom and will face Swansea in the play-off semi-finals.

West Brom managed to hold on to second place to go up automatically, even though they didn’t manage to hit the ground running following the restart. Brentford has the opportunity to overtake them, but lost their last two games against Stoke and Barnsley and will have to settle for a place in the play-offs.

Before the match day it would’ve been sensible to predict that Nottingham Forest would’ve at least got something of their game at home to Stoke. But, what followed was extraordinary. Stoke had been fighting relegation for the majority of the season while on the other hand there was talk at one point of Forest challenging for automatic promotion.

But, in the end Stoke won 4-1 which coincided with Swansea’s 4-1 victory at Reading which meant that Forest fell out of the top six and Swansea replaced them. There needed to be a five goal swing for this to happen and that is what happened. It shows how competitive the Championship is, that anyone can beat anyone on their day and that nothing is guaranteed.

Going back to the bottom of the table and Luton Town, it has been an incredible effort for them to stay up. Nathan Jones returned to the club during the break and he has turned it around for them. Their final game was a 3-2 win over Blackburn at home. They have collected 16 points off their final 9 games to pull off what seemed impossible at one point.

Rounding up the other results by starting at St Andrews and Derby’s 3-1 victory over Birmingham. Birmingham finish two points above the relegation zone after a disappointing season while Derby finish in 10th. Star youngster Jude Bellingham played his final game for boyhood club Birmingham as he has completed a transfer to Borussia Dortmund. He was very emotional following the game.

Bristol City and Preston, who at one point were challenging for the top six, played out a 1-1 draw at Ashton Gate. Preston finish in 9th with Bristol City in 12th.

Millwall finished only two points off the play-offs following a 4-1 win over managerless Huddersfield, who have since appointed Leeds United assistant Carlos Corberan as their new head coach.

To finish it off, Middlesbrough secured their safety by beating Sheffield Wednesday 2-1 at Hillsborough.

It was a final day full of excitement, which was expected. The Championship is always full of action and this certainly proves that.

To finish the season there will be the play-offs. The first legs will be on the 26th and 27th of June and the second legs on the 29th and 30th of June. They are Swansea against Brentford and Cardiff against Fulham, with the possibility of a South Wales derby in the final. That would be nail-biting and probably too much to take for both sets of fans.

We will wait and see what happens in what should be a gripping play-offs.

Cardiff go a step closer to finishing in the top six with victory over Middlesbrough- Middlesbrough 1-3 Cardiff City

The Cardiff players celebrate the opening goal from Morrison

The Bluebirds now need just a point to clinch a spot in the play-offs following a comfortable victory over former manager Neil Warnock’s team Middlesbrough.

Swansea are the only team who can catch Cardiff as they are three points behind. Cardiff face Hull at the Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday knowing that a draw will be enough to finish in the top six.

A goal from the skipper Sean Morrison and two goals from Josh Murphy gave City victory against Boro. Britt Assombalonga scored a consolation late on, but the contest had already been finished by then.

They got off to the perfect start in the fourth minute with Morrison heading in from Joe Ralls’ cross. That settled some nerves that might’ve been within the club. It was an excellent cross from Ralls and Morrison found space to be able to head in past Middlesbrough goalkeeper Aynsley Pears.

City came close with a couple of decent efforts during the first half, with Pears saving a long-range effort from Ralls and Junior Hoilett firing off target from an angle.

There was also a fast start to the second half like the first half, with Murphy scoring with a composed finish. It was a fantastic counter-attacking goal. Following a Middlesbrough free-kick, Cardiff cleated the ball as far as Lee Tomlin who played it through to Murphy who ran from inside his own half. He had a clear run at goal and had the composure to slot it in.

With about 10 minutes left of the game, Murphy scored another. It came from Mendez-Laing’s work out on the right. He used his pace and power to get past the defender before playing it across to Murphy who bundled it home. That sealed the victory.

Murphy celebrates his first goal with Robert Glatzel

Substitute Britt Assombalonga fired in a brilliant free-kick but it was too late to affect the result and Boro will go into the final day of the season knowing that they still aren’t safe. They are two points clear of Luton in 22nd and travel to Sheffield Wednesday on the final day of the season.

All the teams from Huddersfield in 18th and higher are safe, as Huddersfield have a far superior goal difference than Luton. Birmingham, Charlton, Luton, Hull and Barnsley face Derby, Leeds, Blackburn, Cardiff and Brentford respectively only the battle to avoid the drop.

Going back to Cardiff, it was a very impressive and solid performance in what could’ve been a very tough game. They dealt with any threat and didn’t look in danger at any point. Warnock couldn’t get one over on his former side and will have to ensure that his side don’t fail to stay in the league following the next game.

Warnock did a phenomenal job during his tenure at Cardiff and will always be remembered fondly by the fans. He took the club from a relegation fight to automatic promotion the following season. He failed to keep the club in the Premier League but with the money that he had, they put up an excellent effort to try and stay up. He left in November following an inconsistent start to the season, with Neil Harris taking over as the new manager.

Harris has managed to win over more fans following City’s improvement and is now in touching distance of the play-offs. If we do manage to make the play-offs then Harris will have done a fantastic job.

We will have to wait and see what happens on Wednesday. They can’t be complacent even though Hull have been on very poor form and aren’t mathematically relegated, but with they’re inferior goal difference it is pretty much certain that they will be in League One next season.

It is going down to the final day of the season on Wednesday with all the games kicking off at 7:30pm. Swansea’s final game is a trip to Reading. There is still much to play for.