LOOKING BACK: HOW TO WIN A GAME IN FIVE MINUTES
History
26th November
We remember Cardiff City’s 3-0 victory over Burnley at Ninian Park from January 2006.
With this game goalless at the interval, City definitely made up for lost time, rattling in three goals in five second half minutes to blow the Clarets away in blistering fashion.
Steven Thompson is unlikely to forget this game in a hurry as he fired in two goals on his debut; the big striker had signed from Rangers earlier in the week. Unusually for a mid season game, the match featured three debutants in total, with Ricci Scimeca and Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu also making their Bluebirds bows.
Over 10,000 fans made the trip down Sloper Road to watch the Bluebirds do battle with Steve Cotterill’s Burnley, on what was a freezing winter day in the Welsh Capital.
Despite the convincing score line, the first half offered little hint of what was to come for City, with chances at a premium. Cardiff’s new strike partnership of Cameron Jerome and Thompson were doing their best to make something happen, however they were stopped from making the breakthrough in the opening period by some heavy attention from the Burnley defence.
The best chance of the half fell to the Clarets who saw Jon Harley’s low free kick smartly saved by Neil Alexander.
The Bluebirds finally hit their stride just before the hour mark, ‘keeper Brian Jenson attempted to gather a lofted cross from Willie Boland, only for ‘the Beast’ to spill the ball straight into the path of Thompson. The Scot gleefully accepted the gift and stroked the ball between the despairing lunges of two defenders and into the back of the net.
The home fans barely had time to return to their seats before Thompson (pictured below) had doubled his tally, trapping the ball expertly before turning to rifle a shot high into the roof of the net.
City seemed to be in a real hurry to finish the game off and Jason Koumas duly obliged, making it three with a rare header from a pinpoint Neal Ardley cross to complete a devastating five-minute spell.
There seemed to be a genuine belief inside Ninian Park that Cardiff were going to score every time they attacked and Jerome nearly made it 4-0 minutes later, whistling an effort inches wide of the post after more excellent play from the mercurial Koumas.
With Burnley shell shocked, the Bluebirds were able to see out the final half hour in relative comfort. Thus securing an eye catching win that saw them leapfrog their opponents in the Championship table.
