Cardiff City Fall Short As Villa Scrape Through

Cardiff City got off to the worst possible start when Scimeca lost possession allowing Gabby Agbonlahor to convert Carew's cross witha deft back-heel - that was in the third minute and gave City a mountain to climb. Aston Villa looked much the better side in the opening 15 with Petrov, Delph and co well on top.

However, Cardiff City grew in confidence and created chances for Bothroyd and Rae whilst looking dangerous at a number of set-pieces. However, Agbonlahor remained a real threat and caused problems throughout.

The second half saw Gabor Gyepes penalised for an inocuous foul on Petrov - who went down easily. However, James Milner hit his penalty against the post to hand a reprieve to the Bluebirds.

Rae and Ledley exerted more influence while Chopra replaced Scimeca to add more firepower. Unfortunately, we were unable to get quality possession to the front two and Whittingham in particular faded as the game went on. Adam Matthews hit a free-kick into the wall before Carew's header and Milner nearly connected at the far post.

Jay Bothroyd had the ball in the net in the final moments, but was ruled offside from Gerrard's flickdown. If it was offside, the linesman did brilliantly to spot it amid the mass of players, however - he did flag early and City were denied.

A mention for the Cardiff City fans who were superb throughout, supporting the team as we rarely do at home and showing passion through some powerful vocal efforts - I received several texts from Villa fans for our efforts during the game.

Cardiff City matched their more illustrious hosts for much of the game and in truth, the difference between the teams was the energy, skill and confidence of Agbonlahore. There was no disgrace and with Chopra rested and key players like McCormack, Marshall, McNaughton and captain Hudson missing - this was an encouraging result for Cardiff City.

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