Cardiff City Rise To See Off West Ham Challenge

Cardiff City left Upton Park with a great result after a late Kenny Miller strike earned all three points for the Bluebirds.

It was always going to be a difficult fixture for City, but we played reasonably well and neither side managed to create too many chances. However, it was certainly West Ham who always looked more likely to score and Marshall saved well from Piquionne and Taylor before a great sliding tackle from Gerrard denied Scott Parker.

Cardiff only had a speculative Earnshaw effort and Whittingham free-kick to show despite some tidy passing in midfield. The defence was solid, the midfield controlled but it was going forward that we struggled - Miller and Earnshaw had little to feed off and also looked a little off the pace after both missed much of pre-season.

Sub Barrera had two efforts saved, Freddie Sears, Piqionne (hit the post) and Noble all had decent chances second half while Cardiff City were indebted to Peter Whittingham who did brilliantly to block a Tomkins effort on the line with Marshall beaten - Kevin Noble somehow failed to make contact when any touch would have seen him score.

The game was more open towards the end, and Cardiff City would surely have settled for a point but a dfensive lapse cost the Hammers as Ilunga made a real hash of his clearance when in no danger, substitute Rudy Gestede broke free down the right and remained patient to set-up Kenny miller. The pass wasn't the best but the Scottish striker was calm and rifled his shot-on-the-turn past Robert Green from 12 yards. The Keeper should have done better....... (USA, USA, USA !!!)

The winner came in injury time and Cardiff City can be very pleased with the opening game of the campaign. To take three points from the promotion favourites is excellent, especially with the likes of Green, Parker, Nolan, Carlton Cole all playing for West Ham. The result was a little harsh on the Hammers, but full credit to Malky Mackay and his team who rode their luck, took their chance and learnt as the game went on - a very promising start.

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