Cardiff came out on top in yesterday’s top of the table clash in South Wales, but many feel that Burnley did enough to win at least a point at Ninian Park.

It was not the most entertaining of affairs, not by a long way, the game was dominated by kicks, pushes and the odd elbow and clear cut chances were a rarity as both teams looked desperate to lose their respective unbeaten records, Burnley’s on the road, and Cardiff’s at Ninian Park.

Sadly, much of the post match talk has been about the Cardiff support and the Welsh Police.  Never before have I felt so intimidated outside a football ground before a game, feeling the need to watch my back all the time and being spat at twice in a short space of time as me and my friends walked the short distance from our coach to the ‘Official Merchandise’ tent and then to the turnstiles.

Then, as the referee blew for the start of a minutes silence for Remembrance Sunday, the Cardiff fans continued to sing, with shouts such as “Get on with it” so cringe worthy as the referee decided to cut the minute down to just 20 seconds.  It really was awful stuff from Cardiff, the mass majority of the crowd observed the silence well but sections of the home ‘fans’ spoiled it for everyone and especially the Cardiff fans that were respectful as their reputation will now have been tainted because of a few idiots.

That was not the end of the controversy though, following the game all hell broke loose, with the Cardiff fans attacking and throwing things at the Burnley fans making their way out of the ground, even the Police were being abusive and violent towards us as we walked towards our coach, it was all completely unprovoked.  As we sat in the coach waiting to leave, we continued to be attacked by the Welsh, with missiles flying towards our coach on a regular basis as we waited for the roads to clear, I feared that the window I was sat by might give way as it was hit twice by one full plastic bottle and a glass bottle.  It is no surprise that this Morning a statement has been revealed that Wolves will not be allowing any Cardiff fans to travel to Molineux on 20th January.

There was a game of football taking place at Ninian Park before all that, though, and it was Burnley that had the first few attacks, Frank Sinclair forcing a save from goalkeeper Neil Alexander with what was a speculative effort from some way out.  Soon after, Burnley won the first corner of the game, Steve Jones sent a cross towards the Cardiff penalty area which hit a City defender and went behind.  Wade Elliott’s inswinging ball was cleared by the home team, but only to James O’Connor, who unfortunately sent the ball flying over the crossbar.

In between Burnley attacks Michael Chopra provided a scare for the travelling support, when the league’s top scorer ran clear of the defence following a weak pass back to Brian Jensen from the Burnley defence, and looked to have reached the ball before the onrushing Jensen, however the Beast had just about enough pace to beat the former Newcastle man, who’s last game against the Clarets produced four goals in Watford’s 7-4 thrashing of Stan Ternent’s Clarets at the Turf whilst on loan with the Hornets a few year ago.

The next 20 minutes were dominated by the two midfields, with very few chances being created by either team, but on 23 minutes Cardiff got the goal with their first real effort at goal.  A ball into the crowded Burnley penalty area was cleared out, but only to Ricardo Scimeca who hit the ball into the back of the net.  It was a bitter pill to swallow for Burnley whose defending so far had been impeccable, Michael Duff in particular had been outstanding at the back.  It had been a pretty even game so far, but Cardiff had the lead and they would go on to take control of the game for the rest of the first hald.

The referee took centre stage, giving pointless free-kicks and booking James O’Connor for a very soft challenge, and then Andy Gray got himself into the black book for being annoying, apparently.  Steve Cotterill certainly wasn’t happy with the refereeing standard, as was reflected in his post match comments.  We tried to give it a go in the first-half but it that was stop-start because I felt the referee wasn't up to the required standard in the  first half," he complained.

"The referee booked Andy Gray because he said he was annoying him, what's that all about? How can you be booked for annoying someone? It's a pity the referee can't be booked, because he'd have been booked and sent off in the first half for annoying me.”

Late on in the first half Andy Gray really should have scored for Burnley, a ball in from the left evaded the Cardiff defence and somehow found its way to Gray who was just a matter of yards from the goal, but he seemed to take his eyes off the ball for a second, and it bounced off him into the grateful hands of the keeper.

At half time, I spoke to Marv from the messageboard, who I thought summed up our time in South Wales v so far very well.  “Well, We’re playing crap, Cardiff are crap, the referee is crap, this is the worst ground ever, Wales is a s**thole and Cardiff are effectively a bunch of defenders with Chopra upfront.”

The football in the first half was poor at best, but it did start to pick up a little in the opening stages of the second as both sides began to pick up the pace.  The Cardiff fans really wanted a penalty, Jon Harley controlling the ball with his feet was followed by a chorus of ‘penalty’ shouts from the home stands.  With the Clarets now attacking at the opposite end to the Burnley fans they were starting to create more chances, Chris McCann sent a ball into the penalty area but nobody could get that final touch.  Cardiff tried to add to their lead with several runs towards our goal, but Thomas and Duff dealt with them with ease.

The game was still very open, with neither side really dominating, Burnley were creating more of the chances though- but not by much.  Alan Mahon came on to give us that extra spark and almost immediately he could have produced a goal, but his cross was too deep for Gray and not deep enough for Jones.  Soon after and the Burnley fans in the terrace were jumping around thinking that the Clarets had found the breakthrough- Steve Cotterill ran onto the pitch in celebration.  The goal did ripple, however, it appears that the ball had only hit the bar and not actually crossed the line.

So 1-0 to Cardiff it remained and with the minutes ticking away it seemed ever likely that the three points would remain in the land of the Dragon and when Chopra raced clear of the Burnley defence and into a one-on-one position with Brian Jensen, it seemed as though those points would be well and truly wrapped up.  Chopra however, had other ideas, and sent the ball ballooning over the crossbar in what was a really bad miss.  Chopra looked odds on to score once again soon after but a masterful piece of defending from Michael Duff kept the scoreline down to just one nil.

Four minutes went up on the board but we failed to create the goal we needed and the only unbeaten away record in the Championship ended, continuing Cardiff’s unbeaten Ninian park record.  On the hole a draw would have been the fairest result, but we have got to accept that Cardiff are top of the league and we are still well and truly up there in the top four.  Cardiff looked like a very strong side, but not the best footballing team, although as with us, it could have just been an off day.

Man of the match is usually quite hard to pick for me, but yesterday I had no doubt.  Michael Duff enjoyed probably his best Burnley performance in his 100th league appearance and was head and shoulders above any one else on the pitch.  Well done Duffo!

Burnley: Jensen, Harley, Duff, Thomas, Sinclair, Elliott (Mahon,66), McCann,J O'Connor, Jones, Noel Williams (Lafferty,82), Gray.
Subs: Spicer, Coyne, Foster.
Bookings: J O'Connor, 36, Gray,36, Sinclair, 79, Lafferty,85, McCann, 87

Cardiff: Alexander, Chambers, Purse, Loovens, McNaughton, Parry (Flood,35), Scimeca, McPhail, Ledley, Campbell (Johnson,75), Chopra.
Subs: Howard, Kamara, Gunter.
Bookings: Chambers, 81

Ref: P Walton

Att: 15,744