The Bluebirds made it back-to-back home defeats as they were beaten by a strong Weat Brom side.
It was a quiet opening 20 minutes at the CCS, the main talking point was Baggies captain Jed Wallace being forced to leave the field due to what appeared to be an arm injury.
Both Okay Yokuslu and Callum Robinson both had shots wide of the mark. It was heart in mouths for City fans, as John Swift broke forward for The Baggies, he found Sarmiento but his balled rolled and hit the post, let off for The Bluebirds.
Josh Bowler beat four men in the West Brom box but Alex Palmer denied him. This saw the two sides go in at half-time level.
The first chance of the second half fell to Jeremy Sarmiento who made no mistake with a sensational finish cutting in from the left.
The Bluebirds huffed and puffed but couldn't produce anything of real quality and fell to defeat.
Player Ratings
Alex Runarsson (6) - Far from as bad as some have made out. Except for one or two shaky moments, on the ball we looked far more comfortable from the back. Our own goalkeepeing coach saying there's no chance he saves the goal, but some of the fans in the stand think he can...
Perry Ng (6) - An out of character performance from Ng, but it's what you expect due to him playing out of position. Failed to make his mark on the game.
Mark McGuinness (8) MOTM - Did a good job in keeping Wallace quiet in his on the pitch. Did the same with Swift. Really solid performance from Macca who made one or two impressive blocks.
Dimitrios Goutas (6) - A quiet evening for Dimi. Didn't really notice him. Did nothing good but nothing bad either. Took some heavy hits.
Mahlon Romeo (7) - Thought Romeo made a major improvement since the last time we saw him start. Back to making impressive interceptions and forcing the team up the pitch.
Manolis Siopis (6) - A quiet evening for Sio. Didn't really put his stamp on the game, WBA dominated the midfield which meant Siopis couldn't get involved.
Joe Ralls (7) - Thought he was one of the best players on the pitch in the first half. Seemed to be everywhere. Fizzled out in the second half, still wouldn't have subbed him off.
Callum Robinson (6) - Led the press really well. Cardiff payed the price when he went off. On the ball, a quiet evening but WBA looked uncomfortable when he did press.
Ollie Tanner (5) - A really frustrating evening for the winger. Looked uncomfortable on the left hand side. Unfortunately for Tanner he wasn't doing the things that makes Ollie Tanner good, played the safe ball rather than being direct.
Josh Bowler (7) - The Bluebirds best attacker. Connor Townsend couldn't really get near him. His impressive footwork and work rate probably deserved a goal.
Yakou Meite (6.5) - Did well against Cedric Kipre. Unfortunately for the majority of the game he was The Bluebirds only outlet, and after a while West Brom worked that out, meaning he was cut out of the game.
Subs:
Ike Ugbo (6) - Added energy to the game and was denied a blatant penalty. Looked confused where he was playing at times.
Jonathan Panzo (6.5) - Looked very comfortable on the ball. Some good big hitting challenges.
Ryan Wintle (6.5) - Certainly made an impact when he came on. Looked forward when the majority of the players were looking back. One or two good deliveries.
Rubin Colwill (7) - Grew into the game. Great ball for Etete who fluffed his lines. Over did it at times but he looked the most likely to bring a goal in the second half.
Kion Etete (N/A) - Didn't really do much.
Summary:
A frustrating one for The Bluebirds but definitely a lesson learnt. Showed us where we need to be if we want to be in the playoffs mix.
Next time out, The Bluebirds travel to in-form Southampton.
Comments