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MOTD- Cardiff City 3-2 Manchester City

By on August 25, 2013
Fraizer Campbell wheels away to celebrate his late winner for Cardiff City in a memorable night at the Cardiff City stadium.

Fraizer Campbell wheels away to celebrate his late winner for Cardiff City in a memorable night at the Cardiff City stadium.

Cardiff City have earned a famous win in their first home match back in the top flight for fifty-one years as a Fraizer Campbell double put away Manchester City.  The Welsh club subdued City’s flair and style with physicality, with City manager Manuel Pellegrini apparently taking the match to lightly ahead of time.

Although the Sky Blues began dominantly, keeping much of the possession in the opening minutes, without Vincent Kompany their defense was a bit shaky, allowing Cardiff chances.  Campbell curled a free-kick from twenty five yards just wide of the post, before Peter Wittingham fired a long-range shot straight into the arms of City goalkeeper Joe Hart in the sixteenth minute.

City reverted back to attempting tiki-taka football, but Cardiff pressured City very hard and barely tired.  Malky Mackay’s side work was nearly rewarded in the forty-fourth minute when Aron Gunnarsson lofted a long ball through the City defense to Campbell, who could only direct his low effort under an advancing Hart just wide of the post.  Seconds later Campbell again was gifted a golden opportunity when Javi Garica failed to clear another long ball and it fell to Campbell.  The Englishman this time had his shot brilliantly blocked by an oncoming Hart, yet the game remained level.

But City managed to take the lead as the match rolled on to the second half, with Edin Dzeko pulling City in front via an unstoppable curling shot into the top corner from twenty-five yards after receiving a flicked pass from Sergio Aguero.  Cardiff seemed to have no response to the goal, until Kim Bo-Kyung burst into the City box down the right in the fifty-ninth minute.  Kim squared it to Campell, and the forward’s effort at the near post was blocked by Hart, but it bounced out to Gunnarsson, who cooly tucked it into the open net from six-yards.

The Bluebirds amazingly didn’t even gain momentum from their equalizer, yet somehow managed to complete the comeback in the seventy-ninth minute.  Wittingham whipped in a corner from the right, and Hart came out to catch it but flapped at air.  Thus, Campbell headed it into the back of the net at the far post from two yards.

Cardiff then put the icing on the cake in the four minutes from time, with Campbell rising above Pablo Zabaleta to bury another Wittingham corner (this time from the left) past City’s goal-line markers int the back of the net.  Alvaro Negredo gave City hope deep into stoppage time as he sent David Silva’s cross flying into the top corner of the net from eight yards, but Pellegrini could not muster his side to form a late twist, with the match ending 3-2.
Man of the Match: Fraizer Campbell

About Alex Morgan

Alex Morgan, founder of Football Every Day, lives and breaths football from the West Coast of the United States in California. Aside from founding Football Every Day in January of 2013, Alex has also launched his own journalism career and hopes to help others do the same with FBED. He covers the San Jose Earthquakes as a beat reporter for QuakesTalk.com and his work has also been featured in the BBC's Match of the Day Magazine.