by Ashley James and Mark Denham
Snapshot: The Bluebirds moved up to fourth in the Coca-Cola Championship on Wednesday evening despite drawing 0-0 with QPR at Ninian Park. Darren Purse and Michael Chopra had chances to win the game for City, though the away side could have easily snatched the three points at the death with two good opportunites.
Team News: Cardiff made two changes from the side that started at Wolves just three days before; Chris Burke, a first-half replacement for Jay Bothroyd at Molineux continued in the strikers absence which meant Ross McCormack reverted to his usual position up-top alongside Michael Chopra. The other switch came at the back where Darren Purse returned to the starting XI in place of the injured Gabor Gyepes. Dimi Konstantopoulos made his first appearance at Ninian Park and with no other senior goalkeeper in the squad, Cardiff entered their second league match in a row without a safety net on the bench. The substitutes did feature Quincy Owusu-Abeyie though, who was yet to step onto a football field as a Cardiff City player.
Chronological Report: Cardiff really needed a good start to alleviate any lingering disappointment that still existed from the closing stages of the Wolves match. After just four minutes Darren Purse very nearly gave them that perfect start only to be foiled by a stray Ranger's boot. Ross McCormack won a corner over on the left with some fine direct running and from the delivery Roger Johnson's flick-on found the swinging left-boot of Purse who drilled in a volley only to see it blocked by the boot of a defender just in front of Radek Cerny in the R's goal who had got down well to his left.
The visitor's first meaningful foray came after ten minutes when Wayne Routledge collected the ball wide on the right and found Liam Miller inside the box with his cut-back. The Irishman's first touch took him away from John son but allowed Konstantopoulos to rush out and smother the ball near the by-line.
The match was hardly fizzing with free flowing football as the ball spent the majority of it's time bogged down in an overflowing and highly combative midfield area or somewhere near the Ninian Park floodlights. There were brief reminders of the talent on display though with Routledge looking bright if not exactly eager to get involved while Cardiff carved open a half-chance after eighteen minutes. Chris Burke flighted in a pass from the right touchline which McCormack did well to control on his chest and turn on goal, his neatly disguised lay-off found Gavin Rae on the edge of the box but unfortunately his thunderous drive was of more direct concern to those in the Canton Stand than Ranger's 'keeper Cerny.
The first half continued to labour on by and just before the half-hour mark Routledge again provided a spark of inspiration for the visitors. He collected a sweeping pass out to him with a world-class first touch from the touchline which took him in behind Mark Kennedy. Our Irishman kept his footing as the two came together again unlike Routledge who went down just inside the area. From my vantage point it looked like a situation from which I've seen penalties given, luckily Referee Mr East didn't do so on this occasion.
Disjointed passage with Cardiff still yet to really get into the match or hold onto the ball for any length of time, really looked to be missing the hold up ability of jay while the extra body in the qpr midfield was working exactly as intended.
The last chance to break the first half milieu fell to the home side in the thirty-ninth minute. A great pass from Michael Chopra sprung Joe Ledley in behind the Ranger's defence, his first touch took him inside the box but his shot was brilliantly blocked by the sliding challenge of Kaspars Gorkss.
Half Time: CARDIFF CITY 0 - 0 Queens Park Rangers
Cardiff City Substitution: Miguel Comminges for Kevin McNaughton (46mins)
The second half began in far more optimistic fashion as within the opening seconds Lee Cook had a bright direct run through the heart of the Cardiff midfield and had his ankles clipped by Ledley. Miller struck the set-piece from around twenty-five yards out and only succeeded in forcing the wall into doing their job, one which they did admirably.
With little being created through general means both sides spent the next ten minutes or so trading audacious long range efforts with mixed results. Chopra had a go with one that dipped awkwardly in front of Cerny from the left while McCormack also blazed over from that side of the box after gliding past two defenders. Matthew Connolly stepped up in repost for our visitors only to see his shot sail over like a sweetly struck rugby conversion while Kennedy rounded off the festivities with a high, wide and ugly effort from just off the left touchline.
Queens Park Rangers Substitution: Matteo Alberti for Liam Miller (53mins)
The hour mark brought about a chance for City as Paul Parry won a flick on which found Chopra down the right channel. He raced onto the ball on the right hand corner of the box and with Damion Stewart steaming across to close him down he struck his shot early by blazed over.
Cardiff looked desperate to push on a snatch a goal and with the game opening up chances began to arrive at both ends. A great rampaging run by Damien Delaney and a neat one-two with Heidar Helguson put the full back through on goal only for Roger Johnson to rescue the situation by getting across at the last second.
That had easily been the visitor's best chance to date and Cardiff's was quick to follow; a Burke cross deflected into the path of Chopra who otherwise would have been offside by a country mile, but with the goal at his mercy his scuffed his shot horribly wide across the six yard box. That would prove to be his last contribution as seconds later he hobbled off to be replaced by Peter Whittingham.
Cardiff City Substitution: Peter Whittingham for Michael Chopra (65mins)
Cardiff City Substitution: Quincy Owusu-Abeyie for Chris Burke (73mins)
Our visitors were struggling to really penetrate the Cardiff defence but in the seventy-sixth minute they were nearly handed a scoring chance by our misdoings. A poor back-pass from Kennedy needlessly put Konstantopoulos under pressure and meant he directed an equally poor clearance straight to Routledge twenty yards out on the right but luckily he flashed his shot wide.
In the last ten minutes Rangers created two genuinely great chances to claim all three points. Firstly Lee Cook led a break-away down the left and swung a cross over to Helguson at the back post who miss-hit his volley into the ground and wide not unlike Emanuel Adebayor's miss for Arsenal here a month or so before. The second chance also fell to Helguson and again it opened up down the left. This time it was Mikele Leigertwood who got forward well and hit his Icelandic striker at the near post who thankfully side-footed wide under Roger Johnson's challenge.
The second chance has come directly from a decent looking penalty claim by the Bluebirds. Whittingham fed McCormack at the edge of the area who himself found Parry just inside with the former going down over a trailing leg as he turned on goal. The referee disagreed much to Parry's disbelief while Rangers launched their attack.
Queens Park Rangers Substitution: Dexter Blackstock for Gavin Mahon (89mins)
Queens Park Rangers Substitution: Samuel Di Carmini for Heidar Helguson (90+1mins)
With time almost expired Cardiff were up to their old tricks again and allowed their visitors one final chance as Routledge finally shook free of Kennedy's shackles and flashed a vicious ball across the face of the goal which incredibly avoided taking a match winning touch off anyone.
Full Time: CARDIFF CITY 0 - 0 Queens Park Rangers
Cardiff City: Konstantopoulos, McNaughton (Comminges 46mins), R. Johnson, Purse, Kennedy, Burke (Owusu-Abeyie 73mins), Rae, Ledley, Parry, McCormack, Chopra (Whittingham 65mins).
Subs not used: Scimeca, E. Johnson.
Queens Park Rangers: Cerny, Delaney, Gorkss, Stewart, Connolly, Mahon (Blackstock 89mins), Miller (Alberti 53mins), Leigertwood, Cook, Routledge, (Helguson (Di Carmini 90+1mins).
Subs not used: Hall, Lopez.
Referee: R. East
Attendance: 17,340
Extended highlights from this game will be on World at 21:45 on Thursday
