Cardiff City 0 - West Bromwich Albion 1

Date:	Tuesday 28th November 2023
Competition:	Sky Bet Championship
Cardiff: 4.9	(4-2-3-1) Rúnarsson, Romeo (Panzo, 56), Goutas, McGuinness, Ng, Siopis, Ralls (Wintle, 56), Bowler, Robinson (Colwill, 65), Tanner (Etete, 75), Méïté (Ugbo, 56) Unused subs: Alnwick, Adams, Sawyers, Rinomhota
WBA: 7.1	(4-2-3-1) Palmer 7.5, Furlong 6.5, Bartley 6.4, Kipré 7.3, Townsend 7.1, Yokuslu 7.2 (Molumby, 74 6.3), Mowatt 7.4, Wallace 5.4 (Thomas-Asante, 21 6.3), Diangana 5.9 (Fellows, 65 7.2), Sarmiento 7.0 (Phillips, 65 6.0), Swift 5.4 (Maja, 74 5.7) Unused subs: Griffiths, Ajayi, Chalobah, Ávila Gordón Manager: Carlos Corberán 7.4
Scorers:	Sarmiento (50)
Referee:	Josh Smith 7.0
Attendance:	18,248 Home Fans 4.2 Away Fans 8.2

Brendan Clegg:

Solid away win that sets us up nicely for the big early game on Saturday.

In the Championship it’s these midweek away nights where the top end teams are able to grind out results and this was in that category.

The changes were understandable if a bit surprising with BTA and Phillips rested for Sarmiento and Swift.

I thought a combination of Wallace being absolutely wiped out in the opening minute and clearly struggling, the rustiness of the introduced pair and the cold night/cold feet all played a part in us not really being able to get passes going or hold the ball once we got it forward. We lost it cheaply and Cardiff were no better so it was scrappy.

The early change with Wallace coming off for BTA didn’t change much.

Out best moment was probably a lightning break similar to our second goal against Ipswich but with Sarmiento hitting the post.

Cardiff did breach us once though, running straight through the middle and through Kipre too easily but Palmer was out rapidly to save us.

0-0 at HT was fair and we needed the break to regroup.

2nd half so no changes but Townsend bombed up straight away and kept doing it as we looked to get higher.

Out of the blue Sarmiento picked the ball up wide, jinked and then curled a ball into the far corner. It looked like a cross to me but it was still a great goal.

I thought that settled us and other than a few spells of pressure near the end, we were happy to concede possession but then threaten.

We probably should’ve scored a couple more via BTA missing a couple of headers and both Molumby and Fellows making the wrong choices after both doing well just prior.

The subs were all solid again. It wasn’t vintage but it was enough. Looking forward to the weekend!

Palmer - 7 So reliable at the moment in all aspects
Furlong - 7 Solid and some great passes to Fellows late on
Barts - 7 Took no chances and called the shots
Kipre - 7 Nearly punished for one flimsy moment
Okay - 7 Held the centre
Mowatt - 7 Slow start but once he got on the ball he controlled the game for us
Grady - 6 Some good moments but didn’t get it much in the right areas
Swift - 4 Don’t think he kept the ball once first half, and really should’ve demanded that free kick off BTA
Sarmiento - 6 Great goal and enthusiasm but stuff to work in too
Wallace - 5 Hefty whack, hope he’s okay

BTA - 6 Usual energy but had some big chances
Phillips - 6 Had an impact
Fellows - 7 Really bright. A proper outlet
Molumby - 6 Looked hungry and aggressive
Maja - 6 Some very nice touches