Gutted, but still 2nd : City 0-1 Jacks

I had a niggling feeling about this one. We've been playing well, but with Bothroyd missing courtesy of the totting up system, I knew it would be difficult. Manager Dave Jones said we wouldn't miss him, but frankly that's rubbish. We've built a team on him, and there's no viable replacement.

Today's supposed replacement for the big man was Andy Keogh. He works hard enough but he's not half the target man, can't hold the ball up so well, isn't as skillful and hasn't got Bothroyd's pace or height. Apart from that he's an identical match.

City weren't on the ball today. To be gracious you'd say Swansea deserved it. I'm not. With few exceptions, the Bluebirds were no where near their best. Heaton made a few good saves, Naylor still looks dodgy, Gyepes gives me the jitters. Drinkwater back in after a long layoff looked rusty and couldn't control the ball. Olifanjana won the ball in the middle as usual but kept giving it away. Whittingham, Hudson and McNaughton (until subbed) had decent enough games, and Chopra & Bellamy ran around as usual but didn't get service.

The most odd thing was the way City set up. Basically until Burke came on for Keogh in the 58th minute we played with no right sided midfielder. Absolutely bizarre. The crowd were calling for Burke long before Jones made the change, and frankly it was 58 minutes too late. It almost reminded me of a game at Ninian Park a few years ago in a match when the crowd demanded of Lennie Lawrence (and got) Andy Legg to come of the subs bench .

Drinkwater lasted until the 82nd minute before Koumas replaced him, but by then we were 1-0 down. I'd have played McPhail instead of Drinkwater as he'd been out so long for such a big match, or even Koumas, but Jones knows best (allegedly).

I don't dislike Jones (I know many don't - you reading this Stabs?), but sometimes he's so unmoving and rigid it's painful.

The Jack's goal, through Emmes was inevitable. They dominated possession in the second period and worked Heston on a number of occasions. We worked their keeper once as I can recall, not long before they scored when Bellamy fired straight at De Vries in a one on one.

A word on the ref Mr Jones. I've ranted about refs for the last two matches. Mr Jones was't brilliant, but he was better than we've seen recently, and for such a tough derby match I think he did OK. Not good.....OK

It was so disappointing for the 26,000 plus crowd (of which 1,820 were Jacks - kudos), that City didn't tun up. However, theyr'e still in 2nd spot, and they have a quick chance to put it right with a visit to Reading on Wednesday. Let's hope they sort it out before then and get their heads back on.

Bluebirds!