This was a crazy night at CCS. City, in control of the game at 2-0 after two good goals from Gyepes and Parkin, almost threw the match away on a terrible mistake from on the night captain Paul Quinn, who gifted the ball to Rhodes who shot low past Heaton to pull Huddersfield back into the match.
A second soft goal after City failed to clear made it 2-2 and with their tails up, Huddersfield went ahead through Rhodes again, with just minutes remaining (although he looked offside to everyone except the officials and Huddersfield fans and staff).
Amazingly, Cowie levelled it in the last minute of normal time to take the tie into extra time.
At the 90 minute whistle it was clear to see the devastation on the lower league side, as they thought they'd won it, and from that point there was only going to be one winner.
Conway added a second in the first period of ET, before Cowie wrapped it up towards the end. By then, Quinn was almost immobile with cramp, Gestede was running on empty, and everyone looked shattered, and understandably so, perhaps with the exception of Cowie who looks fitter than a butcher's dog.
City will be grateful to be through (unlike those Premiership teams who want to be out of the competition - yes Mr Warnock that's you). They should have breezed this, and were cruising at 2-0 before Quinn's aberration. There are still too many lapses in defence for me, but there are some real bright spots.
Young Joe Ralls looks an amazing prospect with his vision and skill. 1st XI regulars Cowie & Conway were superb, Keinan had a decent game as did Blake for the most part and Gestede looked good. Parkin was great for 30 minutes, and took his goal well, but I do fear for his long term prospects at City.
Malky replaced Parkin from Miller on 64 minutes and Ralls for Whittingham on 81 minutes and when the score was 2-2, presumably hoping to wrap up the game, but that was before Huddersfield re-wrote the script. However, it was Whitts composure and guile that eventually saw City through ably assisted by Cowie's never say die attitude.
This was ultimately impressive by City, with a determination to see the game out that sometimes was lacking under Jones and the previous squad. It's not perfect though. We need more consistency in defence, and are leaking too many easy and giveaway goals.
Still, for the moment, lets revel in a fantastic night with plenty of goals. I wonder how many of the "fans" who left when Huddersfield scored their 3rd on 88 mins missed a City win and another to goals? It's never over until the fat lady sings.....
Blooobirds!
No comments:
Post a Comment