10/01/2012 The League Cup Show

Evening. We are down to the final four in the Carling Cup. Tomorrow,

of course, Manchester City host Liverpool in our life game on the

BBC. Tonight, it's all about the first leg of the semi-final tie

between Crystal Palace and Cardiff City. Leroy Is with me this evening

to analyse the game. Not many people fancied Crystal Palace when

they rocked up at Old Trafford for a quarter final with Manchester

United. COMMENTATOR: Brilliant goal!

screamer from Darren Ambrose took the game into extra-time before

Cardiff, had a home date with Blackburn Rovers, Kenny Miller sent

Yes, Cardiff City into the semi- finals of the League Cup for the

first first time since 1966. Palace has made it through four times.

Neither team has never made it through to the final. That will

change this season. The Championship will be represented in

the final on the 26th February. The semi-finals are two legs. Watching

the first instault stallment for us this evening were Mark Bright and

Simon Brotherton. COMMENTATOR: Two clubs hoping to

reach the final for the very first time. For Crystal Palace Wembley is

the new theatre of their dreams after wing at Old Trafford in the

last round. Cardiff City are playing in the semi-final for the

playing in the semi-final for the first time in 46 years. One thing

is quaranteed. We will have a finalist from the Championship for

the first time in just over a decade. Crystal Palace's

preparations have been hampered by a virus affecting half a dozen

members of the squad. Only Manchester United in the last round.

He starts this evening on the left hand side. Cardiff's manager, Malky

Mackay, made ten changes for Saturday's FA Cup tie. The majority

of his players are well rested. Tom Heaton keeps his place in goal.

Scotland international, Kenny us under way in this Carling Cup

semi-final first leg. Cardiff City have a good recent record here at

Selhurst Park winning here on three of their last five visits. Ken

Livingstone Palace in recent years at home have been a tough nut to

crack. Cardiff City in the white on the attack early on. Miller

dispossessed by the Jonathan Parr. Miller scored one of the goals in

the quarter final win over Blackburn Rovers. Cardiff City fans

enjoying themselves. For a moment there we wondered whether it was

alight. A semi-final. Here's McNaughton back in the team after

injury. Promising run. Very nearly fed through to Joe mason. Been

pulled up just outside the penalty area. Free-kick here. Dikgacoi,

good play from McNaughton, coming in from the right hand side, the

right back, strong. He impeded him. He impeded Mike Dean, right on-the-

spot. Whittingham for Cardiff. I think he anticipated the wall

jumping. They kept their feet on the ground. Crystal Palace have

been looking for scraps so far in the game. They are not keeping the

ball. Miller. Cardiff looking dangerous. Whittingham in the

penalty area. This is Ralls. Speroni, at the second attempt

hangs on. Darren Ambrose giving away the ball. Good delivery in the

box. It isn't cleared. It take as deflection as well. Can Crystal

Palace create something here? They have a corner kick. Good play by

first corner of the evening. Oh, that was an opportunity! Again

Murray with the heading chance. Great delivery from Darren Ambrose.

Good movement at the far post. Murray comes close, he goes around

the back, then the front. Good opportunity. He is in the middle of

the screen. Gets in front of his man. Good opportunity. He should

have at least, at least, test the keeper. Took a deflection. It was

Mark Hudson with the header. It'll over the top from Hudson. As I said

before, Hudson and Turner, good leap. Really, really, he stands up

ball now in the game. Murray with a little lay off. It could be a

chance. Good save. A step over here from Murray. Held up well. Goes

with the sidefoot instead of the ahead of him. Mason waits in the

Kenny Miller goes for goal. Worth a chance. He was the leading

goalscorer, Kenny Miller. There is not enough pressure on the ball. He

has a chance to look up. He knows exactly what he's trying to do. A

another corner. Everyone know what is they are doing. They pass that

ball well. Lots of movement in midfield. This is McNaughton trying

to drill the ball in. It's fallen kindly here for Miller. Well,

outplaced by a sea of home shirts. Two on one. Ball into the danger

area, deflected. Touch, moves the ball. It just didn't open up for

him, did it? Mason trying to get away. A stretch for there for

at that? Poor clearance. A shooting opportunity which is really missed

by Ralls. A big occasion, you have to rise to the big occasion.

Tonight, I would have to say that Cardiff City have rose a lot Bert

than Crystal Palace. Better shape, more composure. Handball there. I

think that is what has been given by Mike Dean. Home crowd doing

going to be in. It's Antony Gardner. Gardner was only two yards out. He

could hardly miss. Crystal Palace ahead in this semi-final.

everyone is patting down Ambrose, his delivery was great. There was a

lot of bodies there. He couldn't get clearance on it. Great delivery

am he comes. He is nowhere near. McCarthy goes up for the initial

one. Jedinak, then Gardner a simple tap. You will not get a better

chance, or an easier chance in a semi fine l Darren Ambrose scored

the goal of the night in the quarter final. Has he set up the

goal of the night in this semi- final leg? It's a fantastic

atmosphere. We talked about having so much pocession and putting the

home team under pressure and not capitalising on that earlier. That

sh what Malky Mackay will have said going into half-time. Have you to

Cardiff problems in this second- half. Zaha again. Parr with him on

well, tricks he is willing to show. Fantastic play. Very nearly finding

Chris Martin at the post. Much better. Must have got encouragement

down. He takes his eye off the Bala little bit. Good position here, he

pulls off-the-shoulder. This is Zaha. He's coming into the game

more, you sense, at the start of this second period. A cracking

cross. Shot in. It very nearly fell for Martin. Ambrose on the far side.

It was. As you said good play from Zaha. Lovely cross. Just touched

over. Darren just steps back. Then Martin just... As he's coming on to

it, more anticipation. He wants the ball at his feet. He is asking for

it. It was moving quickly, to be Excellent chance for Parr to cross.

Oh, shouts of handball there, from the home crowd, inside the penalty

area by Cowie. I wouldn't mind a little look again at that in a

moment or two. Free-kick, Cardiff City for the foul by Zaha. Yeah,

there is the poor cross. The crowd handball inside the penalty there.

Nothing given. Speroni was scrambling to get to that. They are

claim dg was -- it was a handball by Joe Mason in the penalty area.

Play to the whistle. That is a foot whistle went before the ball was

headed into the back of the net by Miller. Everybody that time went

right around Speroni on the line. Pushing and pullinging. What did he

give it for? The hands on Speroni. Great header from Miller. Mason is

impeding. That's what it's given that can turn the game. Pretty tame.

Not really a test of Speroni. A real party atmosphere inside

Apology for the loss of subtitles for 52 seconds

That's the first sniff Cardiff have That has just gone for a corner.

Corner or not, Gunnarsson there. Nearly 87 minutes played.

easy, then Wilfred. Miller just tries to improvise and

goal for Cardiff right at the end of the game. We are in the last

Gardner stepped out of the way. Four minutes of added time. Palace

purred. Nerve-shredding moments for Palace. Jedinak wallops the ball

clear. Crystal Palace need to hol on to

possession here. The referee blows the final whistle and Anthony

Gardner's goal, his first of the season, separates the two sides and

means that Crystal Palace will take a slender 1-0 lead to South Wales

in a couple of weeks' time for the second leg of this Carling Cup

semifinal. It was a close game. We knew it would be a close game. We

certainly thought it would be, and so it proved to be. It is advantage

A win and a clean sheet. You must be reasonably happy tonight?

very pleased with the performance. A lot of questions were getting

asked of us from Cardiff, because they're a good team. I felt on

tonight's performance we deserved that 1-0 victory that we've got.

thought we gave a really good account of ourselves tonight.

Started really well and peppered the goal. I think at times we led a

charmed life, with the ball that was disallowed. The only reason I

can think of is the referee thought he's made a mistake and give an

corner. None of our players went anywhere near the goalkeeper, which

he suggested the foul was on Joe Mason. Anyone who will see the

pictures tonight will tell you the referee has made a howler over that

one. And a goal from Anthony Gardner. He is defensively

fantastic, and in attack he is an asset. A good kick with Ambrose.

Tonight was second to none. Cardiff asked us a lot of questions. They

asked us about our character, with the virus, and the way they played.

We stood up and were counted. Every individual man was counted tonight

and it got us the win. I'm proud of my team and it is half-time and we

are 1-0 down. It is all to play for at Cardiff City Stadium. It was a

great atmosphere at Selhurst Park. The crowd saw a tisc cup tie?

Cardiff started off really well and you thought Palace were showing

signs of having the flu symptoms but they came back into the game.

The game ebbed and ploughed. -- flowed. In the second half when

Cardiff had a legitimate goal, we thought at the time it was

disallowed. They thought the referee was evening things up.

don't think the referee can make two wrongs to make a right. But

then I look at this and at Dean's position and he can't even see

where Speroni is. He whistled very quickly. He did. Speroni isn't

complaining about anything. Can I see why he was disappointed with

him on that decision. So you sympathise with him? I don't know

what Dean saw but no-one else saw it. There was a shout for a penalty

in the second half. Did the referee get this one right? I think he did.

I thought it would be very difficult to give, but look at it

from this angle and it looks like it brushes Cowie's arm but from

this angle it hits his thigh. for the only goal, this was an

interesting one. You would have thought the goalkeeper, Tom Heaton,

a plan to come up with everything on the night but it didn't work

thon occasion. This is the third or fourth occasion he came out, but on

this occasion Jedinak got there before him. He could have flicked

it out of play but he keeps it in play and Anthony Gardner, 6 foot 4,

he hit it perfectly. You got the feeling at the start of play today

both managers would have been happy with that end result, going into

the second tie at Cardiff. I think Palace are more happy, getting

their noses in front, in a tight game. They can sit back and use the

pace of Zaha and Ambrose. They'll be happy with that. But it is far

from over. It is finely balanced. Both sides could easily go through.

I think the first 20 minutes, the second tight will be important.

Both these young up and coming managers have done tremendous jobs

at their clubs. Both Scotsmen as well, both understated but always

in control. They know what they want from their teams and their

teams have delivered this year. Malky Mackay, and Dougie took over

just over a year ago. Well done to both of them. I have to put you on

the spot. Who is your money on come the second time? It's a tough one

but Cardiff at home. Tomorrow night the second semifinal gets under way.

It brings together two teams who It is set up nicely for the third

meeting between Manchester City and Liverpool tomorrow evening. The

bookies have City down as favourite to go through on this one. Do you

agree with them on this? certainly do. They've been a

revelation this year. A breath of fresh air. I've enjoyed watching

them perform. Interestingly, for all the talent on show with both

these teams, there is going to be key players missing. Vincent

Kompany has a four-match ban. Suarez is missing for Liverpool.

These are key absentees. Manchester losted arguably their best player

with Yaya Toure. Kolo also not there. Savage can come in. I don't

think Liverpool can cope as well with the loss of Suarez. He scored

a lot of their goals. He's gone off the boil recently but Manchester

can cope with the losses better. increases the onus on Andy Carroll

and Craig Bellamy. He hasn't been used enough. Are you surprised by

that? He's been outstanding. Andy Carroll hasn't played enough

football. He's not found his feet for me. It is more important for

Liverpool to win titles again. gayry and the team for that at

Etihad for Manchester versus Liverpool at 7.30pm.

Sheffield United 4 and Yeovil 0. Let's look at the goals. It was

Gary Johnson's first game in charge Gary Johnson's first game in charge

of Yeovil. It was always going to be a tough ask. Richard Creswell

got the hosts off to a great flyer. It hardly touched the surface. Lee

Williamson, I've seen him do this on many occasions at Rotherham and

Watford. He can pass the ball as well. Sheffield Wednesday on a

great run of form. They are back on track now. For Gary Johnson it is

maybe a bigger job than he in nine at Hereford. They won

thanks to Lee Brown. That was awful keeping. Rovers need a bit of luck.

They are in the doldrums. Delroy is only 31 but Rovers got

the win. This was a sending off. A straight red card for a high

challenge against elyot Richards. McLeish came up with a winner for

Rovers. This is a good job to get into. It

is an ambitious job, with fanatical support. Managerless Bristol Rovers

move up two places. Hereford stay in 21st place. That's

all from us tonight. Manchester City versus Liverpool live on BBC