Wrexham v Cardiff City: Carabao Cup – live | Carabao Cup

Key events

Show key events only

Please turn on JavaScript to use this feature

36 min: Kellyman has a curl towards the bottom left from distance. Itâ€s deflected out for a corner, from which nothing comes. Cardiff come again, Fish throwing a line in from the right for Joel Colwill, whose attempted header from six yards out is deflected out for another corner on the left. This is relentless.

Share

34 min: It doesnâ€t look as though Brentford are going to grow complacent, as per Kári Tulinius (16 min). Theyâ€ve scored a third at Grimsby, through Reiss Nelson on 43 minutes. The Bees have scored three this season against Manchester United, Liverpool, and now the giant-killing Mariners. Is there no stopping them?

Share

32 min: Wintle drifts in from the Cardiff left and looks for the bottom right with a speculative curler. Always wide.

Share

31 min: Wrexham need something. Anything. Longman cuts in from the left, finds a rare pocket of space near the Cardiff box, and has a dig from distance. High and wide, but small acorns and all that.

Share

29 min: So yes, Cardiff are dominant. But itâ€s not all good news for their coach Brian Barry-Murphy, as John Brennan would like to explain: “As an Irishman it is obligatory to point out that Brian Barry-Murphyâ€s father is Jimmy Barry-Murphy who won both hurling and (gaelic) football All-Irelands with Cork as well as managing the hurlers to the All-Ireland title in 1999. While Brian had a decent career as a player and is building a good reputation as a manager, unless he wins the Premier League or manages Ireland to the World Cup, he is always likely to be overshadowed by his father.â€

Share

27 min: Joel Colwill skins Longman with indecent ease down the right, and is about to enter the box when heâ€s brazenly shoved in the back by the victim of his skill. Longman has the chutzpah to mime the irritated get-up gesture, and no free kick is awarded, but thatâ€s an absurd non-decision. It should be a free kick in a very dangerous position. Cardiff are completely, totally, utterly on top.

Share

26 min: Cardiff could, arguably should, already be out of sight. Theyâ€ve been as impressive as Wrexham have been all over the shop.

Share

24 min: Rubin Colwill hovers around 25 yards from the Wrexham goal and is clumsily tripped by a panicking Rathbone. A free kick just to the right of the D. Colwill takes it himself … and batters the right-hand junction of bar and post with a vicious dipper. Had that been a few centimetres lower, it was nestling in the top corner. Burton wasnâ€t getting anywhere near it.

Rubin Colwill hits the woodwork! Photograph: Paul Currie/ShutterstockShare

Updated at 16.30 EDT

22 min: A cross comes into the Cardiff box from Broadhead on the left. Smith eyebrows a weak header wide right. Probably the nearest Wrexham have come to troubling Trott in the Cardiff goal, because we canâ€t count Broadheadâ€s earlier snatch-sliced effort from eight yards, we just canâ€t.

Share

20 min: The corner leads to nothing, and Wrexham have the opportunity for a much-needed breather. A few boos from the home fans, who arenâ€t 100 percent happy with their teamâ€s placid-casual approach so far.

Share

19 min: One corner leads to another, and Wrexham canâ€t get out. Cardiff are pulling them all over the shop, probing this way and that. Ashford advances down the left and from a tight angle hammers a rising shot towards the top left. Itâ€s heading in, and Burton is forced to fingertip onto the junction of post and bar and out for yet another corner.

Share

18 min: Salech tries to turn provider, slipping a pass down the inside-right channel for the busy Kelleyman, who opens his body and attempts to steer across the keeper. Burton stands strong to parry out for a corner.

Share

16 min: Another goal elsewhere to report. Brentford are now two up at Grimsby, Keane Lewis-Potter scoring their second after 26 minutes. Kári Tulinius has been watching it: “Grimsby have been much the better side so far, but they lost the ball playing out from the back, allowed Matthias Jensen the time to measure his aim and he rifled the ball into the corner. Then they let Reiss Nelson run up through the penalty box and cross to Lewis-Potter who had a free header at goal. The Mariners will hope Brentford grow complacent.â€

Share

14 min: Cardiff deserve their lead, having already enjoyed 67 percent of possession and taken six attempts at goal. And yet Broadhead will surely be thinking about the chance he snatched at just before the opener. Thatâ€s quietened the Racecourse a little bit.

Share

GOAL! Wrexham 0-1 Cardiff City (Salech 12)

… and how Cardiff make Broadhead pay for his miss! They snaffle possession up the other end. Kellyman enters the box and threads a diagonal shot towards the bottom left. Burton saves, but can only parry to the left-hand corner of the six-yard box, and Salech is on point to whip the loose ball home.

Yousef Salech celebrates after opening the scoring for the visitors. Photograph: Peter Byrne/PAYousef Salech poaches the opener! Photograph: Robbie Jay Barratt/AMA/Getty ImagesShare

Updated at 16.31 EDT

11 min: Broadhead is sent scampering into space down the left. He cuts back for Oâ€Brien, who slices his shot … and releases Broadhead into space in the box! Broadhead takes a panicked slash at the ball and sends his shot way wide left. He should have worked the keeper.

Share

11 min: Rubin Colwill spins into space down the middle of the park and feeds Kellyman into the Wrexham box down the right. Kellyman canâ€t get a shot away, but the loose ball falls back to Rubin Colwill, who shoots from the edge of the D. Blocked. Coady the home hero there.

Share

10 min: Another goal to report elsewhere. Grimsby, the first-ever fourth-tier conquerors of Manchester United in a cup competition, have fallen behind against Brentford to Mathias Jensenâ€s 22nd-minute effort.

Share

8 min: Wrexham finally get their foot on the ball, Longman and Oâ€Brien combining well down the left to win a throw in deep territory. But they opt against flinging into the mixer, in the currently trendy Arsenal-Brentford style, and soon enough the ballâ€s back at the feet of Burton in their goal.

Share

6 min: Kpakio dribbles down the right touchline but runs out of room and pitch. Cardiff come again, Bagan swinging in from the left, but the cross is too strong. Wrexham have hardly touched the ball.

Share

4 min: Cardiff are taking the game to their hosts in these early exchanges. Theyâ€re pressing them back into the final third, albeit yet to find a defence-splitting pass.

Share

2 min: Cardiff are on the front foot immediately. Kellyman drifts in from the right and hits a cross-cum-shot that clacks into Dobson. Thereâ€s a not-particularly- throaty appeal for a penalty, but thereâ€s no handball, and we play on.

Share

1 min: Thereâ€s already a shock on the cards. Cauley Woodrow has given Wycombe of League One an early lead over Premier League Fulham with a fourth-minute goal.

Share

Wrexham get the ball rolling. Y Cae Ras is bouncing!

Share

The teams are out! Wrexham in red, Cardiff in blue, a wonderful atmosphere at an expectant Racecourse. Not that everyoneâ€s in a good mood right now. “Great to see Welsh club football live on terrestrial TV but why is Wrecsam yn erbyn Caerdydd being broadcast in a foreign language?†wonders Alun Pugh, mistaking this MBM for the complaints department of HTV Cymru. Weâ€ll be off in a minute!

… and now, Three Little Words with Ray Alan. All the up-to-date TV references tonight.Share

Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson – who led fourth-tier Bradford City to the final of this competition in 2013 – talks to ITV. “Itâ€s a great night for us … and for Cardiff as well … we havenâ€t met for 20-plus years … the chance to progress to the quarter-finals of one of the major cups … thereâ€s a lot at stake tonight … weâ€ve got good options at the top of the pitch … itâ€s important to manage the squad … freshness … a strong bench to come on if its needed … Iâ€ve always loved cup football … the memories that can be created … supporters remember the great cup nights … our aim is to make one of those tonight.â€

Share

Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy speaks to ITV. “Itâ€s a really exciting night for us all … you could sense the atmosphere on our coach coming to the game … as exciting for the players as it is for the supporters … we feel well prepared … we are going to try to go through … win the game and progress … most of the players and myself have never been near the last eight of this competition so thatâ€s a huge incentive … we want to play the way weâ€ve been playing this season … have a real go and see if weâ€re good enough … weâ€re a very young team … we try to attack … with that comes a risk that we can concede goals but more often than not our players have shown incredible growth and maturity and met every challenge weâ€ve faced … weâ€re very confident we can play well.â€

Share

There are two other League Cup fixtures being played tonight.

Both kick off at 7.45pm GMT. No cast-iron guarantees, but Iâ€ll try to keep you in the loop about those. A reminder that thereâ€s no extra time in this competition until the semi-final stage, so if the scores are level after the end of the game, itâ€ll be straight to penalties.

Share

Will Unwin is our man at the Racecourse Ground tonight. Heâ€s already set the scene thus …

… and now he adds another splash of colour with this marvellous on-the-scene BREAKING FIASCO.

An overzealous steward did not allow the man from the Football League carrying the Carabao Cup into the stadium because he did not have the correct accreditation. He did, however, have a massive trophy with him.

Share

Both teams ring the changes after their weekend exertions in the league. Wrexham retain just four starters from their 1-1 draw at Middlesbrough: Max Cleworth, Ryan Longman, George Thomason and George Dobson. Conor Coady returns to the defence.

Cardiff keep six of the lads who started their 1-0 defeat at Bolton. Nathan Trott, Will Fish, Joel Bagan, Rubin Colwill, Omari Kellyman and Yousef Salech hold onto their places. Their captain Calum Chambers is back.

Twelve changes between them, with a place in the quarter-finals of the League Cup up for grabs. Itâ€s live on terrestrial television as well. Arguably the biggest one-for-the-cognoscenti transmission in a prime-time ITV slot since this …

… which to be fair was absolutely magnificent, but the point stands.

Share

Updated at 15.29 EDT

The teams

Wrexham: Burton, Cleworth, Coady, Thomason, Barnett, Dobson, Rathbone, Oâ€Brien, Longman, Broadhead, Smith.
Subs: Okonkwo, Hyam, Scarr, McClean, Sheaf, Matty James, Windass, Alexander Moore, Hardie.

Cardiff City: Trott, Kpakio, Chambers, Fish, Bagan, Joel Colwill, Wintle, Rubin Colwill, Kellyman, Ashford, Salech.
Subs: Turner, Ng, Osho, Lawlor, Mafico, Robertson, Turnbull, Nyakuhwa, Davies.

Referee: Gavin Ward (Surrey).

Share

Preamble

Cardiff City reached the final of this competition just 13 years ago. They came mighty close to winning their first major trophy since 1927 as well, their opponents Liverpool missing their first two penalties of a shootout, but it wasnâ€t to be for the Bluebirds. Still, it could have been worse: while Cardiff were battling on the big stage for glamorous bits of silverware, that same season, 2011-12, saw Wrexham fail to extricate themselves from the Conference National for the fourth season in a row.

How times change. Wrexham required another 11 seasons, and a large sprinkle of Hollywood stardust, to regain their Football League status, but having done so, look at them now. Theyâ€re currently mid-table in the Championship, ten places and one division above Cardiff, who got themselves relegated last season while Wrexham were heading the other way. So itâ€s a big status switcheroo, and tonight itâ€s the Dragons who get the bookies†nod over their Welsh rivals. Times change all right.

Having said all that, thereâ€s unlikely to be too much in it. Neither team are in the greatest form right now. Wrexham have only lost one of their last six matches, but theyâ€ve only won one too; Cardiff, after a blistering start to their promotion campaign, have lost three of their last five. And yet the feelgood vibes are still strong at both clubs. Throw in the fact these two havenâ€t met since a Welsh Cup semi-final in 2004 and last met in the league in March 2002 – Wrexham won the cup game, Cardiff the one in the league – and this is poised beautifully. Kick-off is at 8pm GMT. Itâ€s on!

Share

Source link