Stoke City vs Cardiff City. Sky Bet Championship.
Bet365 StadiumAttendance21,413.
Report and highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Stoke City and Cardiff City at the bet365 Stadium as goals from Rubin Colwill, Mark Harris and Kieffer Moore sealed a stunning comeback for the Bluebirds.
Saturday 30 October 2021 18:13, UK
Cardiff salvaged a point in dramatic fashion against Stoke in a 3-3 thriller at the bet365 stadium.
Steve Morison, Cardiff's caretaker boss, found his side 3-0 down in his first game in charge but goals from Rubin Colwill, Mark Harris and Kieffer Moore rescued a point.
The three Cardiff goals came in theatrical style as they turned it around in the space of five minutes in the second half.
Colwill's strike from distance snuck underneath Joe Bursik - who should have done better - to kickstart the comeback.
Cardiff then capitalised on a poor pass from Josh Tymon which was intercepted by Moore. Moore then squared it for Harris to neatly finish and make it 3-2.
After failing to take advantage of a glorious opportunity in the first half, Moore made it count when it mattered most. Ryan Giles found space down the left flank and played in a low-driven cross along the face of the goal to find Moore at the back post and he slotted comfortably into an empty net.
Jacob Brown's near-post header had given Stoke the lead inside the opening 10 minutes. Cardiff failed to pressure Ben Wilmot who took his time and clipped a ball into the 18-yard box for Brown to powerfully head past Alex Smithies.
Steven Fletcher then doubled Stoke's lead in the 16th minute after his strike from distance deflected off Mark McGuinness to wrong-foot Smithies who dived to the opposite side of the goal.
Initially, it was an excellent ball from Harry Souttar to pick out Brown behind Cardiff's back three. Brown turned, laid it off to Fletcher who then let rip.
Exactly 33 seconds into the second half Stoke scored another to make it 3-0 and Fletcher got his second of the game.
Brown was involved once again as he picked out the striker who elegantly chipped over Smithies. Jordan Thompson won the ball for the Potters and they took advantage.
While Stoke boss Michael O'Neill will be devastated his side gave up a 3-0 lead, it's a promising sign that Fletcher finally put an end to his goal drought and scored his first goals of the season. Especially with Nick Powell out for six to eight weeks.
The result means Cardiff have taken their first point since September as they put an end to their eight-game losing streak. For the Potters, their poor run of form continues as they are now five without a win.
Stoke's Michael O'Neill: "We're extremely disappointed by what happened and we have to be ready to play again on Wednesday night. We had a shambolic five or 10 minutes in the game. We conceded a poor first goal, a poor second goal and then the game unravels a little bit and we should have done better. We were 3-0 up, comfortable and we then found ourselves level and it's incredibly frustrating from that point of view.
"I thought that there was a little period prior to them scoring where we stopped doing a lot of the good things we had done, which was to play with purpose, play forward and combine by moving the ball fast and when we do that we look a good team. Then we started to play a bit more individual, people taking extra touches when they don't need it and we turn the ball over. When you give the opposition the first two goals as we did, you're always liable to concede again."
Cardiff's caretaker manager Steve Morison: "Definitely not easy but exciting and fun - 3-0 down, it's a different game but the lads were fantastic for that period, and we could have won it.
"It's pleasing to stop the run of results. We had some really good chances in the game and in the first half but we didn't take them."
