Crystal Palace 1-0 Cardiff City – Recap & Match Stats – Carling Cup – 10 January 2012
Crystal Palace defeated Cardiff City 1-0 in the English Carling Cup semifinals 1st leg on Tuesday, January 10, 2012.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Cardiff City Recap
Crystal Palace won the first leg of the semifinals over fellow Championship side Cardiff City.
The lone goal would come just before the break as Palace’s Anthony Gardner scored on a header. The goal happened when Cardiff goalkeeper Tom Heaton came off his line and failed to punch the a free kick out of the box. Palace’s Kagisho Dikgacoi would then find Gardner for the goal.
There was some controversy in the second half as Cardiff’s Kenny Miller appeared to score an equalizer. It was a during a corner kick and the referee ended up disallowing the goal and foul against Palace goalkeeper Julian Speroni.
Crystal Palace now can advance to the Wembley final with a draw in the second leg. They have never reached the final of the Carling Cup (aka Football League Cup) and have been in the Championship since 2005. Cardiff have also never done been to a Carling Cup final and are currently in third place in the Championship.
The two sides will meet again in two weeks with the winner facing either Manchester City or Liverpool in the final. Both teams will return to league play on the weekend.
Crystal Palace 1-0 Cardiff City Match Stats
Goals
| Crystal Palace | Cardiff City |
|---|---|
| Anthony Gardner (43′) |
Team Stats
Crystal Palace Cardiff City
| 8(3) | Shots (on Goal) | 13(4) |
| 6 | Fouls | 12 |
| 2 | Corner Kicks | 11 |
| 3 | Offsides | 0 |
| 44% | Time of Possession | 56% |
| 0 | Yellow Cards | 1 |
| 0 | Red Cards | 0 |
| 6 | Saves | 3 |
