A week is a long time in football

From 8th to 13th April was a truly remarkable week for Cardiff City. Easter weekend is a crucial period if it falls during this time of the season. Much like the Christmas period can shake up a league, the Easter weekend in the lower leagues can provide a final quick sequence of results to redefine the league before the final straight sprint to the finish in the league. As such it’s always necessary to pick up a decent haul of points, though for a side to be picking up max points and a whole load of momentum is rare. You just have to look at how the other teams at the top end of the Championship fared to see what I mean.

From looking over our shoulder a touch after a 3-0 loss to Sheffield Utd, City have launched on a good run of form that has resulted in us all but guaranteed a playoff place and eyeing up a shot at automatic promotion. Obviously our brilliant results (4-1 home, 2-0 away, 3-1 home) have helped, but games going our way elsewhere and Reading’s spectacular implosion as a football team have all contributed. A further bright spark is the brilliant form of Ross McCormack, and the growing stature of Jay Bothroyd as a genuinely good leader of the line who can bring strikers and midfielders into plays.

This makes a marked difference from the previous few seasons, where City have been in or abouts the mix for the playoffs only to succumb to a Charlton-esque late-season slump. Inevitably this has seen us finish comfortably mid-table but way out from the playoffs. This season promises to be very different...