Cardiff crumble against Newcastle and a rampant Wayne Routledge

Posted Saturday, February 06, 2010 by theguardian.com

Cardiff crumble against Newcastle and a rampant Wayne Routledge
Newcastle United's Andy Carroll celebrates after scoring his team's third and his own second goal against Cardiff City.

Perhaps Cardiff City were simply dazzled into submission by Wayne Routledge's lime green boots but his fancy footwork proved far too clever for the Championship's fourth-placed side last night.

With Dave Jones's team unable to repel the right-winger's advances, Newcastle United extended their unbeaten league run to 15 games while opening up a six-point gap over second-placed West Bromwich Albion at the top of the table.

Routledge's arrival from QPR last month has imbued Newcastle with some much needed pace and precision and he played a significant part in his team taking a three-goal lead within 15 minutes.

"It was the most enjoyable game of the season," said Chris Hughton, Newcastle's manager. "I was delighted with Wayne, he's a great addition for us."

After initially unnerving Cardiff by racing on to an Andy Carroll through- pass and finding himself denied only by Gabor Gyepes's last-ditch intervention, Routledge caused havoc at the resultant corner. Suitably distracted, Cardiff's defence permitted first Fitz Hall and then Kevin Nolan to flick on Danny Guthrie's corner before Andy Carroll applied the final, close range, scoring touch. Then Routledge picked out Carroll with a splendid delivery and, when Carroll's shot struck a post, the rebound was diverted into his own net by Gyepes. Poor Gyepes was destined to endure something of a nightmare evening in an alarmingly unsteady Welsh back four.

Although Cardiff rallied sufficiently for Ross McCormack to volley against the crossbar, Carroll soon scored a second, meeting Danny Simpson's fine right-wing cross, outjumping his marker and heading powerfully beyond a thoroughly bewildered David Marshall.

Jones's side might have pulled a goal back had the substitute Chris Burke not dragged his shot wide after being cued up by the former Newcastle forward Michael Chopra in a menacing move instigated by a defence-bisecting long pass from Stephen McPhail. It was McPhail's comeback game following treatment for cancer.

Granted Steve Harper was forced to tip Chopra's heavily deflected second half shot over the bar but Routledge swiftly stamped out any hopes of a Welsh renaissance, his incisive pass sending the substitute Peter Lovenkrands accelerating in on goal before shooting Newcastle's fourth. The gifted Lovenkrands then jinked his way through Cardiff's defence, extended his left foot and scored his side's fifth via the inside of a post.

Indeed the only blot on the Geordie landscape was Aaron Wildig's 89th-minute reply for Cardiff.

"We were sloppy," said Jones. "We didn't do ourselves justice, we're better than that. But it was good to see Stevie McPhail back."