I have the unpopular view that any ball hitting any part of the hand or arm it should be a penalty. Sure its harsh on some decisions but its decisive and beyond debate. As things stand there's the double jeopardy of it hitting the hand-ball zone and an interpretation that is neither a definitive decision that's universally agreed nor does reward or punish sides, that have home/large club/crowds biases as an official to surcombe to. soft or not, should equal out over a season, but 99% will be correct without having to interpret motive or shape of the offence

RK - that was a bad decision. Should never have been given.

Interesting pen in Newcastle game. Where could the defender put his arm if he was falling and facing away?

Thanks Trigg (for the 889 answer) 👍

The biggest problem is trying to find a system which accommodates both Browne and Nkeng - neither of whom should be on the pitch to defend. Maybe a 4-3-1-2. With Nkeng and Stevens (now Bugiel is injured) with Browne behind a more workman like midfield to help defend. Would allow Nkeng to drift wide and Browne to find the holes

Blackpool v Carlisle rescheduled for 3rd March

You not have someone like Nkeng on the pitch for him to defend. You accommodate someone like him. He lives by how he attacks. If you play a midfield three as we did then he helps cover the flank to allow Nkeng to attack. We were much better when we changed it to 3-4-3 which reduced Nkengs defensive responsibilities.

Mags has said Blackpool or Carlisle

Well done to our under 18’s who have won the Youth Alliance Cup southern final with a 3-1 win away at Luton Town to progress to the national final. Don’t know when that is or who we will play.

Looking at comments Cardiff fans were actually quite impressed with us and thought we were better than a lot of teams that have played them this season. Seen one or two say we were better than Luton. Talking about not just making it hard for them to play but also creating some decent moves and opportunities ourselves.

Seems like most L1 sides have an ex-Dons keeper these days! Can be confusing - watch the extended Barnsley highlights on the OS - commentator keeps confusing Bishop and Goodman! Very odd,

Oops, posted the link twice

They won. Will meet Blackpool or Carlisle u18’s in the final. [Link] [Link]

When I saw Nathan Trott I thought we'd have a sniff at goal last night

Come on the youth.

U18’s are 3-1 up vs Luton in the final of the youth alliance cup (southern half) [Link]

Their third was like a dagger to the heart for us. Despite the miss after their 2nd for us, I think that had the third no gone in and we'd have made more of a game of it. Good performance by and large, thought we need more of this type of set up in coming weeks. My only negative was Nkeng's lack of tracking back commitment, ie needs to show more urgency, that's my view. Definitely better going forward, but he's raw and that's inexperience for you.

Just seen Stevens' goal again - it was a very good connection

Yeah it was a real shame the final score because we’d been so much better than I was expecting in the first half. We came out in the second half seemingly unable to replicate the same performance - we did have a fairly intense game on Saturday at Barnsley - but it didn’t feel like a four-goal game.

TF - got that same feeling last night as I did going to Bramall Lane when Sheffield United were in the third tier

Cardiff city centre is ok with its castle and stadiums. They still have one end if the old Arms Oark alongside the new ground. Shops are the usual chain rubbish and coffee choice limited to Costa & Starfucks (no ta). Grim weather and perishing wind ;-/

Yeah you definitely get a sense of that and it’s fair enough. It would be like our club being run so badly that we got relegated to the National League. We’d expect to win that outright and if we were four points clear at top of the league and twelve points clear of the playoffs in mid-Feb then most games would feel processional.

TF - they've probably got into the we're-going-to-go-up-now mindset where games almost become routing

Incidentally, if you go the opposite way to where the Costco/Asda is at Cardiff's ground, there's the traditional high street shops. So it's not quite the grim out of town venue

They’ve only lost one home game (league) this season to be fair to them.