Nothing but a Joe Ledley goal, plucked from thin air in only the ninth minute, separated Cardiff City and Barnsley at Wembley yesterday, but the gulf in emotion at the final whistle was immense. The exultant Gavin Rae received a bear-hug from his jubilant manager, Dave Jones, while the inconsolable Kayode Odejayi got only a wide berth.
For Rae, the former Dundee and Rangers midfielder, there was joy at reaching a Wembley final just weeks after his Scotland recall, and there was also relief. Three times he had the opportunity to settle the issue in the second half. Three times his composure deserted him.
But Rae's discomfort in front of 35,000 partisan City supporters was nothing to Odejayi's despair after blowing his chance to restore parity for Barnsley in the 66th minute. In the event of finding himself in that very situation, he had sought the advice of a psychologist in the build up. Yet still the young Nigerian fired into the side netting.
Fortune, for the second afternoon running, failed to favour the brave at Wembley. City will join Harry Redknapp's Portsmouth in the final of the FA Cup but just as valiant West Bromich Albion departed the capital with heavy heart on Saturday, so plucky Barnsley will take some consoling in the fraught weeks ahead.
Having humiliated Liverpool and Chelsea in previous rounds, Simon Davey's Yorkshire outfit had hoped to make it a Premiership hat-trick on May 17, 96 years after last getting their hands on the venerable trophy. Instead, a goal from a local Cardiff lad sent City's delirious following back across the Severn Bridge to prepare for their next Anglo-Welsh assault.
For Jones, the former Southampton and Wolves manager, now held personally responsible for restoring the good times to a club on the brink of bankruptcy earlier this season, it was "a great feeling". Without a penny to spend last summer, he recruited on the cheap. Thirtysomethings Trevor Sinclair, Robbie Fowler and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink all arrived on free transfers. So too did Rae.
Yet ironically it was the local lad Ledley who made the difference yesterday, outshining his more illustrious team-mates with a perfect volley, hooked into the corner of Luke Steel's goal with his left boot. Only Barnsley will know why they did not clear Tony Capaldi's throw-in from the outset.
Poor old Barnsley. When next these two sides meet, on the last day of the Championship season in the Welsh capital, Cardiff will be preparing for their big day out at Wembley while Davey's battlers might already be relegated. Romancing the Cup has come at a price. This weekend, of all weekends, Barnsley dropped into the bottom three.
Which given the performance yesterday of players like Brian Howard, the club's indefatigable captain, Jamal Campbell-Rice, the bright spark on the wing, and Dennis Souza, the Brazilian at the heart of the defence, is something of a travesty. Ten points and as many places may separate the two sides in the Championship but at Wembley, Barnsley played the better football.
Perhaps Cardiff were victims of their own intrepid start. They looked every bit the part, with Sinclair, Hasselbaink and Peter Whittingham all relishing their moment back in the spotlight. Yet no sooner had Barnsley's defence been breached, with the moment of brilliance from Ledley, it was Cardiff's turn to look anxious. Responding to the setback as they did at Anfield in the fifth round, Odejayi started to make a real nuisance of himself, Souza's header flashed wide of the post and Istvan Ferenczi had an effort cleared off the line. Then, in injury time, but for an inspired intervention from full-back Kevin McNaughton, Odejayi would surely have pegged Barnsley level.
McNaughton's last contribution - the former Aberdeen defender limped off the field with a jarred back just two minutes after the restart - it was left to compatriot Rae to ease Cardiff's nerves. Pushed into a more advanced role after the interval, the former Rangers captain should have found the back of the net with a free header in the 52nd minute. Inexplicably he nodded into the arms of Steel.
But with Jones' half-time words of reassurance still fresh in the memory, Cardiff kept their nerve, Odejayi's howler with not a defender in sight, confirming Welsh belief that history might yet repeat itself. Eighty-one years after they became the last and only non-English club to win the FA Cup, Cardiff City are back in town.
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