MX23RW : Tuesday, May 7 03:07:50| >> :600:311919:311919:

Match Analysis: Cardiff City 3-0 Nottingham Forest

Sports Mole casts its eye over Cardiff City's victory over Nottingham Forest which all-but secures promotion to the Premier League.

Cardiff City all-but secured promotion to the Premier League by ending Nottingham Forest's 10-match unbeaten streak this afternoon.

After Heidar Helguson had headed the hosts ahead, Darius Henderson was dismissed for visiting Forest and that ended their challenge.

Half-time substitute Rudy Gestede netted twice in the second 45 minutes to move Malky Mackay's side six points clear at the top of the Championship with four games left.

Below, Sports Mole picks the bones out of an incident-filled game in the Welsh capital.

Match statistics:

Cardiff:
Shots 17
On target 8
Possession 63%
Corners 7
Fouls 11

Forest:
Shots 9
On target 6
Possession 37%
Corners 2
Fouls 14

Was the result fair?

Oh yes. Cardiff had looked the more dangerous before Helguson was left unmarked to head in Craig Bellamy's free kick and from then on it was plain sailing for the league leaders. Henderson's dismissal of course helped massively and they could have had so many more goals in the second half.

Cardiff's performance

A solid enough start by the hosts and they were presented with the easiest of chances to go ahead when no-one bothered to track Helguson's run. The red card before half time was a massive boost and Mackay's men didn't let up in the second as substitute Gestede powerfully headed home twice while his teammate spurned chance after chance.

Forest's performance

Billy Davies has galvanised this side into a late push for the playoffs but their streak under his management had to come to an end sooner or later and there's no real shame in losing it at the league's pacesetters. They were holding their own until Henderson's dismissal but didn't cope well at all with having a man less and were lucky to concede just two further goals.

Sports Mole's man of the match

Kim Bo-Kyung: No goals for the midfielder but Kim was at the heart of all things good Cardiff produced. He was very composed when on the ball and distributed it sensibly throughout.

Biggest gaffe

Cardiff's two Craigs, Noone and Bellamy, can fight it out for this award after they both missed open goals from tight angles at the back post towards the end.

Referee performance

Andre Marriner was a little card-happy today and made a questionable decision in sending off Henderson. Yes, the forward's arm did catch Helguson in the face but his eyes were fully on the ball and it didn't look intentional. Marriner may have been influenced by the fact that just moments earlier there was a little skirmish in the area and maybe he felt it was related to that.

What next?

Cardiff: Next up for Cardiff is a visit from Charlton on Tuesday where a point will be enough to guarantee top-flight football for the first time in 51 years.

Forest: Davies's men, meanwhile, go to Middlesbrough in three days' time.

ID:79361: cacheID:79361:1false2false3false:QQ:: from db desktop :LenBod:restore:5123:
Restore Data
Share this article now:
Cardiff's Heidar Helguson heads in the opening goal in the match against Nottingham Forest on April 13, 2013
Read Next:
Live Commentary: Cardiff 3-0 Forest - as it happened
>
rhs 2.0
Today's games header
Tables header RHS
TeamPWDLFAGDPTS
CLeicester CityLeicester463141189414897
3Leeds UnitedLeeds462791081433890
4Southampton462691187632487
5West Bromwich AlbionWest Brom4621121370472375
6Norwich CityNorwich4621101579641573
7Hull City461913146860870
8Middlesbrough46209177162969
9Coventry CityCoventry4617131670591164
10Preston North EndPreston46189195667-1163
11Bristol City461711185351262
12Cardiff CityCardiff46195225370-1762
13Millwall461611194555-1059
14Swansea CitySwansea461512195965-657
15Watford461317166161056
16Sunderland46168225254-256
17Stoke CityStoke461511204960-1156
18Queens Park RangersQPR461511204758-1156
19Blackburn RoversBlackburn461411216074-1453
20Sheffield WednesdaySheff Weds46158234468-2453
21Plymouth ArgylePlymouth461312215970-1151
RBirmingham CityBirmingham461311225065-1550
RHuddersfield TownHuddersfield46918194877-2945
RRotherham UnitedRotherham46512293789-5227


Sports Mole provides in-depth previews and predictions for every match from the biggest leagues and competitions in world football.
Argentina's Lionel Messi kisses the World Cup trophy after collecting the Golden Ball award on December 18, 2022Sign up for our FREE daily preview newsletter direct to your inbox!