Article by Chris Nokes

Following Cardiff U-18's tremendous 5-1 thrashing of giants Manchester United they came back down to earth with a bump on Saturday when they were humbled by a
strong Crystal Palace team at Treforrest.

The game started slowly and it was twenty minutes before the first meaningful shot towards goal was registered. It came from Crystal Palace and the shot from
outside the area ended up whizzing past the keeper's near post. Five minutes later and Crystal Palace were on the attack again and this time a strike from a
free-kick in a dangerous area had to be held by Cardiff goalkeeper Josh Herring.

England U-17 international Victor Moses was then put through one-on-one but was denied by a determined block by Bluebirds skipper Bradley Middleton. Much of the
day's play was dictated by Palace winger James Dayton who always looked dangerous with a touch of class. His first shot of the day flew towards goal
where it was deflected away for a corner.

Another one-on-one presented itself for Crystal Palace five minutes later, only for 'keeper Herring to parry the ball away to safety. Dayton again hit another
shot that flashed past the right hand post, to Herring's relief, to end the half. Although the Bluebirds could have been disappointed with their first half
performance they entered the interval level and with it all to play for in the second half.

Half Time: Cardiff 0-0 Crystal Palace

The second half seemed to start brightly for Cardiff with their first meaningful shot at goal coming from striker Tyrell Webbe. The Crystal Palace goalkeeper,
however, smothered the ball easily and the score remained deadlocked.

A major error in communication nearly changed all that when Cardiff defender Middleton headed the ball back towards 'keeper Herring. The tall stopper came
out further than Middleton intended and the ball looked to be looping over Herring and into the empty net but quick reactions from the Bluebirds goalie meant he could tip the ball away past the post from a corner and save a few red faces.

Ten minutes after the restart however, Crystal Palace did take the lead. Striker Moses was put through one-on-one with the Herring and he firmly side footed the ball in the bottom right hand corner of the net. There were cries of offside from the Cardiff players but the linesman's flag remained firmly at his side.

Cardiff were then to concede two more goals in quick succession. The second, was a carbon copy of the first goal of the day when a one-one-one for Palace ended up with the ball being placed in the bottom right hand corner of the net past Herring. Then, two minutes later the third goal for Crystal Palace was scored when Victor Moses broke through the Cardiff defence and his shot was initially saved by the over worked Herring. However, Moses was not to be denied and he used his electric pace to get to the rebound first and simply tapped it in the empty net.

A fourth and final goal to add salt to the wounds came five minutes from time when Crystal Palace provided a perfect example of attack into defence. A Cardiff attack broke down and the ball was played to the left back who pumped a huge cross field ball to Victor Moses. He moved to the byline and squared the ball perfectly to an oncoming Eagle to tap it in the net.

To round off a disappointing day Bluebirds captain Bradley Middleton was sent off for two bookable offences. At the end of the day it was Cardiff's inability to deal with through balls and their lack of chances created that was their downfall today. For Geraint Twose he will now want the youngsters more prepared than ever for their next game as they will want to try and set the record straight.

Full Time: Cardiff 0-4 Crystal Palace

Highlights of this game will be available on Cardiff City World on Monday afternoon.

Cardiff coach Geraint Twose:
"It was a very disappointing performance and what was most disappointing was that we worked all week on what Crystal Palace were going to do and there were no surprises, but we still couldn't deal with it."