Even the Welsh pundits thought we deserved a penalty, Preston supporter Tim Mercer looks back on FA Cup defeat to Cardiff
In truth a rather poor match in the first ever FA Cup meeting between these two sides that ended in a narrow defeat for the Lilywhites. Given the long histories of both clubs, a ‘debut tie’ in the world’s oldest knock-out cup competition was somewhat surprising to this fan.
However, it was not a match that will live long in my memory. To make matters worse, Welsh Government Covid restrictions meant this was played in front of an empty stadium that brought back all those bad memories of last season.
With the score at 1-1 by the end of normal time, the game went to extra time and it was probably the last thing that either manager wanted and resulted in Ryan Lowe’s first defeat in three matches since taking charge last month.
Did the Bluebirds deserve the win? In my books, apart from the scorer of their first goal, Isaak Davies, there was really nothing between the two sides and we were all just waiting for a seemingly inevitable penalty shoot-out.
This included the commentary team on my first ever sojourn into streaming the Welsh-language channel S4C into my living room after I eventually found a workaround for having both the English and Welsh audio channels talking across one another!
Even in the dying stages after Cardiff’s second goal, North End should have been awarded a penalty for one of the most blatant handballs I have seen in a long time.
A prejudice view you may think, but one agreed with by the openly and understandably Welsh-biased pundits.
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