Not quite the perfect night on Tuesday but we certainly kept our part of the bargain! We are in a strong position of course but it leaves us with an interesting and possibly nervy night to endure in Naples in two weeks' time.
Winter is starting to kick in and it was a chilly old night in London N5. We knew what we had to do but rumours that our visitors would be fielding a slightly unfamiliar line-up did not exactly increase the confidence. I'm not a fan of the 'unknown' and although I was confident we would do the job, any complacency could see us get punished.
Jack made sure any early game nerves were put firmly in their place with his quite superb opener in the opening exchanges and we were on our way.
On the journey home there was plenty of talk about how we didn't win by a hatful - and to be fair we could have done. Rambo should have slotted home after a fine move soon after we took the lead and Mesut missed from the spot. Other chances came and went before half-time and, with just a one-goal lead, the situation was a little fragile, even though we were completely controlling the game.
Eventually Jack doubled his and the team's tally to not only make the scoreline more reflective of our dominance but to pretty much see us home and dry on the night. Twelve points secured after five matches but somewhat incredibly we are not quite over that line yet.
Dortmund's home win against Napoli sees us needing to avoid a three-goal defeat out in Italy to progress. The perfect way to look at the situation is we are 2-0 up from the home leg of a two-legged affair as this totally matches the situation.
Before all that we head into South Wales to Cardiff City's new home, just across the road from their previous stadium at Ninian Park. It is a ground that our hosts have turned into a 'fortress' with a string of impressive results. That's enough evidence that we will have to be at our very best to come away with a positive result.
If the only evidence of negativity as I travelled home on Tuesday night was how many we could have won by rather than not winning at all, that simply has to be a good thing! Give me a winning margin half the size of that one come Saturday evening and I for one will be absolutely delighted.
Come on you mighty yellows!
Frank
@stubbsy70
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