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Whether or not you like him – and there’s no shortage of people who don’t – it’s hard not to feel that Craig Bellamy deserved his role in Cardiff’s historic win over their south Wales rivals Swansea on Sunday afternoon. After a nomadic career whose medal collection has been vastly disproportionate to his ability, Bellamy returned to his hometown club last summer and proceeded to not only help them win promotion to the top-flight but also, now, to have triumphed over their local nemeses on that very stage.
He may not have been wearing the armband, but Bellamy offered something of a captain’s performance on Saturday, using all his experience and well-channelled fury to whip Cardiff’s players and fans alike into presenting a hostile and hard-to-beat opposition for their more luminary rivals.
It’s testament to the professionalism of a player often criticised for a lack of it that, at the age of 34 and with such a lengthy history of injury, Bellamy could be found in the game’s closing stages sprinting back into the left-back position and snapping at the ankles of his opponents. It has been a theme throughout Bellamy’s career: a inextinguishable, uncompromising will to win football matches, and a selfless willingness to run every inch than he can do in order to do so. On Sunday, it paid off.
Having reinvented himself in these latter stages of his career as a buzzing wide man, it’s fitting that it should be a cross from the Welshman which helped secured his side victory. Bellamy’s crossing is an underrated facet of his game – he’s able to deliver the ball with power, whip and accuracy, and with startling consistency – and his wonderfully thrashed corner invited the nod home that it got from Steven Caulker.
His contribution from open-play was decent, too, if it was a tad limited to the very outer flank of the pitch. His general decision to opt for the safe, sensible passing option served his side’s game plan well: keep it tight, conserve energy, and look to spring on the break. But that’s not to say he was creatively redundant: His total of three key passes completed was the most, alongside Jonjo Shelvey, of anyone on the field.
Craig Bellamy Passes v Swansea
Unsurprisingly, given the quality of Cardiff’s opposition and the work-rate of the player himself, Bellamy’s influence was probably most felt when his team were not in possession. His total of three tackles, four fouls and an interception will all have been looked upon with gratitude from the dugout and stands.
Craig Bellamy Tackles v Swansea
It was a typically committed performance from a player who has, for all his faults, rarely delivered anything less. In a derby whose build-up was blighted by the ongoing presence of Cardiff City’s owners, who are threatening to drain the lifeblood from the club, it was pleasing to see the home-grown and unswervingly dedicated character of Bellamy acting as one of its central and decisive protagonists.
