Notts County 0 Cardiff 1

Last updated : 21 September 2002 By Footymad Previewer

High flying Cardiff City arrived at Meadow Lane not having been beaten away from home since February - and continued their run.

In contrast Notts County went into action without a single home win to their credit - and crashed again.

The mood among the rival fans matched the difference in the quality of their teams.

Nearly 2000 Cardiff supporters left the stadium joyful, whereas the County followers - many of who left before the end - trudged home in silence.

Cardiff City gave a master class to their labouring opponents in the first 45 minutes and only wayward finishing left them only one goal ahead at the break.

That was scored by defender Gary Croft with just over 20 minutes played, when Notts failed to close him down 35 yards out and his low left foot drive flashed inside Stuart Garden's left hand post.

Chief culprit when it came to missing clear chances was Cardiff striker Robert Earnshaw who failed to put away any of six opportunities. In fact not once did Earnshaw seriously test Garden, who must have been relieved by the nippy little forward's generosity.

Notts did not carve out a single chance worthy of the name in the first half and although they improved marginally in the second, they remained nothing like good enough to trouble Cardiff.

The visitors always looked likely to add to their haul and would almost certainly have done so, but for a rock like performance by Nick Fenton at the heart of the Notts defence.

Notts manager Bill Dearden was so furious at what he called his side's lack of passion and commitment that, for the first time, he went public with his scathing criticism of them after the game