Cardiff hold nerve to set up Wembley showdown

ENGLISH LEAGUE CHAMPIONSHIP PLAY-OFF SEMI-FINAL, SECOND LEG/Cardiff City 2 Leicester 3 After extra time. Aggregate 3-3. Cardiff win 4-3 on penalties:CARDIFF SET up a Wembley showdown with Blackpool for the right to join the Premier League after triumphing over a resilient Leicester side on penalties in a rollercoaster play-off semi-final.

Leading 1-0 thanks to Peter Whittingham’s exquisite free-kick in Sunday’s first leg at the Walkers Stadium, Leicester found themselves with a mountain to climb as Michael Chopra doubled the Bluebirds’ advantage.

But they fought back to take a 3-2 aggregate lead courtesy of Matty Fryatt, an own goal from Bluebirds captain Mark Hudson and Andy King. Yet, in a dramatic tussle to match that of Nottingham Forest and Blackpool on Tuesday night, Whittingham took the tie to extra-time with his 25th of the season from the penalty spot.

A goalless extra period followed before Cardiff came out on top in a tense shootout after David Marshall saved from Yann Kermorgant and Martyn Waghorn.

Cardiff, whose financial struggles have been well documented this season, are now one game away from their first return to the top flight since 1962 and becoming the first non-English team to participate in the Premier League.

With Leicester needing to win manager Nigel Pearson showed his attacking intent by changing formation and starting with the returning Steve Howard and the recalled Fryatt in attack.

Counterpart Jones opted to keep faith with the same starting XI that secured the slender lead from the first leg.

The hosts were a class above their east midlands opponents in the opening quarter and it was just a matter of time before they found the net.

And so it proved after 22 minutes. An unchallenged Bothroyd – who was immense throughout – flicked on a long ball from Stephen McPhail and Chopra lost his man with ease to race through and put through Chris Weale’s legs.

Yet their lead was to last just three minutes as Fryatt latched onto Howard’s header to volley past the despairing arm of Marshall and watch the ball roll slowly over the line. And 11 minutes later – out of nowhere – Leicester had levelled things up on aggregate as Howard’s flick-on from Alex Bruce’s free-kick again caused problems and the ball bounced off Hudson’s head and over a stranded Marshall.

With the next goal crucial chances came at either end, Whittingham clearing a goalmouth scramble off the line. And the Championship’s top scorer soon proved his coolness in the opposite penalty area, converting a 69th-minute penalty after Chopra had been felled by Bruce. The two teams could not separated in extra time and it was left for Cardiff to snatch a typically tense play-off semi-final on penalties.

CARDIFF CITY: Marshall, McNaughton (Quinn 97), Hudson, Blake, Kennedy, Whittingham (McCormack 91), McPhail, Ledley, Burke (Etuhu 60), Chopra, Bothroyd. Subs not used: Enckelman, Gyepes, Capaldi, Wildig. Booked: Hudson, McPhail, Quinn.

LEICESTER CITY: Weale, Solano, Hobbs, Bruce, Berner, Dyer (Waghorn 72), King, Wellens, Gallagher (Spearing 72), Howard, Fryatt (Kermorgant 97). Subs not used: Logan, Morrison, N’Guessan, Vaughan. Booked: Dyer, Howard, King, Solano, Bruce, Wellens.

Referee: Howard Webb (S Yorkshire).