Carling Cup 
/ Jamie "The Pacman" Pacheco / 24 January 2012 / Leave a Comment 
Peter Whittingham watches closely as Anthony Gardner heads the ball into his own net
"Had the Palace players known in advance how poorly they were at taking spot-kicks they may not have bothered hanging on for dear life as exhaustion kicked in during extra-time."
Cardiff knocked out Crystal Palace on penalties but are far from being favourites on Betfair's Carling Cup winner market, despite being the only team guaranteed a place in the final.
Cardiff City are through to the Carling Cup final after doing things the hard way at home to Crystal Palace. The Eagles had a one goal lead going into the second leg courtesy of centre-back Anthony Gardner and the same player was in the limelight again when he headed into his own net after good work on the wing and a fine cross by Craig Conway. Things got worse for the visitors when Palace captain Paddy McCarthy got sent off for a second booking for a foul on Kenny Miller with 13 minutes left on the clock but there were no more goals after 90 minutes. Cardiff were matched at [1.88] to win the game and [2.9] to win without conceding.
Extra-time saw plenty of tired legs trying to shut up shop for Palace and play for penalties and despite having a few decent chances, Cardiff couldn't get the break-through. Had the Palace players known in advance how poorly they were at taking spot-kicks they may not have bothered hanging on for dear life as exhaustion kicked in during extra-time. Jermaine Easter, Sean Scannell and Jonathan Parr all missed for Palace after Kenny Miller had failed himself with Cardiff's first spot-kick and having scored three of their four, Cardiff were through after being backed at [3.6] on the to qualify market. A win on penalties was matched at [28.0] in the "method of victory" market.
Cardiff are [6.4] to lift the Carling Cup behind favourites Liverpool (1.76), who take a 1-0 lead into the second leg of their tie against Manchester City (3.5). Read a preview of Wednesday night's match here.
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