A rare dip in form allowed Swansea to take the spoils to bring both Welsh clubs to within one point of Norwich City. The battle was lost, but Norwich City is still winning the war.
If you were unfortunate enough to have watched the game on Sky Sports, you probably decided it was best to turn the commentary right down in order to prevent irreperable damage being inflicted on it in retaliation to the biased commentary.
It is easy to point fingers now and say: if only so-and-so had done this. Or, if only what's-'is-name had not done that. If only the ball had got past De Vries in the opening moments... However, it was a hard task, and every Norwich City supporter knew that before going into it. Only the blindly optimisitic was expecting a win. Many hoped for a victory, but a draw would have been a good result.
Reading the football press today would give the impression that Swansea had won automatic promotion based upon that result; even in Cardiff the run in now only consists on getting one over on their neighbours.
But there are still six games to play; 18 points to play for, and Norwich still hold on to that second automatic spot. The only downside in yesterday's defeat was that Norwich failed to reap the benefits of Scunthorpe's come-back from their 6-0 defeat at Carrow Road, by stealing all three points from QPR at Glanford Park. There is still that chance, however, of going top of the league at Portman Road.
In a week so packed with football -yesterday; Tuesday evening; Friday evening, some tired legs will welcome the six days grace before the Old Farm derby but confidence remains high, despite yesterday's setback.
Let Swansea supporters enjoy the moment; let Cardiff supporters focus on beating Swansea to the finish line; let Ipswich supporters enjoy their win by proxy, as it were; when it comes right down to it, the war continues. Norwich are already focussed on a win away at Vicarage Road on Tuesday.
On The Ball City