By Chris O'Brien
October 16 2004

Cardiff City picked up their first home win in the Football League Championship since August 10th with a 2-0 victory over a woeful Rotherham United at Ninian Park. Peter Thorne's two headed goals in the second-half were enough to give the Bluebirds victory, with 11,004 watching on.

Cardiff City lifted themselves out of the relegation zone for a day at least with a 2-0 win over bottom-placed Rotherham United, with the Yorkshire outfit looking certainties for relegation only 13 games into the Football League Championship campaign.

Peter Thorne headed home twice in a dire encounter at Ninian Park, which took the Bluebirds' points tally to 12 and relieved some of the pressure hanging over the head of manager Lennie Lawrence. The former Stoke forward netted both his goals in the second-half, as 11,004 saw City win their first Football League Championship match at Ninian Park since Coventry visited South Wales on August 10th.

Despite some reports suggesting otherwise, Lawrence started Republic of Ireland duo Alan Lee and Graham Kavanagh. Gary O'Neil, fresh from skippering the England under-21's, continued his loan spell in midfield with Paul Parry and Jobi McAnuff adding width to the midfield. Despite playing in Oceania during the week, Tony Vidmar started at the back alongside Daniel Gabbidon, Darren Williams and Chris Barker.

In a dull Ninian Park atmosphere, the first-half created very little to get excited about. Rotherham created little, but dealt with everything Cardiff through at them. Graham Kavanagh had two chances of note, but the deadlock rarely looked like being broken in the first 45 minutes. Both sides looked on extremely low on confidence, and at times the football on offer looked like a fourth flight game.

City had been the better side during the first-half, and finally took the lead through Thorne on 55 minutes. Chris Barker sent in a good cross to the £1.7million attacker, who finished well with his trademark header that doubled his goal tally for the current campaign. The strike really took the stuffing out of Ronnie Moore's Millers, who had been building in confidence.

The lead was doubled on 77 minutes after the visitors had given away a needless corner. O'Neil whipped in a decent cross found the unmarked 31-year-old who comfortably headed past Pollit at the far post. The City players celebrated in relief, and Lennie Lawrence looked on knowing the three points will have kept him his insecure job for a while longer.

It was a rather unspectacular afternoon at Ninian Park - a shocking contrast to the last time Rotherham rolled into town, where City came from two down to win 3-2. However, what's important is that City picked up a crucial three points and proved they are a lot better than the Yorkshire outfit, with Ronnie Moore's task of dragging them out of the red zone looking impossible. Well done Bluebirds.

Full Time - Cardiff City 2-0 Rotherham United
Attendance - 11,004

Cardiff City: Warner, Williams, Gabbidon, Vidmar, Barker, McAnuff, O'Neil, Kavanagh, Parry (Ledley 63), Thorne, Lee.

Rotherham United: Pollitt, Stockdale, Scott, Swailes, Gilchrist, Hurst, Shaun Barker, Sedgwick, Mullin, Burchill (Warne 74), Proctor.