As an advert for Championship football, Saturday's encounter pretty much summed it all up perfectly.
A league in which mis-placed passing and sloppy play considerably outweighs instances of the opposite, where every team is capable of beating any other, and when games certainly aren't over until the final whistle.
If the Fat Lady wasn't exactly belting out a number at with a quarter-of-an-hour remaining Ninian Park she was sure as hell warming up the old vocal chords in the wings…
Because despite once again catching the eye with the manner of some of their approach play and credibly taking the game to their opponents for the duration of the contest, once again it seemed that City were fast heading for yet another miserable afternoon
But surprisingly there was to be a pleasant twist in the tale.
Of course – as has already become a familiar feature of every after-match analysis this season – most of Norwich's attacking moves of note invariably came to nothing once the ball had been manoeuvred to within shooting distance, and despite the Canaries having valid claim for having been the superior team over the course of the 90 minutes, once again the opposing goalkeeper hadn't exactly been over-worked on reflection either.
Not even from the penalty spot this time!
After being been forced to routinely highlight gilt-edged chances being squandered as reason for his side's main failings so far this term, you can only imagine what thoughts flashed through the mind of City boss Glenn Roeder when Jamie Cureton placed the ball on the spot five minutes after City had gone a goal down, but then incredibly completely missed the target.
For the next hour or so the game followed a familiar script.
City huffed and puffed, but were unable to add a suitable end product to their play, and I've no doubt that one or two Cardiff supporters would have been thinking along the lines of beating the traffic and leaving early given that their team were two goals to the good.
But everything changed courtesy of what could only be termed as a last throw of the dice by Roeder.
Arturo Lupoli was the City boss' third and final substitution, which, given that he hadn't exactly impressed in the previous game against Blackpool was completely understandable.
Lee Croft's introduction at half-time for the ineffective Wes Hoolahan had provided City with a much-needed wide outlet, but when Roeder opted for Omar Koroma for his next attacking change, Lupoli could have been forgiven for thinking that his day was done.
Not so. He finally got the nod got and he grabbed his chance with both hands.
Only minutes after entering the field of play and with everyone else frozen like statues in the box and thinking that Croft's miscued shot was heading harmlessly wide, Lupoli reacted sharply and steered the ball past the Cardiff 'keeper to give City hope.
Five minutes later and he had earned his side a share of the spoils with an excellent diving header.
In all fairness it was no more than Norwich deserved.
Even at two-nil down and with time against them, City credibly continued to press forward.
They began to move the ball downfield quicker than normal and – as you would expect from a team chasing a game ? they got more men ahead of the ball.
But let's face it; given the manner of how games have panned out this season no one would have expected it to ultimately lead to anything more than just another hard luck story.
With promotion favourites Birmingham next up I doubt that any within the City camp will be getting too carried away with what was undoubtedly a commendable result at the weekend, but looking at the bigger picture, if Saturday's draw ultimately proves to be the game that signals a reverse in City's fortunes, then this solitary league point could prove to be worth its weight in gold…
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