MOURINHO IN BAYERN HUNT
WHITE’S ONE ELL OF A SIGNING
Ralls Pederson Sunjic Nelson
JOE RALLS insists Cardiff’s derby-day duds will come out firing in Sunday’s Severnside showdown with Bristol City.
A week after turning up for the all-Welsh clash against Swansea City with blanks rather than bullets, Ralls fired the first hattrick of his career.
Now the midfielder is demanding his team-mates bring the same weaponry for another high noon turf war at home to their English rivals from across the Severn Bridge.
“We have got to show more than we did last week at Swansea,” said Ralls, whose two penalties came either side of a welltaken effort.
“If we play like this then we have a great chance of getting a result against Bristol City.
“We haven’t been great lately and after the defeat last week at Swansea it’s been tough. We needed to bounce back and we did.
“It was an all-round performance and exactly what was needed at this stage of the season. We have got to build on that now.”
When Cardiff went a goal down after Kristian Pedersen scored the opener for Birmingham, it seemed as if the home chants of “Warnock, Warnock – sort it out” might become a little louder for the Bluebirds manager.
But while Cardiff are inconsistent from week to week, the form of Pep Clotet’s Blues often swings wildly within a single game.
Birmingham should have been three up before Ralls and Curtis Nelson left them 3-1 down.
And the Blues failed to make their man advantage count when Cardiff ’s Danny Ward was sent off for a crude tackle on Kerim Mrabti with half an hour left.
Birmingham skipper Harlee Dean was also shown a red card late on for elbowing Ralls in a
Ref: Andrew Madley Att: 23,778
ELLEN WHITE showed Manchester City fans what they were missing by scoring against her former club Birmingham City.
Joint winner of the Golden Boot at the World Cup in the summer, White converted Lauren Hemp’s cross (right) in a 2-1 Continental League Cup win.
It was only her second start after knee surgery following a summer switch from Blues. Rachel Williams equalised for Birmingham before Caroline Weir won it with a stunning 35-yard strike.
Manchester United won 3-0 at Everton with Lauren James, Katie Zelem and Amy Turner on target.
Arsenal lost on penalties after a 0-0 draw at Brighton, but still top Group B. mass brawl (above), which undid the encouragement of Ivan Sunjic’s goal before Ralls struck again from the spot.
“I don’t know what I’ll do with the match ball,” admitted Ralls. “I’ll have to ask one of the boys who has scored a hat-trick what you do.”
Birmingham boss Clotet said: “We are still in a good position in the league, we are a young side, still finding our way and this is the future for us. The first-half is the way I want us to play, but we have to make sure we score the goals.”
CARDIFF:
BIRMINGHAM:
MOTM
JOE RALLS (CARDIFF)
BAYERN MUNICH last night sacked boss Niko Kovac – just over a month after the German club thrashed Tottenham 7-2.
Croat Kovac (right) paid the price for Saturday’s 5-1 beating at Eintracht Frankfurt that left them in fourth place. Jose Mourinho is favourite to replace him. Hansi Flick has taken temporary charge.
In Italy, Edin Dzeko played the peacemaker when Roma’s 2-1 win at home to Napoli was halted because of racist chanting.
Ref Gianluca Rocchi put Italian football’s new protocols into action after Roma fans made insulting chants about Neapolitans. Roma captain Dzeko pleaded with the home fans to cheer on their team rather than insult the opposition.