Big Mac serves up a treat but Alex KO blow’s big concern

THE Mick McCarthy revolution is up and running at Cardiff.

But worries over the health of goalkeeper Alex Smithies were far more alarming than storming Bristol City’s flimsy barricades.

Smithies slumped against a post after signalling he was in distress in the sixth minute and was carted away on a stretcher.

He was able to sit up, but given that he needed eight minutes of treatment by worriedlooking Cardiff medical staff, there were concerns for the visitors.

The new Bluebirds boss said Smithies had felt ill

– but the cause was unknown.

McCarthy said: “I have just been in to see him in the medical room and he seems OK.

“It could have been an allergy. But he seems OK now and that’s all I know.”

When the game restarted, goals from Curtis Nelson and Kieffer Moore earned McCarthy a precious but comfortable first victory as boss in his third attempt.

The Severnside derby was a contest the Robins simply didn’t turn up for and McCarthy is unlikely to get an easier win to flicker some hope of a play-off revival.

Cardiff could have been forgiven for feeling down after Smithies’ worrying exit – especially when substitute keeper Dillon Phillips looked all at sea after being thrown in at the deep end.

That should have been the signal for the Robins to keep pecking away at Phillips, but instead it was the Bluebirds who ruled the roost as they built a two-goal lead.

Firstly, a free-kick by Harry Wilson was nodded home by Nelson on 18 minutes.

Then, seven minutes later, Moore picked his spot after Sheyi Ojo delivered a cross to the far post.

The Robins hardly mustered a shot and boss Dean Holden said: “I am not going to sugarcoat that performance.

“We were nowhere near good enough to get anything out of that game. We carried very little threat and it was very poor defending from us for both goals.”

BRISTOL CITY: Bentley 6; Hunt 6, Kalas 6, Mawson 6, Mariappa 5 (Moore

(60th) 6); Massengo 5 (Paterson

(60th) 6), Lansbury 6 (Vyner (69th) 6), Williams 6 (Palmer (60th) 6); Semenyo

6, Wells 5, Diedhiou 6

CARDIFF: Smithies 6 (Phillips (11th)

6); Ng 6, Morrison 6, Flint 7, Nelson

7, Bennett 6; Vaulks 6, Ralls 7, Ojo 7 (Bacuna 80th); Wilson 7 (Pack (71st)

6), Moore 8

STAR MAN: Kieffer Moore

REF: J Gillett