Mor miss than hit – but boss backs misfiring attack
CARDIFF manager Steve Morison admitted his side should have beaten Birmingham more comfortably – but said he won’t be bullied into buying an experienced striker.
Max Watters and substitute Kion Etete wasted golden chances to add to the only goal of the game from Aston Villa loanee Jaden PhilogeneBidace in the 17th minute.
And Watters was taken off at half-time, but after the match boss Morison defended his front men.
“As a forward, I know, you worry when you’re not getting chances,” said the former Wales and Millwall striker.
“If you’re getting chances and you don’t put them in the back of the net, you dust yourself down and crack on.
“Max has been unbelievable today and if he’d scored, we’d have been waxing lyrical about him. That’s the fine margins.
“He had to come off because he was ill. It might have been a slight bit of heatstroke and the doc said it was 50-50 as to whether he goes out (for the second half).
“It’s frustrating for him as people probably thought I dragged him off because he missed a couple of chances, which wasn’t the case.
“I’m not going to go and sign anyone for the sake of signing anyone and because you guys (in the media) think we need an experienced striker.
“If you can get me Lewandowski, I’ll sign him!”
Callum O’Dowda, one of eight new signings in Cardiff’s starting line-up, also went close twice as the Bluebirds created a host of chances.
“We were excellent,” added Morison. “In the first half we were tremendous and we started the second half on fire and should have scored another one.
“We went a bit flat after that, but the changes worked. We should have had a couple more but, on the whole, it was a really pleasing performance.”
New Birmingham boss John Eustace admitted his side were second best for the first half-hour, but he believes they should have had a second-half penalty when Cedric Kipre appeared to bring down Scott Hogan.
“I was disappointed with the way we started the game. After half an hour, I thought we were much better and I was really pleased with the reaction after halftime,” said Eustace.
“The second half was much more competitive and we were more like ourselves. I think it was a penalty, but they should also have had a penalty probably, so the referee has balanced that one out.
“There are no excuses. We weren’t at the races for that first half an hour.
“Cardiff are a good team and we were ready for them but, unfortunately, we just didn’t match their intensity for that first half an hour and the lads were disappointed.”
CARDIFF: Allsop 6; Romeo 7, Ng 7, Kipre 7, Collins 8; Wintle 9, Rinomhota 7; O’Dowda 9 (Ojo (82) 5), Sawyers 6 (Colwill (63) 7), Philogene-Bidace 7 (Etete (64) 5); Watters 5 (Harris (46) 7)
BIRMINGHAM: Ruddy 8; Sanderson 6, Roberts 6 (Williams (55) 6), Trusty 6; Colin 6, Chang 7 (Hall (76) 6), James 6, Placheta 5; Bacuna 6 (Leko (76) 5); Deeney 6 (Jutkiewicz (72) 6), Hogan 7
STAR MAN: Callum O’Dowda – created the only goal of the game and posed a constant threat.
REFEREE: Darren Bond 7
■ Aston Villa have won their last three league games against Everton, their longest run since winning four (1996-1998). ■ This is the second time in Premier League history Everton have lost both their first two games in a season (previously in 2009-10). ■ Aston Villa’s Danny Ings has scored more Premier League goals against Everton than he has any other opponent (six). ■ There were just 96 seconds between Emiliano Buendia doubling Aston Villa’s lead and Lucas Digne’s own goal. ■ Lucas Digne is only the second player to score an own goal for both sides in a specific Premier League fixture, after Frank Sinclair.