Ian raps hapless Hoops
HITMAN Fernando Forestieri celebrated his comeback from injury with the winning goal.
Sheffield Wednesday boss Carlos Carvalhal admitted he had no idea what sort of performance he was going to get from his top scorer when he came on as a substitute.
Forestieri had not played for a month due to a knee injury but he came back to ruin Neil Warnock’s return to Sheffield.
Cardiff manager Warnock – a former Sheffield United boss and a lifelong Blades fan – frustrated the home side for 84 minutes.
But then Forestieri scored with a diving header after Jordan Rhodes’ angled shot was palmed out by keeper Allan McGregor.
With Fulham winning at Norwich, it was a goal that the Owls badly needed to hang on to their top-six place.
Fantastic
Carvalhal said: “Even when Fernando is training, we never know what to expect. It’s like when you receive a gift. You have a box, but you don’t know what is inside.
“When you open the box, then you know. He didn’t play for a long time so when he came back, you never know. But he is a fantastic player.”
There was little excitement for most of the game, with Warnock dropping the creative Peter Whittingham to the bench and sticking defensively-minded Greg Halford in front of his back four.
It smothered Wednesday’s midfield and left strikers Gary Hooper and Steven Fletcher frustrated, although Ross Wallace did have a shot turned on to the post by McGregor in the first half. Warnock taunted Wednesday fans by saying he hopes they fail to get into the Premier League – so that there will be a Sheffield derby with promoted United in the Championship next season.
He said: “I thought Wednesday were average. They’ll have to do better if they get in the play-offs. But if Fulham get into them, I think they’ll go up.
“I’m looking forward to next season. I really hope there’s a Sheffield derby.” ®ÊBRISTOL C..2 QPR..1