Harris is the driving force... and Nelson is the loudest voice
HERE are Cardiff City correspondent Glen Williams’ thoughts after the Bluebirds secured their play-offs spot with a 3-0 win over Hull City on a sensational final night of the regular Championship season.
The one thing which keeps driving
Neil Harris
In his post-match press conference on Wednesday night, it was perhaps one of the first times Neil Harris addressed his appointment properly. He said he understood he wasn’t a “huge name” and he could understand why some Cardiff City fans wanted Jurgen Klopp to be their manager!
But there is no getting around the fact so many Cardiff City fans were underwhelmed by the manager’s appointment back in November.
Harris has had to earn every bit of respect and praise from Cardiff fans throughout the course of the last eight months and, gradually, fans have warmed to him.
Credit to the board, too, for seeing the potential in Harris. They could have easily gone for the Hollywood signing, but Harris has slotted in seamlessly to what the greater vision is for the club.
The biggest compliment, from what I can see, is there is a far increased sense of confidence among the Bluebirds fan base heading into matches.
At the start of the campaign, no-one really knew what they were going to get, so often Cardiff were clinging on until the dying minutes to nick a win or a draw.
But this side is now well-drilled and almost moulded how Harris would like them to be playing. They look far more in control, far more relaxed and far more confident.
“It’s a huge achievement,” Harris said after the win.
“I’m fully aware that every bit of praise myself and my staff have earned while we’ve been here has been earned.
“You have to prove yourself. I came in, not as a huge name, and I’ve had to prove myself every week and that’s what has driven me and what keeps driving me.”
The multi-faceted City attack Perhaps the greatest improvement in this Cardiff side is that they have developed more than one way to skin a cat.
Harris has spoken about that for a few months, but few really understood what it meant, that is until after football restarted following the lockdown.
There is a stat, of course, which says Cardiff City are top of the standings for most goals scored from set-pieces this season, but much of that will have come from earlier on in the season.
Now, they look like they can hurt opponents in a variety of ways and that is what makes them such a feared opponent now.
Against Hull, for example, three goals, three different ways of scoring.
Junior Hoilett ran at the Hull defence and fired home for the first, Sean Morrison powered home a header from the set-piece for the second and Danny Ward kept his cool in a penalty-box scramble at the end.
In the win against Middlesbrough, it was far more flowing, lightning-quick breakaways and playing through the lines far more often.
Now the defence has shored up to its usual, resolute self, it all just seems to be falling into place for Cardiff.
The booming voice at Cardiff City Stadium
It’s been a real coming-of-age season for Curtis Nelson and he has grown in stature with each passing game. After Neil Warnock signed him from Oxford United, the defender largely played in the under-23s. I raised my eyebrow when Warnock told me he could see him as a future captain and would play centre-back for 10 years at the club.
But, credit where credit is due, everyone can now see that potential.
Without fans on the pitch, we are privy to conversations we wouldn’t normally be privy to. Hull’s Angus MacDonald, for example, shouted some obscene expletives at the linesman for not calling an offside in the first half which were certainly not family friendly.
But the biggest voice on the Cardiff side of the pitch was that of Nelson’s. It boomed around the stadium and echoed in all corners of the ground. He screamed orders all evening. He told Joe Bennett when there was a man on his left shoulder, he screamed at Hoilett when he had wandered out of position, too.
A lot can be said for how resolute this defence has been, by and large, in