‘Horrible’... that’s fine by me... I’d be insulted if anyone said we were nice to play against – McCarthy

CARDIFF City’s win over Bournemouth might just be the best of the lot under Mick McCarthy.

It is his sixth straight win, having not lost any of his eight games in charge, but undoubtedly the most important.

Yes, Cardiff have had more eyecatching wins, but they scrapped to within an inch of their lives to take all three points away from the south coast.

It was their most impressive of the lot. They were solid, gnarled, streetwise and canny and they held the fort stoically for the final 30 minutes and it proved to be the real embodiment of the side McCarthy has built.

Indeed, Will Vaulks spoke about how the new manager has made Cardiff “horrible” again and the win over the Cherries served only as further evidence of that.

And it is a tag the manager quite clearly enjoys.

“Well, if anyone ever says one of my teams is nice to play against, I would be so annoyed and insulted,” he said.

“The best teams are horrible to play against, for whatever reason.

“Manchester City are horrible to play against because the press and keep the ball and run right over the top of you.

“Liverpool last year ran over the top of teams. Manchester United in their pomp, they might not have had the best players, but they ran over teams.

“They work harder than everybody else as well. It’s strange, isn’t it?

“So, if anyone comes off and says, ‘Oh, that was a really nice game, you’re really pleasant to play against,’ well I might be packing it in and playing golf somewhere else.”

Cardiff usurped Wednesday night’s opponents into sixth place on goal difference, a quite remarkable feat considering where City were just a few weeks ago.

It was a result that will serve as a real boost to City fans and players, but with that, McCarthy says, comes the very different pressure of staying in that play-off spots.

“We were never under any pressure to get in the top six,” he added.

“That might have been said when I come in, but to target the top six? Come on, do me a favour. Twenty points from eight games.

“Did I think we were going to get that? No. Did anybody at the hierarchy of the club? No. Everybody hoped for it.

“I’m not that stupid to say I expected it, because we weren’t. So there was no pressure.

“Actually, the pressure was on not falling out the bottom of the league. If we lost in Bristol we would have been in trouble.

“But we didn’t and we’ve won on the back of it since and we are in the top six and the pressure is to stay there and everyone will be pecking at us.

“But I’m not getting carried away. It’s a lovely position to be in. I thoroughly enjoy every single game.”

If you are a Cardiff fan at the minute, that last sentence will doubtless resonate with you, too.