HARRIS IS THE SPARK AS MOORE ENDS HIS LEAN SPELL
STEVE Morison’s first game as interim Cardiff City boss could have hardly been more eventful.
For nearly an hour or so, Cardiff were limp, uninspiring and defensively all over the place against a seemingly rampant, free-flowing Stoke City.
When Steven Fletcher lobbed Alex Smithies to make it 3-0, it seemed certain almost 1,000 fans in the away end would be heading home to mull over another crushing defeat, the ninth a row.
But when Rubin Colwill netted what seemed a consolation midway through the second half Cardiff were transformed, sparking an astonishing five minutes that eventually resulted in two further goals to rescue an unlikely point.
After such a torrid run, no-one could begrudge the jubilant Cardiff fans for their euphoria at full time.
Indeed, the manner of this result meant it may well have felt like a win, and Morison himself was keen to
stress to his players that the final half an hour or so of this contest should be the benchmark going forward.
The current caretaker boss did well to bat away questions over what might be his long-term plans, with the place in the dugout still firmly up for grabs.
Saturday did offer up a few clues as to what the 38-year-old could bring to the table as a boss, the first one arriving as soon as the teamsheet dropped.
Gone was the cautious back four, or indeed the dreaded five centrebacks, a set-up that will likely now define the Mick McCarthy era.
This wasn’t exactly ripping up the blueprint as much as a return to what had previously worked, an attempt to get Cardiff playing on the front foot from the off with a back three and two proper adventurous wing-backs in Ryan Giles and Perry Ng.
“We wanted to have the ball a little bit more than we have done previously and set up in a slightly different shape,” Morrison explained after the game when questioned on his approach.
“We wanted to be a little more open.
“You can see at times we got it wrong, but that’s because we’ve been working on it for three days.
“I think you could tell from Stoke’s performance and the way they played, it was a team that 100 per cent knew where they had to go all of the time and they’d worked on it for a heck of a long time.
“We’ve only had a few days. It’s a starting point and we’ll continue to work like that for the rest of the week. I like to think everybody that watched the game can see what we were trying to do today.”
The fans could certainly see it. Despite turning in such a dreadful first 45 minutes, the Cardiff players actually received an applause of encouragement as they headed back down the tunnel.
Even when Cardiff went 3-0 down they continued to back their team and, to their delight, the players responded.
That said, it was the introduction of Mark Harris that arguably really changed the game.
McCarthy was often accused of being too slow and reluctant to make changes when things were going badly towards the end of his reign, the South Wales derby being a prime example.
Here, with the team three goals down, Morison was comparatively bold, hauling off Kieron Evans to bring on Harris in a bid to offer his team more energy and dynamism up front.
It worked a charm.
“Sparky changed the game when he came on. He was phenomenal,” Morison continued.
“I’m sure he’ll be champing at the bit to start now. He’ll be disappointed if he doesn’t on Wednesday against QPR so we’ll see what happens.”
Don’t be surprised to see him start as part of an all-Wales front three on Wednesday.
Morison’s knowledge of the academy arguably means he’s well placed to know the exact capabilities of this young squad, and his relationship with the likes of Harris and Colwill will perhaps stand him in good stead over the next two games.
He’s clearly a figure who has plenty of support from the club’s young stars.
“We won’t throw the towel in, there’s no chance of that happening,” Harris said after the game.
“He’s been brilliant. I’ve had him a lot when I was with the 23s as well. When I made that step up to the first team he was brilliant with me and he’s come in, showed us how he wants us to play and we’re just trying to show that on the pitch.
“First 60 minutes wasn’t the best, but everyone sees what he’s trying to do and hopefully it will continue.
“Different managers will have different styles. But he’s come in and given us what he wants us to do and we just want to show that on the pitch.”
Harris was well worth his goal, as too was Colwill, but the sight of Moore back on the scoresheet will have been particularly pleasing, with the Wales striker previously going 12 league games without scoring.
McCarthy seemed at a loss to explain Moore’s recent lack of form at times, and even dropped him for the defeat to Middlesbrough, but Saturday was a timely reminder of just how influential he can be.
Without him, there’s every chance Cardiff would have taken a hammering.
There seemed a real concerted effort to get the 29-year-old in the game as much as possible, and Morison
clearly understands that getting the best out of Moore is undoubtedly going to be the key to getting Cardiff’s season back on track.
It’s for that reason that he admits he gave some of his more creative players a bit of a kick up the backside at half-time.
“Gileo gets a cross in (for the goal),” he said.
“He hasn’t done that for weeks. He didn’t do that in the first half and I told him that at half-time. Then all of a sudden he goes and does it in the second half, and Bob’s your uncle, you get a goal from it.
“Kieffer’s there to put it in the back of the net.”
As Saturday showed, if you give Moore the service, rewards will almost always follow, and Morison recognises that there’s a bigger picture to his star striker’s apparent lack of form.
The former Wales forward still seems an outsider for the top job, and it remains to be seen what the Cardiff hierarchy made of this latest showing, but getting Moore firing again is already a huge tick in Morison’s favour.
It if continues, it may well give the board something to think about.
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