IT’S A JOR BREAKER
Rhodes keeps Wednesday sweet
JUST as hunger makes for a good kitchen, then a points deduction seems to have made for a ravenous Sheffield Wednesday.
They helped themselves to Cardi f f ’ s buffet- spread defending and left town with full bellies, having gorged on goals by Josh Windass and Jordan Rhodes.
They still have that longerterm empty feeling from a 12-point deduction for breaking profit and sustainability rules, but for manager Garry Monk this win showed the kind of appetite for the fight he knows he needs to see if the Owls are to survive.
Cardiff – with Kieffer Moore making his Championship debut for the club at the ground where he has tasted glory with Wales – were easily blunted and then shunted aside.
After galvanising his players with a post-match speech on the pitch, Monk said: “We had heart, desire and organisation.
“We took our chances well and the boys defended superbly. Unity and spirit is key to give ourselves the best chance in our situation.
“The message at the end to ourselves, and to the fans, was that we are together and we are going to fight for the club and for that shirt. But it’s one game out of 46. We are not going to get ahead of ourselves. We need that kind of performance now in the other 45 matches.
“There will be setbacks along the way, but we’re going to give it a real go.”
Wednesday still plan to appeal their punishment, but they should not hold their breath and the reality is they will likely need another 60 points to stay up. Cardiff have recruited well in this window and they gave debuts to Jordi Osei-Tutu – loaned from Arsenal – and Sheyi Ojo, borrowed from
Liverpool, as well as Moore. But they sacked winger Nathaniel Mendez-Laing in midweek for an as yet unspecified breach of contract, and the turbulence left them looking airsick.
Windass showed why Monk was so keen to convert his loan spell from Wigan into a permanent deal when he raced on to the impressive Isaiah Brown’s through ball and fired home the first goal after just four minutes.
The striker then turned creator by heading down from a set-piece for Rhodes to score his first goal since last December on the stroke of half-time.
Cardiff rarely looked like pulling one goal back, never mind two, and for manager Neil
Harris it ended an unhappy few days that began with a 3- 0 defeat to Northampton in the Carabao Cup.
“I think it’s fair to say it’s been a challenging week,” he admitted. “We dominated possession and had a lot of the ball, but we got done by two sucker punches.”
CARDIFF CITY: Smithies 6, Osei-Tutu 6, Morrison 5, Nelson 5, Bennett 5, Vaulks 5, Ralls 5 (Glatzel 58, 4), Bacuna 5, Ojo 4 (Tomlin 63, 5), Moore 5, Hoilett 5 (Murphy 58, 4).
Subs not used: Day, Bamba, Pack, Paterson.
SHEFF WEDS: Dawson 7, Iorfa 7, Lees 7, van Aken 7, Harris 6, Luongo 6, Bannan 7, Brown 8, Penney 6 (Palmer 77), Rhodes 7 (Reach 65, 6), Windass 8 (Kachunga 69, 6). Subs not used: Wildsmith, Palmer, Pelupessy, DeleBashiru, Shaw.
MAN OF THE MATCH: Josh Windass. Dangerous, determined and decisive. His old man Dean would have loved it.
REFEREE: Andrew Madley 7.