Cardiff are ‘very good at time-wasting’
A third win in a row and a fifth in their last seven matches enabled second-placed Cardiff to keep Wolves’ lead in the Championship at four points.
Nottingham Forest had plenty of possession, but Neil Warnock’s players were quite content to sit back and wait for the chance to punish them on the counter-attack. However, Mark Warburton, the Forest manager, was less than impressed with some of Cardiff ’s methods, particularly with what he saw as delaying tactics when there was a dead ball or a substitution.
Although two Cardiff players were booked for time-wasting, Warburton felt the officials should have done more: “I respect Neil and I have no problem with the way he sets his teams up, but we were frustrated at many things, the continual delaying. Cardiff are very good at what they do. I have to be careful what I say – I want to stay within the letter of the law. It has to be managed better by certain people. Surely you deal with that early? Stamp it out and it doesn’t become a problem.”
Warnock had his response prepared when asked to comment afterwards, claiming the only error referee Peter Bankes made was to show Forest’s Armand Traore only a yellow card for an early foul on Callum Paterson. “What you should be talking about is how lucky they were to have 11 men on the field after that Traore challenge,” he said. “It was horrendous, as bad a redcard challenge as you will see.
“It should have been a straight red. You talk about somebody getting booked for time-wasting and Traore gets a yellow card for that. If they’re worth the same, there’s something wrong.” Warburton felt they were denied a “nailed-on penalty” later in the first half when a cross by Traore struck defender Bruno Ecuele Manga’s right hand.
Yet Cardiff deserved the win. Sloppy Forest defending allowed Junior Hoilett to steal in unmarked to head them in front after 24 minutes. Danny Ward made it 2-0 after 38 minutes with a 20-yard shot.