THE MAIN TALKING POINTS FROM CARDIFF CITY’S FINE 3-1 WIN OVER NORWICH CITY
CARDIFF City produced a magnificent fightback to stun Norwich City 3-1 on Friday night.
The Bluebirds, who went behind to a Marco Stiepermann strike, responded with goals from Joe Ralls, Junior Hoilett and Omar Bogle to cruise to a fourth successive win.
These are the main talking points to emerge from the match... THE COMEBACK KINGS STRIKE AGAIN THIS was the third home game this season in which Cardiff have come from 1-0 down to salvage valuable points.
They went down early on against Queens Park Rangers and won 2-1, snatched a late 1-1 draw with Sheffield Wednesday and against Norwich produced something special to turn a poor performance on its head.
In away games at Burton, Fulham, Wolves and Sunderland, Cardiff also conjured up late goals to win points from drawing positions, meaning they have now secured nine points from losing positions so far this term. That’s the difference between being second and fifth in the table.
More importantly, they are showing the kind of character and resolve needed to remain at the top end of a ruthless division.
In other words, Cardiff are difficult to budge, both in a 90-minute contest and from the promotion picture. Under-estimate them at your peril. A TALE OF TWO SPOT-KICKS JOE Ralls looked all set to confirm himself as Cardiff City’s Mr Reliable from the penalty spot when something virtually unprecedented occurred.
Having slotted his first penalty beyond Angus Gunn to level the scores on 48 minutes, Ralls confidently stepped up hoping to make it 3-1 after Gunn had brought down Lee Tomlin. But he tried to be too cute. The penalty went straight down the middle, with Gunn making a simple stop having intelligently stood his ground.
Yet Neil Warnock revealed afterwards that Ralls shouldn’t have been taking it in the first place. The manager usually changes his penalty-taker if his side get a second spot-kick.
“It’s a lesson for me,” said Warnock. “Because I’ve never allowed let anybody to take two penalties in the same game.
“I forgot to mention it to them, but we never get two penalties.”
Ralls has three from four spotkicks this season, a decent record. But he might find in the future he never takes more than one in a single match. BOGLE COMES BACK WITH A VENGEANCE IF people doubted the way Warnock handled the fall-out from Omar Bogle’s red card at Bristol City – “I can’t say anything good about him because he’s cost us the game” – then this 45-minute cameo from the back-up striker further highlighted the Cardiff boss as an exemplary man-manager.
Bogle was introduced at half-time for a weary-looking Danny Ward and immediately provided a spark the Bluebirds were hitherto lacking.
He combines the pace of Ward with the strength of Kenneth Zohore and, with three goals in his last three matches, knows how to find the net. His nonchalant flick to convert Callum Paterson’s cross for Cardiff’s third goal was a thing of beauty – and well deserved for a matchdefining performance.
The former Grimsby Town striker has surely put himself right in the mix for a regular starting berth if he can continue in this vein. He just needs to watch his temperament and stay in Warnock’s good books. THE RISE AND RISE OF SEAN MORRISON SEAN Morrison has received his fair share of criticism over recent years.
There was a vocal portion of Cardiff fans who wanted the captain sidelined for a Bruno Manga-Sol Bamba centre-back pairing.
But it finally looks like Warnock’s faith in the man who wears the armband is paying off.
Because while Manga looked a