BLUEBIRDS OFF THE CANVAS... AND BACK IN FRAME
THE message from everyone connected with Cardiff City ahead of this trip to Carrow Road was clear - ‘Don’t panic’.
Yet before Kenneth Zohore came off the bench to steady Cardiff City nerves with a well-taken strike from the tightest of angles, the Cardiff faithful would arguably have had every right to be a little bit nervous about their chances of beating Fulham to a place in the Premier League.
Having marched their way into the top two of the Championship with that marvellous run of eight straight wins, Cardiff have seen their promotion credentials placed firmly under the microscope in recent weeks.
Of course, by reaching the playoffs this is already set to go down as a remarkable season, but try telling that to Cardiff fans who, understandably, don’t want to let this opportunity of earning a place in the promised land slip through their fingers.
Having seen their side take just one point from their last three, the sight of Junior Hoilett adding a brilliant second in Norfolk by burying a sublime volley into the net deep into stoppage time will have done well to settle a few nerves - and lay down a marker for Fulham, who were held to a draw by Brentford, in the race for second.
This certainly wasn’t a vintage performance, but a first ever league dou-
ble over the Canaries could well have given the shot in the arm that Cardiff’s promotion bid so sorely needed.
The trio of Marko Grujic, Callum Paterson and Zohore, has been at the heart of so much that’s been good about the Bluebirds this season, but none of them were given the nod for a start in East Anglia.
And a bruising opening 45 minutes of football perhaps suggested it was a move that would back-fire as Norwich started the brighter, with Sol Bamba having to be alert to slide in and deny Josh Murphy inside the area after just six minutes.
Murphy was a troubling presence for the visiting defence for much of the first half, winning a corner that saw Dennis Srbeny warm the palms of Neil Etheridge with a disappointingly tame low shot inside the area.
Cardiff responded, and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing looked like the most likely source of joy, first teeing up Craig Bryson, who fired over the bar, before seeing Harrison Reed’s outstretched toe deny Hoilett from close range after a brilliantly menacing fizzed ball across the box.
Back came Norwich, with another last-ditch intervention from Bamba denying Srbeny on 25 minutes, an incident that saw the Ivorian forced off with injury shortly after the Norwich striker later flicked an effort back off the post following a wellworked corner.
Paterson was introduced at the break in a bid to sprinkle some stardust onto Cardiff’s efforts in the final third, with a first club goal still eluding January signing Gary Madine, who glanced a header just wide shortly after the restart.
James Maddison and Alex Tettey fired over for the hosts at the other end, but the likelihood of a goalless draw nevertheless began to blanket over Carrow Road, a ground where Warnock had previously been defeated in seven of his last nine visits.
And when Zohore came off the bench to tap Hoilett’s fizzed low cross past the post, this game seemed set for a verdict of ‘one of those days’.
But, not for the first time, the Dane was rewarded for his perseverance.
Having seen his initial goalbound header parried away by Angus Gunn, the striker dusted himself off, pounced on the rebound, and slotted home from the most impossible of angles.
That goal clearly reawakened the Cardiff we all know and love. There was more zip, more confidence and, as Hoilett’s superb volley deep into stoppage time showed, more quality.
This was another demonstration of the spirit and grit running through the veins of this team.
Warnock used the analogy of a winning boxer getting up when he’s down when talking about this clash. Given the physical battle it proved to be, it was probably an appropriate one to use.