PENALTY MISS WAS ‘POETIC JUSTICE’
NEIL Warnock described Kenedy’s last-gasp penalty miss for Newcastle United against Cardiff City as ‘poetic justice’ after the Brazilian had escaped a red card for an earlier challenge on Victor Camarasa.
The Bluebirds put in a muchimproved display in yesterday’s 0-0 draw with Newcastle, which was marked by Isaac Hayden’s 66th minute red card and Neil Etheridge’s stoppage-time save from Kenedy’s spot-kick.
And Warnock believed his team deserved at least a point after a positive performance in front of more than 30,000 people at Cardiff City Stadium.
He said: “It would have been devastating to lose at that stage, but quite poetic justice I thought. My dad used to say ‘what goes around, comes around’ so I think that was poetic justice, the penalty miss.”
Warnock grudgingly agreed with the decision by referee Craig Pawson to penalise Sean Morrison for handball deep into added time, giving Newcastle the chance to nick a win.
“I think his arm was very close to being outside the box, his body is inside the box but it was a hairline,” said Warnock on the penalty.
“But no complaints if you put your hand up.
“I never even saw that Kenedy should have been sent off in the first half, like the referee I looked away and missed it. The fourth official saw it to give a foul but it was one of those things.
“There’s never a dull moment, I thought it was a good 0-0. I’m quite pleased with the whole afternoon apart from not scoring.
“The last third we could have done better with the ball and create better chances and our free kicks were poor today, so things to work on there.”
Warnock also singled out the impact the new signings made.
“You can see what they give us, they give us that quality,” he added.
“They make us play more and that’s what we need, we want to play and entertain and give you people (the media) a bit more to write about.
“Better players make you play better. I was pleased with Victor, he’s not played at that level for a long time so there’s so many pluses for us today.
“I’m really proud to be manager of the whole club today, this is what we’ve worked hard to do and we’re not going to give it up without a fight.
“There were so many pluses, Ken Zohore, apart from the last 10 minutes when he was shattered, I wanted to bring him off then Junior went down.
“Sol (Bamba) went up too early for a header, Ken could have chested a ball down then rolled it in but things like that we have to work on at the training ground.
“But it’s great to give a team like Newcastle a really good run for their money. I think they’ll be going back up the motorway quite happy with a point, even though they had the penalty opportunity.”
As for the penalty hero, Etheridge, who denied Bournemouth’s Callum Wilson from the penalty spot in last week’s 2-0 defeat on the south coast, said on Sky Sports: “I don’t want it to become a regular occurrence - that’s two in two now.
“We deserved at least a point. I think we could have won it but we’ll take the point and are very happy to move on to next week.
“We were slightly unlucky last week but it’s good to get a point on the board today.”
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