THE LAST WORD DOMINIC BOOTH AT CARDIFF CITY STADIUM

NEIL Warnock’s Bluebirds were indebted against little Burton to a 22-year-old striker whose Cardiff career had stagnated to the point where his future seemed unclear.

As his peers, Tommy O’Sullivan, Tom James, Eli Phipps and Theo Wharton, all sought moves away from South Wales as part of a major clearout of the Under-23 squad, Rhys Healey was having a major say on first team affairs.

His late winner against Burton was unlikely for many reasons. First, because the front-man would still be on loan at Newport County if it weren’t for a disagreement between Neil Warnock and Exiles boss Graham Westley.

Secondly because Healey looked destined for a further loan until Warnock revealed he didn’t have the available funds for a new striker.

Finally – and most pertinently – because the first 89 minutes of a drab contest with Burton never suggested either side would break the deadlock.

But an unlikely hero has been born, with Warnock admitting Healey would stay around the first team squad for the next few months.

“I was tempted not to use him (Healey) because it means he can’t go out on loan now with that rule about playing for more than two teams,” said the Cardiff boss.

“He’s stuck with us under the end of the season now, poor bugger!”

Whether the introduction of Healey was a political, rather than tactical move by Warnock is unclear. Rickie Lambert is out of sorts and Frederic Gounongbe has never found form in a Bluebirds shirt. Warnock may have planned to utilise Healey all along as Kenneth Zohore ran himself into the ground for 67 minutes.

Whatever, were it not for Healey Cardiff would not have won. So what is his story? Born in Manchester but schooled in North Wales, Healey earned his spurs in the Welsh Premier League, scoring goals for fun as a teenage striker at Connah’s Quay Nomads.

It was there he was spotted by Cardiff scouts and brought to South Wales in 2014.

The path of non-league (or in this case Welsh League) to Championship or Premier League is now a welltrodden one. Jamie Vardy and Charlie Austin have proven that late bloomers can turn into world class talents. And though Healey was approaching 20 when he arrived in South Wales, it was hoped loan spells would quicken his development. Healey’s Cardiff City debut came back in May 2014, alongside another teenager prodigy, Tom James, as Ole Gunnar Solksjaer gave youth its chance in a dead-rubber against Chelsea which marked Cardiff’s Premier League farewell.

It is perhaps poignant that Healey replaced a Bluebirds legend, Craig Bellamy, that day, as ‘Bellers’ bid his own goodbyes to Cardiff City Stadium before retirement.

Nobody is suggesting Healey will fill Bellamy’s considerable shoes (not yet, anyway) but fast forward three years – just as the club’s new Player Development Manager overhauls the Under-23 squad – and Healey’s telling first-team contribution comes at the perfect time. Stints at Colchester United and Dundee yielded little reward. But it was just down the road at Newport where Healey would catch the eye, despite scoring just six league strikes in 17 County appearances.

But his attitude impressed Warnock, who values workrate as high as any manager.

“I watched Rhys Healey myself and his finishing let him down at Newport, but his honesty will make him a good living,” added the Cardiff boss, who then had no qualms in gambling with Healey’s introduction as the Burton game petered towards a frustrating draw. Bellamy was ushered in to oversee an Under-23 revolution. He deemed the Bluebirds’ youth set-up inadequate and wanted to merge the U18s and U23s with the intention of bringing players through at a younger age.

It is therefore significant that, of all the players to depart in the past fortnight, the 22-year-old Healey has remained, and is now – after years of patience – getting a chance.

O’Sullivan and Wharton in particular were once heralded as young gems destined to make a big impact on the Bluebirds’ first team. But it’s Healey who is now coming to the fore. His close-range finish to sink the Brewers was a ‘right place, right time’ goal, the hallmark of a poacher.

Lambert’s free-kick cannoned off the Burton wall, Kadeem Harris manufactured some space down the left flank... and there was Healey to do what no Cardiff player had even looked like doing for 89 minutes.

The Canton End roared their approval, welcoming a new hero, who