Warnock revels in winning ugly
IT WAS tennis coach Brad Gilbert who wrote the book Winning Ugly, but when it comes to football, the master of that approach is Neil Warnock.
There is nothing extravagant or fancy about how the 69-year- old is taking Cardiff towards what would be the eighth promotion of his 38-year management career.
But after Kenneth Zohore’s scruffy late goal settled a horrible match, his team stand only six points shy of once runaway Championshp leaders Wolves and with a four-point gap above Aston Villa in third.
‘I said to them after the game, “You do me proud”,’ Warnock said. ‘We have not got RollsRoyces in our team but, by gum, we have some endeavour.
‘ It was never going to be pretty, the pitch was terrible, the wind was bad, it was the coldest day of the year.
‘But I said to them at halftime that it will be a sloppy goal that settles it and to make sure it wasn’t us that made the mistake for it to happen. I was delighted to come out of it with three points.’
Zohore — a Danish striker whose father from the Ivory Coast is a cousin of Didier Drogba — had been left out of Warnock’s starting line-up but after coming on at half-time he was in the right place at the right time when a Joe Ralls cross spun into his path.
It was one of the few moments of quality in a match of 38 fouls, as Bristol arrived with what seemed like a determination to get their retaliation in first.
Only a few weeks ago, their young manager Lee Johnson won plaudits for going to the Etihad Stadium in the Carabao Cup semi- finals and taking on Pep Guardiola at his own free-flowing game. This time, on the day he might have been at Wembley in the final of that cup, he chose to play Cardiff at their own game and it really came unstuck.
‘We set up with a side to be very good at physical duels but then we didn’t get the ball down and show enough bravery to play,’ Johnson said.
‘We have to be better. We didn’t come to play their game, but I did pick players who would be good in individual duels.
‘ Let’s face it, it was a horrible game. I get in for free and I still wanted my money back.’
Bristol set the tone after only five minutes when Nathan Baker was booked for catching Callum Paterson with a stray arm. Cardiff players surrounded referee Paul Tierney demanding a red instead of the yellow he produced.
Matthew Connolly was also booked for hauling down Joe Bryan in a way that would have made any Welsh rugby player proud, and Tierney deserved credit for trying his best to manage the game and keep his cards in his pocket.
If you wanted football, then Frank Fielding’s routine save from a good effort by Liam Feeney, who ran on to Sol Bamba’s clever pass, was as good as it got.
The war of attrition carried on in the second half until Ralls suddenly found a bit of space to set up the winner.
Johnson threw on winger Ryan Kent and midfielder Liam Walsh and in the final five minutes Bristol looked like creating something.
But by then it was too late and Warnock was on his way to his fourth win and fourth clean sheet in a row.