Lambert lights up Bluebirds
PAUL TROLLOPE felt keeping cool heads was the key to Cardiff’s comeback win at fellow basement-battlers Rotherham.
Former England man Rickie Lambert struck his first two goals for the Bluebirds for a much-needed victory – following four defeats on the spin.
Izzy Brown had put the hosts in front on 60 minutes but Lambert’s quickfire double turned the game on its head to lift Cardiff out of the relegation zone.
“I’ve got pride in the players,” beamed City boss Trollope.
“We were in a difficult situation but we’ve worked hard in the week. We’ve worked especially on the mental side of things.
“The most important thing we’ve got is spirit in the group.
“We needed to get out of this bad run but we knew we couldn’t just flick a switch.
“We’ve got out of this run but we have to give credit to Rotherham.
“To go a goal down was difficult but it’s how you react.
“Here we showed not only spirit but also character. The goals from Rickie really turned the tide quickly.”
The Millers and Bluebirds entered the game in 21st and 24th position in the Championship respectively, and it was little surprise that the game started tentatively.
Misplaced passes were all too common before centre-half Dael Fry registered the first effort on goal when his point-blank effort was cleverly kept out by Ben Amos.
Danny Ward followed that up with decent attempts, the second one a tricky shot that Amos did well to claw away from the bottom corner.
Cardiff had failed to properly test Lee Camp in the home goal, but Joe Ralls fired a warning sign when his thunderbolt just fizzed over the bar.
Rotherham came out the hungrier after the interval and after patient build-up play, Chelsea loanee Brown duly opened the scoring on the hour mark.
Brown steered home from the right-hand side of the box after Jon Taylor’s initial shot was parried in the box and Cardiff failed to clear their lines.
But Rotherham have the leakiest defence in the division for a good reason, and Lambert punished them with two strikes in quick succession.
The Bluebirds restored parity on 73 minutes when Lambert got his head on the end of a Peter Whittingham free-kick and the ball flew beyond Camp for City’s first goal in just over four hours of league action.
And Lambert was at it again minutes later when he bundled in a second which took a slight deflection before trickling past Camp to seal a long overdue win for City.
Millers chief Alan Stubbs bemoaned the result, but insists his side’s performance merited at least a point.
“We deserved more of the game than what we got,” said Stubbs. “I can’t fault the effort and desire of the players or their attitude.
“We’re just not getting the rewards at the moment.
“I thought their first goal was poorly defended by us and we need to do better at defending free-kicks. That goal gave them some impetus.
“Their second goal sums up the bad luck we are having right now.
“But what we must do now is keep working hard on the training ground and hope that we get some justice in our upcoming games.”