WARNOCK TO CASH IN WITH ACE HOILETT
CARDIFF boss Neil Warnock reckons the best of Junior Hoilett is yet to come despite the winger starring in their win over promotion-chasing Huddersfield.
First-half strikes from Sean Morrison, Hoilett and Rickie Lambert ensured it was another away day for the Terriers to forget.
Hoilett, who played under Warnock at QPR, is once again shining under his guidance, bagging his first goal for his new club since arriving on a free transfer last month.
Terriers substitute Philip Billing’s wonder-strike with 20 minutes remaining made it 3-2, but Cardiff would just about hold on for victory.
Warnock only had kind words for Hoilett – and could not believe he wasn’t snapped up in the summer following his release from QPR.
He said: “I’m glad his dad represents him because he asks for too much money! I rang him about five times in the middle of the summer, when I kept thinking I was getting a club, to keep him on board.
“I did think he’d get snapped up if I’m honest. I don't know why he didn’t because the money he’s on is not astronomical.
“But, I said to him ‘come until January and I’ll put you in the shop window’. But he wanted to come until the end of the season, which I thought was brilliant. He does enjoy playing for me.
“Now, you’ll see him get better than how he played here because he can score goals.”
Cardiff took the lead in the 15th minute when their skipper Morrison connected with Peter Whittingham’s corner to head past Danny Ward.
Warnock’s men doubled their goal advantage just two minutes later after Ward spilled Anthony Pilkington’s shot, and it fell to Hoilett who slotted home.
Huddersfield pulled one back through Tommy Smith after Kasey Palmer’s clever through ball found the skipper, who smashed the ball past Ben Amos.
But the Bluebirds restored their two-goal advantage just five minutes later as the Terriers failed to deal with another setpiece. A pumped ball into the box was headed on by Morrison and volleyed in by Lambert, who was making his first home start since recovering from injury.
Cardiff could’ve gone into the break 4-1 up, but Whittingham was inches away from connecting with Lambert’s cross.
Huddersfield have failed to win in seven games at Cardiff City Stadium. But they looked like snatching a draw after Billing smashed the ball into the top corner from distance with 20 minutes left.
And it was a nail-biting moment for Warnock’s side when Nahki Wells’ cross was missed by another Terriers substitute Sean Scannell by inches.
Fortunately for Cardiff, they held on thanks to valiant defending from their new centre-back pairing of Morrison and Sol Bamba.
Huddersfield boss David Wagner bemoaned his side’s inability to defend set-pieces – a corner and a free-kick led to Cardiff ’s first and third goal.
He said: “We’re struggling to defend them, especially away from home. We were aware about it, we worked on it, but defending set-pieces is always about one against one and we lost too many of them.
“What went wrong also went wrong at Preston and Fulham. We have to blame ourselves, we’ve worked a lot on them.”