HUGILL’S DREAM CARDIFF DEBUT
JORDAN Hugill says it’s “nice to be at a club that values me” after signing a short-term loan deal with Cardiff City and scoring within six minutes of his debut.
Hugill spent the first half of the season at West Brom on loan from parent club Norwich City.
That agreement was terminated early and the striker will now spend the rest of the campaign in south Wales with the Bluebirds.
Speaking at The Vale Resort, Hugill, who will wear the number nine shirt, said: “I’m delighted to be here.
“It’s nice to be at a club that values me. I’m really appreciative of that. I can’t wait to get firing.
“I’m looking forward to the fight. I feel like we’re in a bit of a false position at the moment.
“We’ve got a bunch of great players here.
“I just want to get involved. I’d like to think I offer something different to what is already here and I’m really looking forward to getting my head down, fighting and scoring some goals.”
It was the second Cardiff signing of the weekend after Alfie Doughty put pen to paper on a loan contract in the Welsh capital from Stoke City – and both went straight into the Bluebirds squad for yesterday’s 2-1 Championship win against Nottingham Forest at the Cardiff City Stadium.
Hugill becomes Cardiff’s fourth January signing, joining Doughty, Cody Drameh from Leeds United and Tommy Doyle from Manchester City.
His opening goal yesterday set the Bluebirds on course for a vital victory over play-off chasing Forest.
Isaak Davies added a second after the break to make the game safe before Keinan Davis’ late consolation.
CARDIFF City broke their sixgame winless run in the Championship thanks to a dream debut goal from Jordan Hugill and a second-half strike from Isaak Davies in their 2-1 win over Nottingham Forest.
Hugill announced himself with just five minutes having been played when he slotted coolly past Brice Samba in the Forest goal.
And in the second half Davies was the beneficiary of some good fortune when he tapped home after Joe Ralls’ strike had hit both the post and the back of Samba, but he won’t care how his first league goal for Cardiff came.
Aston Villa loanee Keinan Davis gave Cardiff a late scare when he headed home a corner four minutes into injury time. But City did enough to cling on.
What was important was that, in front of fans who had been locked out of Cardiff City Stadium for more than a month, the Bluebirds finally got back to winning ways and there
was finally some joy ringing around the place once again.
And with it, potentially, a renewed sense of optimism.
When the team sheets were handed out an hour before kick-off, there was a smattering of surprise to see that both Alfie Doughty and Hugill’s names were on there.
Doughty had been signed on Saturday afternoon but Hugill was cannily announced just two hours before the match kicked off and both were slotted straight into the starting lineup.
Along with Tommy Doyle, Cody Drameh and the recently-recalled Max Watters and Ryan Wintle, there were six members of the starting XI who were not even at the club at the beginning of January.
And it didn’t take long for one of
the newbies to make their mark. Just five minutes were on the clock when Perry Ng stepped out of defence to intercept a pass before carving the visitors wide open with one simple pass through the middle to release Hugill. The striker drove into the box before slotting past Samba to hand the hosts the lead.
The new No. 9 cupped his ear and sprinted to the byline, quite to who that message was intended is unknown, but the Cardiff fans back inside Cardiff City Stadium didn’t care one jot.
The team’s slick passing and confidence was almost as changed as the team sheet. The Bluebirds had an air of endeavour about them as they pinged balls about with a poise which has been scarcely seen this season.
They had to be at their defensive best at times, though, especially with the electric Brennan Johnson causing so many problems.
It was a baptism of fire in that sense for debutant Doughty, but, to his credit, he gave as good as he got for the most part.
Doyle and Drameh struck up a nice partnership on the right-hand side, firing in a series of dangerous crosses, one of which almost saw Hugill nab his second, but Samba this time got down to deny a sweetlystruck half-volley.
Joe Ralls almost got his name on the scoresheet, too, when he pinged a beautiful volley from 30 yards, only to see it whistle past the upright.
What was most telling, though, is just how vociferously the team were applauded off the pitch at half-time. The supporters were liking what they were seeing.
But there have been positive firsthalf performances before now and they have been thrown away; this performance had to be sustained.
The first big scare of the second half came when Sean Morrison hit the deck under little pressure from James Garner, who took the ball and fizzed a ball across the face of goal, but it evaded Johnson’s outstretched boot by a matter of inches.
But despite an improved display from the visitors, it was Cardiff who struck next not long after the hour.
Ralls took possession of the ball 25 yards from goal and took one look before sending a terrific effort into the far post. The ball ricocheted off Samba’s back and kindly into the path of substitute Davies, who couldn’t have wished for an easier opportunity to slot home his first league goal.
Both Djed Spence and Xande Silva spurned pretty decent chances for the visitors late on, ones they would come to rue when the final whistle went.
But because so often have Cardiff been the ones who are left disappointed, the level of City’s performance perhaps warranted them being on the right side of misfortune for a change.
There was a nervy last couple of minutes, though. Davis rose tallest in the box and squeezed his header home at the near post. But it was too little, too late in the end.
With a packed schedule ahead, and the small matter of transfer deadline day today, Cardiff will hope this is the beginning of an extremely positive period for them.
And they certainly need it to be.