MALKY PRAISES TERRIFIC CITY DISPLAY
Manager commends his troops after resilient display
Malky Mackay
spoke of his pride in his team's performance on Sunday, despite Tottenham Hotspur's injury time match-winner at Cardiff City Stadium.
The Bluebirds once again put on a display that more than matched title-challenging Spurs, though Paulinho's tap-in two minutes into injury time ended City's four match unbeaten run.
“The harsh reality is that Tottenham were clinical in the last minute,” said Malky.
“I'm more disappointed with the disallowed goal. If you look at it again, it's [Spurs 'keeper] Lloris who has his hands on Gunnarsson. For me it's a clear goal.
“We had some good chances but it's about being clinical. We played against a terrific team and they were clinical in the last minute.”
Malky was full of praise for his team, renowned for their work rate, individually and as a group battling to make Tottenham's life incredibly difficult over ninety minutes.
Ben Turner and Steven Caulker were exceptional, blocking a multitude of shots; City's midfield's tenacious work restricted Spurs to firing from outside the area for long periods.
“We were terrific today - to a man, our players were terrific,” Malky continued.
“They played against a really good team. We've played three teams at Cardiff City Stadium in our first three games that finished in the top-six last season. We've absolutely gone toe to toe with each of them and taken four points from those games.
“The fans have seen that work ethic and I'm disappointed for the group in there. But, I am very proud of them and I'm glad I'm in the trenches with them.
“There are less games [in the Barclays Premier League] than in the Championship, so you have a bit longer to recover; we've got very good people at the club on the sports science and medical team helping the players.
“They are a very fit bunch who work hard for each other. That will not change this season no matter what happens in terms of results. It hasn't changed for two years and it won't start now.”
David Marshallonce again performed admirably with an assured performance in goal and the Manager finished his press conference by heaping praise on the Scotland stopper.
“David was the goalkeeper of the Championship last year, I think everybody accepts that,” he commented. “He's come into the Premier League and he's in the Scotland squad and going from strength to strength.
“He's looked so comfortable against the teams we've played and he's a very calm individual. He's a goalkeeper that is going from strength to strength.”
