RUSSELL: CONFIDENCE GAINED WITH MORE WORK TO BE DONE

Club News

Speaking to the assembled press, Russell Slade alluded to a solid, building-block win over visitors Colchester United. A 3-1 victory sees Cardiff City become the first team to progress to the fourth round of the FA Cup.

“I think in the Cup it’s about getting through,” Russell admitted. “You don’t particularly need replays at this stage of the season either because we’ve had a lot of games. To get through safely and comfortably enough was the goal – we made six changes, and a few more throughout the game. The biggest disappointment is that we gave them one in the end.confidence gained

“We were hoping for a clean sheet – which we haven’t had in recent weeks – but we took our goals really well.

“I think it can provide a springboard because we’ve won a football match. It is important because we can gain confidence from this. This is a work in progress, there’s a lot of work to be done. We need time to sort things out. I will sort it in the end.”

Joe Ralls’ deflected shot gave Cardiff the lead in the first 45 minutes before Kadeem Harris’ bicycle kick doubled the score eight minutes after the restart. Kenwyne Jones found the net just seconds after coming on as a substitute and though Freddie Sears hit a composed consolation the evening was to be Cardiff’s.

“I think there were a few decent performances,” Russell told. “Tom Adeyemi could have grabbed a goal or two his self tonight with the opportunities he had. Joe Ralls grew into the game and got better as the match went on.

“You want the players to impress. Kadeem Harris has grabbed his first goal, which is pleasing. It’s the first time I’ve seen Connolly at centre half other than on DVD – that was something I wanted to look at tonight.

“Simon Moore had a very competent performance in goal – I was pleased at that. All in all, there were some good aspects - though we still have a lot of room for improvement.”