Brian Barry-Murphy spoke to the press after the Bluebirds maintained their brilliant home record with a victory over in-form Birmingham City.
“It was a very special day for us.” Brian began. “We spent a lot of time in Aberfan during the week and we understood what the day meant to everybody, so to give everybody the victory that was so badly wanted is very special for everyone.
"I had an awareness of what happened there, but I never knew the depth of what went on and what people experienced. So then I learned about it, was educated and we organised a visit there during the week. I think it was very important for the players to watch the footage to understand what the people there have been through. The day up there was very important, and while you're there it's, naturally, emotionally very difficult.
"Football's football, and we couldn't guarantee that we were going to win today, but we had to produce a performance that looked as if we understood what we were playing for. On such a poignant date, it's very important that we played the way we did.
“I think it's great because we're so stretched. Krystian Bielik pulled out at the last moment, so we had to make a change in the last minutes before we went onto the pitch. The players' ability to understand the alteration, what we needed to do, and to take it on board, to see it as an opportunity to produce a performance that was so dominant, is testament to the players' attitude and their ability to really overcome any challenges put in front of them.”
A late injury to Bielik meant an earlier return to action for Yousef Salech, who marked it with a well-taken first half goal.
“We didn't expect Yousef to be playing any longer than 45 minutes under any circumstances.” Brian continued. “But Birmingham are a very dangerous team with a really big set play presence, and it was important to have Yousef on the pitch for that. We could have played Chris Willock, but I felt as if it was important that we had a chance to defend the set plays that we would face.”
"[The goal] was a brilliant move and some of our play in the first half was very incisive, so we were getting good chances and I think even in the second half, Yousef had good chances. Once he gets back into his rhythm and is fully fit, he'll take those chances. I’m very pleased that he did such a great job for the team in such unexpected circumstances."
City got their first clean sheet of the season after some impressive defensive work from the backline, which included a first start of the season for Will Fish.
Brian continued: "It was the next thing to tick off for us. We've had a lot of really positive performances here, and to produce the performance we did is very satisfying, but at the end, the defensive players especially want to have that clean sheet, and to get it today was totally deserved.
“The intention wasn't to have Will back so soon playing such minutes but he did a great job. He was very important to keep us really solid. Joel Bagan stepped in and did the type of job he's done for us all season. He was incredible.”