Brian Barry-Murphy spoke to the press after City began their competitive season with a 3-2 victory over Swindon Town in the Carabao Cup.
“We're very pleased to get through, in a tournament that was very special to us last season.” Brian began. “The main objective today was to get through to the second round, so we're very pleased to achieve that.
“I think a Cup game, when it comes round, is always different to the pre-season fixtures, whatever they look like. So, we're very pleased to get that first game under our belts. We did really well and we can obviously do better, but where we are in the season, I think it's perfectly normal.
“I think we can improve. Parts of our game were very good - as in previous weeks, we're making good progress. But the game became quite different in the second half, and it was a very dry day. We found it hard to play our normal style as the game went on, but it was a good test for us.”
Yousef Salech equalised for City from the penalty spot, before scoring a volley from a Cian Ashford cross.
On Yousef, Brian said: “I think he's improving a lot. We're very mindful of how serious that injury was, so we're trying to be understanding and mindful of that when we go through his training and his progress, but we're starting to see that he's feeling really good and positive. I'm very pleased for him to get another full 90 minutes under his belt.”
He added: “I thought Cian was our best player. He looked really expressive, worked really hard, gave us good control and created the best moments for us when he had the ball. He's making great progress and doing really well.”
Jack Moylan came off the bench for an impressive debut and marked it with a goal, as well as some very solid defensive work.
"He only trained with us for one day, so I was mindful of not really being sure how much work he's done in pre-season.” Brian said. “I know he would have done pre-season training with Lincoln, but whenever you have a period where you're joining a new club, from my experience it can be a little bit unsettling. So we're trying to get him up to speed as soon as possible.
"The most important thing, obviously, it is the way he's going to improve and work for the team, and you can see that at the end of the game. It is important for the players to understand how committed he is to our team from day one.
“The game was up for grabs and Swindon had come back into it strongly, as we expected, and we weren't able to create the chances to put the game to bed. So it was very relieving to have a finish of that quality to give us the lead.”
After Perry Ng filled in at centre back, the boss provided an update on Dylan Lawlor, Calum Chambers and Will Fish, who are all suffering with injuries, along with Rubin Colwill.
“Will is having surgery on a hernia on Monday. He'll be out for up to three months. Dylan hasn't trained this week. It's hard to put a timescale on that, because it has been an ongoing issue. Calum has a knee issue and again, there's no time scale on that. Rubin's ankle isn't quite right.”
Watch more from Brian, Cian Ashford and Yousef Salech on Cardiff City TV.