After suffering a heavy defeat and being knocked out of the EFL Trophy in midweek, Cardiff City bounced back against Huddersfield with a 3-2 home win. This was a crucial victory in the race for promotion to the Championship.

Brian Barry-Murphy’s men arrive at the stadium under pressure as league leaders, needing to perform well to maintain their top spot. The coach has made a habit of not necessarily starting key players (J. Colwill or I. Davies, for example). This tactic seems to be paying off in the league, as the team had won two games in a row before this match. The match got off to a great start in the sixth minute with Yousef Salech opening the scoring with a header from a cross by J. Bagan (1-0). The Bluebirds dominated the entire first half but failed to convert their chances, going into the break with the score unchanged.

The second half got off to a terrible start for the Bluebirds, who conceded an equaliser in the 51st minute. It was a magnificent goal, starting with a corner kick and ending with a superb long-range strike (1-1). The coach reacted by bringing on key players J. Colwill and I. Davies. From then on, Cardiff City took control of the match and put increasing pressure on the opposition’s goal. In the 62nd minute, the opposition defence cracked and Yousef Salech scored his second goal of the match (2-1), his first of the season and his ninth goal in 17 games. The match then became more evenly balanced, with Brian Barry-Murphy’s men sometimes looking nervous and not always accurate with the ball. But in the 86th minute, as rain began to fall on Cardiff City Stadium, a ray of sunshine named Isaak Davies arrived on the left side of the box, cut inside and scored with a magnificent strike from the edge of the penalty area (3-1). From then on, the Bluebirds were reassured, perhaps too much so… Because just three minutes later, Huddersfield pulled one back to make it 3-2 and Cardiff City were under pressure until the end of the match. Fortunately, the Welsh side held on and won.

With this latest victory, Brian Barry-Murphy’s men retain their top spot, just one point ahead of their closest rivals. Their next match is on Tuesday 9 December against Stevenage, a rival in the race for promotion to the Championship.