The Cardiff City player who benefited most from three-month break
The Bluebirds put in a top performance to topple Championship high-flyers Leeds United
By Glen Williams
Monday 21st June 2020
Cardiff City manager Neil Harris believes goalscorer Junior Hoilett is the player who has benefited the most from the three-month lay-off after he shone in the win over Leeds United.
The winger opened the scoring in the 2-0 win over the Yorkshire club, but was arguably City's most dangerous player throughout the match.
Hoilett was one of the standout performers for the Bluebirds in their promotion-winning season of two years ago, but has struggled to rekindle his very best form this year, showing it in only fits and starts.
But Harris has put that down to the sheer volume of games the Canada international has had to player over the last three years has hindered that spark and energy, so synonymous with a jinking Hoilett run.
The winger's tremendous solo goal, the first of the match, when he drove at the Leeds defence before unleashing a venomous, left-footed strike from range was a glimpse of the old Hoilett.
And the City boss believes there is far more to come from him over the course of the next eight games, believing him to be reinvigorated for the end-of-season run-in.
"You look at Junior Hoilett's performance today," Neil Harris said after the match. "There is one player that really benefited from the break.
"He had been mowed into the ground for the last three years, playing game after game here, international duty, never properly getting a break.
"I'm not putting too much pressure on his shoulders, but we know he is an extremely vital player for us and he showed his quality today."
After Hoilett's goal, he and the rest of his team-mates made a beeline for the touchline, where a tributary shirt for Peter Whittingham awaited.
Hoilett hoisted the shirt aloft as a small gesture to his former team-mate, but believed it was also a great nod to the late midfielder that his rasping, curled shot from outside the area wouldn't have looked out of place in a Whittingham highlights reel.
"It was a touching moment for a team-mate and a good friend," the winger told Sky Sports after the match.
"He was a great team-mate as well, so it was great to have a Peter Whittingham-type goal with my left foot which was a tribute to him as well."
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