Sparky the bright spark
By Glenn Williams
Monday 30th November 2020
When Mark Harris' name was written on the Bluebirds team sheet, there was a mixture of excitement and trepidation.
It was exciting in that Neil Harris had entrusted an academy product to lead the line alongside Kieffer Moore, but a tension owing to an untried, untested youngster starting such an important game in the context of the season and the manager's tenure.
But from the very off, the 21-year-old they call 'Sparky' was bright, energetic and his body was clearly coursing with adrenaline and a desire to impress.
The manager said back in September that Harris offers that little something different, a striker who runs off the shoulder and stretches the opposition defence, and that is exactly what he brought against Luton.
His striker's instincts to make clever runs into the channels and anticipate flick-ons from his towering strike partner Moore wreaked havoc all afternoon and City's forward players reaped the benefits.
Vincent Tan's vision for the club is to up the Welsh contingent, providing a far greater proportion of Wales' squad than they have done in recent years. Well, on Saturday, Cardiff started with four Welshmen - Harris, Moore, Harry Wilson and Will Vaulks.
A statistic I came across on Twitter also informed me that the last time two Welshmen scored in the same game for Cardiff City was May 4, 2008, when goals from Paul Parry and Joe Ledley contributed to a 3-0 win over Barnsley.
Moore and Harris corrected that statistic against Luton.
There are things young Harris has to learn, of course, he made the odd wrong decision, notably when he attempted to capitalise on Simon Sluga's slip and opted for the shot rather than sliding in Moore for an easy tap-in, and sometimes attempted the spectacular when the simple option was the best.
But who can blame him? He was brimming with confidence after his early goal.
On the whole, you cannot knock his performance at all. His youthful exuberance, unjaded by the start of the campaign, was like fresh air and long may that continue.
A penny for Robert Glatzel's thoughts, too, given he came for a hefty price tag just over a year ago and is yet to truly settle, as he watched on from the bench. He has been searching for some form this season and with City tyro Harris now in the fray, his job just got a little more difficult.
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