“ ALEX SMITHIES / DILLON PHILIPS “

McCarthy has been impressed with the recent performances of goalkeeper Dillon Phillips, who made his first league start for the Bluebirds in South Yorkshire due to the absence of regular number one Alex Smithies.


Wednesday 10th February 2021


Smithies was withdrawn within the opening 10 minutes of Cardiff's Severnside derby win at Ashton Gates after feeling unwell, and McCarthy is hopeful of having him back in contention for the weekend.

However, he insists he's delighted with the way Phillips has conducted himself between the sticks.





MICK McCARTHY:


"Dillon was excellent," McCarthy added. "He came under a lot of pressure. He came and punched a couple when he had to. I'm pleased with Dillon's performance.

"Alex, I exchanged messages with him. I was trying to phone him. He said he was sorry he missed my call.

"He text me back to say he's OK and feeling a lot better, but he wasn't good enough for today."

Tuesday night also came too soon for deadline-day signing Jonny Williams, who picked up a knock in training last week.

"He was much better today, apparently," the City boss added. "I'm only getting that second hand because I've not really asked too much about him today because I was more concerned about the game than I was about Jonny. I tend to look after the ones who are playing.



"The update we got was that he's feeling a lot better."

Meanwhile, McCarthy has confirmed that Leandro Bacuna missed the win over the Millers due to calf niggle picked up over the weekend.

"He hurt his calf when he went on against (Bristol City). I think he was sat in the cold and running around, well I was going to say blue-a*** fly.

"But that's what he was running round like on Saturday and he just felt his calf.

"So he wasn't available yesterday ."

Both solid goalkeepers in my opinion. So McCarthy can choose whoever he wants as far as I'm concerned.

We've always been blessed with good keepers .

We've always been blessed with good keepers .

That's a fact; for as long as I can remember

Bob Wilson (not the Arsenal one)
Gary Sprake
Jim Eadie (v Real Madrid 1971)
Ron Healey
Bill Irwin (won BBC’s Save Of The Season in 1972 for a stop from Peter Lorimer in an FA Cup match with Leeds)
Roger Hansbury
David Williams (player of the year in a relegated team)
Gavin Ward
Tom Heaton
Jon Hallworth (1998/99 PFA 'Team of the Year')
George Wood (played for Scotland in the World Cup Finals)
Andy Dibble (went to Man City and now the Bluebirds goalkeeping coach)
Neil Alexander (in goal for THAT game versus Leeds United)
Neil Etheridge (superb between the sticks for our second Premier League season)
David Marshall (superb between the sticks for our first Premier League season and almost kept us there)

There will, of course, be others, but these are the ones I can recall in my time supporting; others will havetheir own lists or addd to this

Oh, and even before my time, we mustn't forget Tom Farquharson (maybe the greatest of them all. Kept goal in the 1927 FA Cup final win over Arsenal)

And also Dan Lewis (not a Cardiff City great; but Welshman Lewis’ contribution to the club’s history is immense after his mistake in that unique 1927 FA Cup Final saw the Bluebirds beat Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup final)

You do not have the required permissions to view the files attached to this post.

Can only bode well for George Ratcliffe’s development too, to learn off two decent keepers that could both be number 1’s.

We've always been blessed with good keepers .

That's a fact; for as long as I can remember

Bob Wilson (not the Arsenal one)
Gary Sprake
Jim Eadie (v Real Madrid 1971)
Ron Healey
Bill Irwin (won BBC’s Save Of The Season in 1972 for a stop from Peter Lorimer in an FA Cup match with Leeds)
Roger Hansbury
David Williams (player of the year in a relegated team)
Gavin Ward
Tom Heaton
Jon Hallworth (1998/99 PFA 'Team of the Year')
George Wood (played for Scotland in the World Cup Finals)
Andy Dibble (went to Man City and now the Bluebirds goalkeeping coach)
Neil Alexander (in goal for THAT game versus Leeds United)
Neil Etheridge (superb between the sticks for our second Premier League season)
David Marshall (superb between the sticks for our first Premier League season and almost kept us there)

There will, of course, be others, but these are the ones I can recall in my time supporting; others will havetheir own lists or addd to this

Oh, and even before my time, we mustn't forget Tom Farquharson (maybe the greatest of them all. Kept goal in the 1927 FA Cup final win over Arsenal)

And also Dan Lewis (not a Cardiff City great; but Welshman Lewis’ contribution to the club’s history is immense after his mistake in that unique 1927 FA Cup Final saw the Bluebirds beat Arsenal 1-0 in the FA Cup final)

Loved Hallworth. He used to regularly go watch us away when up North.