" Jones heaps praise on Cardiff "

Jones: Delighted



Dave Jones was thrilled to see Cardiff get back to winning ways with a Boxing Day triumph at home to Coventry.

The Bluebirds entered the clash having dropped out of the Championship's automatic promotion spots with just a solitary win from their last seven games.

But goals from Seyi Olofinjana and Craig Bellamy either side of the break put the Welsh side back on track, handing them their first victory in the traditional post-Christmas fixture since 1999.

Delighted

"I am delighted with the result as we had to keep hold of the ball and we did just that against a big strong side," said Jones.

"We have dominated recent games without getting the right results and in this division games can be tight. They threw on some big players and a lapse in concentration could have undone all our good work.

"Their goalkeeper had a tremendous game and probably saved his side from an even bigger defeat. He pulled off some outstanding saves, particularly from Michael Chopra in the first half.

"We had to continue to keep hold of the ball and create openings and while they tried to contain Craig Bellamy, it gave us more room elsewhere."

Jones added: "There was lots of good movement and everything fell into place.

"When you lose a couple of games you tend to look at the way you are playing but all we needed was a tweak here and there.

"We have a lot of illness in the camp, even some of those who played here, so all credit to them."






" Disappointed "

Jones' opposite number Aidy Boothroyd admitted his side were comprehensively beaten having allowed the Bluebirds to set the tempo.

"We never got going for 55 minutes and you can't do that against a very good team," said Boothroyd.

"Cardiff have some terrific players and we allowed them to dictate the game, particularly during the first half.

"The players are very disappointed as we let Craig Bellamy cause us problems, yet after the break when we had a goal disallowed we had them rocking and should have made it count when we had the chance.

"You have to come with a gameplan and make sure you stick to it but we didn't and in the end we have got what we deserved.

"We played a very good team and have been well beaten even though I thought we were capable of getting a result here, but the games are coming thick and fast and now we look to our next matc

I Disagree with Jones Comments that We have Dominated Recent games(except Coventry yesterday), We have Deserved to loose/draw Recent games in My opinion.
Also beating Millwall/Hull Home We were very lucky to do so, but I Suppose you make your own Luck in Football.

The interesting thing for me about the after match comments was that DJ said the result was more important than the performance whilst Bellamy & Hudson said they thought it was the performance that was more important. IMO this is a clear sign that winning is more important to DJ than playing well maybe he is feeling the pressure of the kick up the backside from VT.

Yesterday Bellamy gave his most effective display in a Cardiff shirt and by the end Coventry were sending 3 players over to the left side to try and contain him. However Craig will not play against Watford or if he does he will not play against the wurzels his knee is just not up to it so it will be interesting to see how we fair without him.

No doubt the team played well yesterday but Coventry seemed to man up to stop Craig and that gave other players time to set the pace of the game, without Craig and it looks like Jay as well it will be interesting to see if we can maintain the level of performance.

I hope we can but I think Watford will be more of a test for us than Coventry were yesterday.

I Disagree with Jones Comments that We have Dominated Recent games(except Coventry yesterday), We have Deserved to loose/draw Recent games in My opinion.
Also beating Millwall/Hull Home We were very lucky to do so, but I Suppose you make your own Luck in Football.

Seconded, we haven't really played well since Leeds away up until yesterday. Have we turned a corner? don't know yet, we need to repeat performances like that time and time again and when we don't play well we need to dog out some results, show some fight. In my view the season really starts from here.

I Disagree with Jones Comments that We have Dominated Recent games(except Coventry yesterday), We have Deserved to loose/draw Recent games in My opinion.
Also beating Millwall/Hull Home We were very lucky to do so, but I Suppose you make your own Luck in Football.

Seconded, we haven't really played well since Leeds away up until yesterday. Have we turned a corner? don't know yet, we need to repeat performances like that time and time again and when we don't play well we need to dog out some results, show some fight. In my view the season really starts from here.

These Next 3 Games, Will to Me Show, Where We Really age going, 7pts Minimum in My Opinion

One thing that worried me yesterday was how it again showed our inability to react to our opponents changing their tactics. Too late did Coventry realise Naylor was the weakness and when they put King out wide we looked very shaky as Naylor was exposed time and time again. I have to agree with Annis, we haven't dominated recent games but we did yesterday and had it not been for Westwood we would have won by a large margin.

Saying that, maybe Jones is using his words to boost the morale of a team who are clearly very short on confidence right now. Football is all about the next game though and we have just come off the back of a resounding victory so I am happy and feel the players do deserve praise for their overall performance yesterday.