Grit Gets The Points

Cardiff City's win over fellow strugglers Wigan last night might just be the biggest of the season. A huge sense of relief chorused over me when I saw the 'FT' sign pop up next to our name on Sky Sports News. Aaron Gunnarsson scored the only goal of the game to give city a vital win at the DW Stadium. In my earlier blog, I said I wanted us to dominate a poor Wigan side. We did not do that, but again we worked hard defensively for points, which is a very encouraging sign. You have to graft in the championship, and you also have to ride to ride your luck. We did both last night.
Twice Wigan put the ball ion pour net and it was wrongly ruled out for offside. Again, sometimes our tactics were negative, with City only having 40% possession against a Wigan side that are renowned for being a team that struggles to hold on to the ball. Of course I want us to play more positive and attacking football, but when you are at Wigan on a cold Tuesday night, you just need to get the job done in any way possible.
I think this win clears us of relegation, which I'm extremely relieved about. One or two people are saying that we have a decent chance of making the play-offs after this win. I would have to disagree with this. Yes, it's possible, but I have seen every team that occupy the top 6 places this season, and they all looked far better than us.
Any win is a good win, but let's not get carried away. In no way did we dominate Wigan, who I think are destined for relegation this season. In my heart I would say that it was a fully deserved win and that we dominated Wigan, bit we didn't. In fact, it's hard to recall a time when from the first whistle to the last we've outplayed a team. That's the next step that we need to strive to take.
Most people and sites are reporting that the 350 Cardiff City fans who made the long journey to Lancashire clapped ex city boss Malky Mackay and sung his name throughout the first half, which was good to hear. I'm only a kid, so I'm not really sure what to make of all the controversy surrounding Mackay and our owner Vincent Tan, bit I will never forget some of the memories that Malky helped bring to me during his 3 seasons at the club.
Something that I'm starting to realise about our new striker Eoin Doyle is that he is sacrificing goals for the good of the team. He works hard, creates plenty of chances and when he does have a shot on goal he is denied by a wonderful save. I'm sure that once luck is on his side the goals will flow. His partnership with fellow striker Kenwyne Jones is flourishing and at times they have shown real signs of understanding.
Our next opponents are Wolves at home on Saturday. It will be a very tough game, and when the two sides met earlier in the season a desperately unlucky Mark Hudson (now at Huddersfield) gave Wolves the win with a last minute own goal. Our vistors have play-off aspirations and danger men like Bakary Sako need to be kept tightly under wraps.
Regardless of the result last night and whatever the score is on Saturday, I'm still convinced that Russell Slade is not the right man to lead this club forward. However, I'll back him until his last day in charge and I'll be at Cardiff City Stadium to cheer on the boys to another win. Hopefully, anyway...