Cardiff boss disappointed not to win after outplaying Sheffield United

Nation,Cymru staff/agencies

Cardiff City boss Brian Barry-Murphy believes his newly-promoted side “should have won” after they dominated much of an entertaining 2-2 draw with Sheffield United.

The Bluebirds remain unbeaten since returning to the Championship and have scored five goals in their opening three matches, although they are still searching for a first victory.

Jack Moylan and Cian Ashford were on target at Cardiff City Stadium, where the hosts registered 29 shots compared with just six from Sheffield United.

Barry-Murphy said: “The players are disappointed not to win, but they gave absolutely everything. It’s a game we could have, and should have won.

“I think it’s fair to say we’ve shown we are capable of coping with the step up to the Championship. We know the level of challenge and we’re relishing it.

“It wasn’t a very comfortable start to the derby game against Wrexham and we went behind early. We conceded twice in this game, so we’ve had tests, yet we just have to keep pushing back and keep pushing forward.

“We created good chances, although I would have liked to see us create more clear-cut chances. We were a little bit rushed in the final bit of the box in the second half, but we can improve that.”

Cardiff made a flying start when Moylan opened the scoring after just 80 seconds, cutting inside from the left before firing low into the bottom corner following a break led by Ashford.

But Sheffield United were level less than a minute later when Alex Robertson brought down Tom Cannon, who converted the resulting penalty.

The visitors completed a remarkable turnaround after seven minutes. Robertson lost possession on the edge of the area and Patrick Bamford found Callum O’Hare, who swept the ball beyond Nathan Trott.

Trott then produced a superb double save from Cannon and Joe Rothwell before Cardiff began to take control.

The pressure paid off in the 38th minute when Ollie Tanner weaved past three defenders and saw his shot saved by Michael Cooper, leaving Ashford to convert the rebound into an empty net.

Cardiff had 12 first-half attempts, seven on target, compared with four from the visitors.

They continued to push after the break, with Yousef Salech heading over and Tanner firing narrowly wide before Perry Ng struck the crossbar six minutes from time.

Fortunate

Sheffield United manager Chris Wilder conceded his side had been fortunate to leave Wales with a point.

“I think we were fortunate at times today and they were the better team,” he said.

“I’ve been in that situation as well, a promoted team coming up and playing an established Championship team, and they were the better team.

“Brian will be disappointed he’s not got a win and we’ll be delighted that we’re taking something back up the road.”

Wilder added: “I’m delighted that we’ve remained unbeaten, although I’m not kidding myself that it was a performance that we can look back at and smile about.”

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