Brian Barry-Murphy says Cardiff City’s unbeaten start to the season has given him real encouragement as his side adapts to life under his leadership.
The Bluebirds booked their place in the Carabao Cup second round with a 2-1 victory over Swindon Town, thanks to first-half goals from Cian Ashford and Rubin Colwill.
League Two Swindon responded after the break through Princewill Ehibhatiomhan, but Cardiff held firm to secure their third game without defeat under the Irishman.
“Really pleased, it means a lot to me to get through to the next round and to see who we could possibly take on,” said Barry-Murphy.
“This competition creates so many brilliant occasions but to get to those occasions you have to go through the rounds.
“So to win tonight was very important for us and we treated the game really seriously and I thought there was respect in that performance so I’m happy.
“We’re in the very early stages of working together, we’ve figured out we have only trained for 25 days. So that’s a very small period of time in terms of trying to build something together.”
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Barry-Murphy kept six of the players who started the goalless draw at Port Vale, rewarding those who had impressed in training.
He insisted the performance against Swindon showed signs of progress.
“The players who came in came in based on how well they’ve trained and how they’ve been to starting the other games.
“We felt it was as competitive as the team at Port Vale, and luckily for us the performance, luckily for us, was better than Port Vale.
“I’m aware of so much more that we need to do as we move forward, but if we have that patience and understanding of where the players are at, I think we’ll be fine.”
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Cardiff took the lead when Ashford pounced on a rebound after Joel Bagan’s header from a corner was saved, before Colwill struck a stunning 25-yard free-kick into the top corner.
Swindon rallied after half-time, with Ehibhatiomhan capitalising on a defensive slip to pull one back.
Visiting boss Ian Holloway praised the home side’s adaptability: “Massive credit to their manager and their team, to what they did and their patterns, and when we blocked theirs, they changed it.
“And they changed it so we couldn’t live with it, with the team that I had out there.”
Cardiff will find out their second-round opponents in Wednesday’s draw.
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