Captain Sean Morrison leads his Bluebirds on a Championship mission this evening.
Morrison will be alongside Sol Bamba at the heart of Cardiff City’s defence against his former club Reading at the Madejski Stadium (8pm).
Morrison’s men are second in the table and intent on earning a fifth successive win which would lift them to within two points of leaders Wolves.
“It’s mad when you look at the year and how far we’ve come as a team,” says Morrison. “The belief we haven is incredible now. The changing room is on a different level.
“There are 25/26 lads that would run through a wall for each other. We have a long way to go, but we are on the right track.”
Cardiff earned their fourth successive win I’m a 3-1 success against Norwich City at home and that was achieved on manager Neil Warnock’s 69th birthday.
“Three points was enough for Neil,” joked Sean. “I asked if that was enough for his birthday and he replied ‘that’ll do’.
“To have four wins in a row is a credit to the whole squad.
“The start we’ve had is fantastic and if we can keep hitting the bar that we’ve set, you never know where it could take us.”
Cardiff have played 20 fixtures and are three games away from the halfway point of their season.
Morrison and Bamba have established a firm partnership at the back and he says: “Sol and I have a great connection on and off the pitch.
“I have nothing but amazing things to say about him. He is someone that I learn from as a leader and as a person. His level of performance has been fantastic and he is probably the best centre-half in the Championship.”
Morrison has made 141 first team appearances for Cardiff since making the move from Reading in 2014.
It wasn’t a move he wanted to make at the time, but has made it clear he is settled in South Wales and intent on leading the Bluebirds to success.
“I was genuinely happy at Reading, it was my life and I loved it there,” said Morrison, who spent three years with the club and made 45 appearances.
“I met some good people and it is a fantastic club. It was a shock to the system when it did happen.
“Reading was part of me, but the bid from Cardiff had been accepted by the chairman.”
Morrison captained Reading and now wears the armband for Cardiff.
He underlined his commitment to the Bluebirds by turning down a move to Sheffield Wednesday when they made a £3m transfer bid this season.
“As soon as the bid came in I spoke to the gaffer and we put it to bed straight away,” said Morrison. “I explained to him that I wanted to stay, and that was the end of it basically.
“The main goal is to restore Cardiff City to the Premier League this season and if I can help achieve that leading the team it will be the highlight of my career so far.”
The Royals are 17 points behind the Bluebirds, having suffered play-off heartache against Huddersfield Town in their last campaign. They are nine points off the top six.
Welshman Chris Gunter, Reading’s 28-year-old captain, started his career with the Cardiff City Academy.
Centre-half Liam Moore says the Royals must stand up to a physical challenge from Cardiff, saying: “They look big and physical and are scoring goals.
“We don’t know what Cardiff’s game plan will be, but we need to find the key to unlock them, we need to stand up to them.”
Reading pulled further away from the drop zone with back-to-back victories against Barnsley and Sunderland, while Cardiff have won six of their last eight matches.
Tonight’s fixture is being shown live on Sky television.
Cardiff City, probable: Etheridge, Manga, Morrison (capt), Bamba, Bennett, Damour, Bryson, Ralls, Mendez-Laing, Ward, Hoilett. Bench: Peltier, Feeney, Halford, Murphy, Bogle, Paterson, Tomlin, Feltscher, Gounongbe.
Cardiff City’s home fixture against Sunderland on Saturday, January 13 will kick-off at 12.30pm after being selected as a Sky Sports live match.
