Cardiff City manager Omer Riza insists his belief in survival remains intact following a goalless draw with Queens Park Rangers, as the Bluebirds continue their fight to stay in the Championship.
The result at Loftus Road extended Cardiff’s unbeaten run to three matches and offered a small boost in confidence, though they remain in the relegation zone with just six games left to play.
A rare victory in the capital would have significantly strengthened their position, with Cardiff having won only four of their past 42 league visits to London.
"The results are what they are. We can only manage ourselves. It's important we just try to pick up our three points where we can," Riza said post-match.
"We have to recover and go again. We've got six more games and six more opportunities to get out of that position.
"I've felt confident all along. It's just these little moments that are important, where you've got to make it count."
It was a largely underwhelming encounter between two out-of-form sides, with neither able to break the deadlock in a match low on quality and chances.
Cardiff struggled to find rhythm in the first half, with QPR enjoying more control and winning the key duels.
"It was a real tough first half; QPR dominated first and second balls quite well and didn't allow us much time to get the ball down and play. And when we did, we weren't really clean enough," Riza explained.
"But in the second half, with a little bit of organisation and a couple of changes, we worked our way back into the game and I thought we were slightly better than QPR.
"We had a couple of chances towards the back end of the second half where maybe we could have nicked it, but I think a point is a fair point.
"We've come away from home, were looking for three points and have come away with one, so I think we have to be satisfied with that."
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Riza made a bold move at the interval, making three changes in a bid to seize the initiative.
The substitutions injected more energy and helped tilt the balance slightly in Cardiff’s favour after the break.
"We made changes because we wanted to win the game. I felt we looked a bit leggy. We wanted to change it up," he said.
"The changes made a difference in the second half but we couldn't quite do enough to get that goal."
QPR, meanwhile, are now seven games without a win, five of which have ended in defeat.
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Despite holding a five-point cushion over Cardiff, manager Marti Cifuentes admitted his team were far from their best.
"We were not good enough today to win. I need to look at myself in the mirror and ask what I could have done better. But the reality is that these players are trying," Cifuentes said.
"I cannot say that these guys are not running and are not putting all their effort into trying to get us in the position at the end of the season that we want.
"This was a very important game. I felt in the first half we were a bit more dominant and in the second half they started better than us and it was more difficult.
"I will never be happy with a draw. But I value the effort that the guys made."
With both clubs hovering dangerously close to the drop, the coming weeks will be decisive.
For Cardiff, every fixture now represents a vital opportunity to claw their way to safety—starting with Tuesday night’s trip to Preston.
