Kenneth Zohore has gone from ugly pug to Great Dane thanks to barking Neil Warnock, who insists his top dog will not be sold.
Cardiff City’s Danish striker scored twice in Saturday’s 3-1 victory at home to Ipswich to make it nine goals in 10 games for a player who has responded to the fear that his manager’s bite might even be worse than his bark.
Zohore’s goals in either half, plus a third from Joe Bennett, means Ipswich are still in the shadows of a relegation scrap after just one win in 11 games even though they stole the lead through Luke Chambers.
Warnock said: “When I came here, Kenneth was close to being a waste of time.
“He walked about the place. He wore gloves. He just didn’t have what was required and he wasn’t putting in the work.
“He’s a nice lad but I had a little word with him before the Wolves game earlier in the season. It was a crucial moment for him and he’s responded.
“You have to have that work ethic because when you work hard you make your own luck. Now, I wouldn’t swap him for any striker in the Championship. He’s got all the attributes.”
Nor does Warnock fear Cardiff may try and cash in on 23-year-old Zohore in the summer.
“They won’t sell him behind my back,” he vowed.
“With a little more nous we’d have had nine points from three games,” Warnock added.
“But if you told me when I walked through the door that we’d have 51 points with eight games to go, I’d have snapped your hand off.
“You can tell the lads are enjoying it, we’re winning the battles in every department.
“It was just what we needed before the international break.”
Zohore’s power troubled a feeble Ipswich defence who were similarly unsettled by the pace and trickery of both Kadeem Harris and Junior Hoilett.
After Chambers had headed in a Tom Lawrence free-kick, Ipswich rolled over – condeding a soft goal when Zahore volleyed home and a much harder one when the Dane combined superbly with Hoilett.
By the time Bennett made it 3-1 after a surging Harris run, Ipswich manager Mick McCarthy knew there would be no end to their desperate winless sequence.
McCarthy doesn’t waste words or hide behind management speak and he admitted his team’s five point gap above the drop zone is a perilous position to be in.
He said: “We were well beaten. We were poor and they were good.
“We were nowhere near the standard we needed to be. It was poor defending for all three goals.
“We are in a relegation scrap. I have never denied that or shied away from it. We can’t afford to play like that because there is always someone who slithers into that relegation zone.
“I am not happy. Do I look happy? I can understand why people are aren’t happy with me, too.”
Ipswich now have key – possibly season-defining – home games after the international break against Birmingham City and Wigan.
McCarthy added: “Those games are huge and we need to re-group quickly after this.”
