The Cardiff City manager, Malky Mackay, praised his side's last-gasp winner against Portsmouth
Malky Mackay is getting ahead of himself these days, flying out to Malaysia to meet the club's investors last week and given the go-ahead to strengthen his squad before returning to set up his Cardiff City team for back-to-back home matches and sending them out for a come-from-behind victory in the first of them.
On Sunday morning the squad reconvened at the training ground, with Mackay adamant the serious preparation is already done for the Carling Cup semi-final second leg against Crystal Palace on Tuesday and having the added bonus that Palace's rookie manager has done his team-talk for him already.
Remarks from Dougie Freedman to the Croydon Advertiser, that Cardiff have a habit of "falling just short" and that their players and supporters must be "scared stiff of failure", were plastered all over the back of the South Wales Echo on Saturday and though Mackay would not comment directly until he had ascertained the veracity of the comments, he did concede that motivating his players will not be a problem against a Palace team with a 1-0 first-leg lead.
Saturday's rerun of one of the matches Freedman was referring to, the lost 2008 FA Cup final against a Portsmouth club now paying the price of the Gaydamak/Redknapp years, and with their latest suitor, Joe Cala, withdrawing his offer on Friday ? the parent company in administration and with only 13 first-teamers available, two of them goalkeepers ? will also have put Mackay's players in good heart, even though it was a game they should have had won by half-time.
Cardiff dominated possession from the off with the admirable Peter Whittingham, the only starter from Wembley 2008 on show, pulling the strings and Kenny Miller hammering in a fine volley from an acute angle. They went on to create three one-on-ones and numerous other openings only to spurn the lot before Portsmouth's Marco Futacs capitalised on a handling error from David Marshall and Greg Halford turned a low shot in after a scramble from corner for a 2-1 lead to the general disbelief of the whole crowd, with the boisterous away contingent tunefully admitting as much.
Pompey were resilient and hung on but, having got used to Cardiff's routine of sending both central defenders forward for Aron Gunnarsson's long throw?ins, they were outdone when the quick-witted Whittingham threw a short one to Craig Conway, who sped down the left and crossed for the captain Mark Hudson to head the equaliser.
Then, after a needless push by the Pompey substitute Benjani Mwaruwari, Whittingham took a quick free?kick and again fed Conway who advanced to fire in a low shot from 25 yards and Cardiff, who have already thrown away 16 points from winning positions this season, had avoided an 11th draw of the campaign.
Simultaneously, a mid-table Palace team with nine personnel changes from their previous match were losing 2-1 in the last minute at Blackpool. "We can't afford to do make changes like that," said Mackay. "The league is very important to us and it's something we hold in high regard. We had a tough game but I'm delighted for the fans because it's something we've not done before so far, coming and winning a game in the last minute. And there's a little bit of momentum going into Tuesday night."
For that they are expecting a 26,000-plus full house, with Palace selling their 3,800 allocation two days after the first leg, but reaching the top flight for the first time since 1962 remains the priority for Cardiff's manager and players alike.
With no runaway Championship leader, as Newcastle United were last year, promotion remains a distinct possibility for a team who sit third and are well in touch with West Ham United and Southampton. And after last season's stumble in the play?off semi-final against Reading that meant Cardiff could not block Swansea's path into the Premier League, not to mention the 3-2 loss in the 2010 final to Blackpool, having led twice, automatically would be the way to achieve it.
"It's a great way to win a game with almost the last kick and it puts a lot of pressure on the teams around us," Conway said. "We have had a lot of draws this season but a lot have been away draws [eight] and we've got a lot of wins at home. That's something you need if you want to be fighting for promotion. It'll give us a good boost going into Tuesday night." As did Freedman.
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