Cardiff City secured a 1-0 victory over Birmingham City at Cardiff City Stadium, with Yousef Salech's first-half strike proving decisive. The striker made amends for an earlier penalty miss to fire the Bluebirds ahead, before a tremendous defensive display helped Brian Barry-Murphy's side over the line.
The win marked Cardiff's third successive home victory and their first league clean sheet since April.
Goalkeeper and Defence Deliver
Nathan Trott earned an 8 rating after producing a sensational save to deny Demarai Gray in the dying minutes, guessing correctly and throwing himself to his right to preserve Cardiff's lead. Perry Ng also scored 8, excelling defensively, particularly with a superb recovery challenge on Liam Millar in the first half, and won the penalty.
Will Fish was rated 9 for an outstanding defensive display, producing a string of crucial blocks and interceptions. His reading of the game was exceptional, notably denying Jay Stansfield on several occasions in the second half. Joel Bagan, moved to centre-back just 10 minutes before kick-off following Krystian Bielik's withdrawal, also earned 9, barely putting a foot wrong with thunderous challenges and terrific awareness.
Midfield Dominance and Attack
Calum Scanlon, moved from the wing to left-back just before the match, scored 8 for his work at both ends of the pitch, while Alex Robertson earned 7 for a composed performance and excellent set-piece delivery. Joel Colwill was named star man with a 9, his energy, tenacity and physicality proving tailor-made for the hammering rain as he won tackles, recovered possession and drove Cardiff forward.
Cian Ashford scored 8 despite failing to finish a couple of glorious chances, while Ollie Tanner also earned 8 for his assist, his driven cross converted by Salech for the winner. Jack Moylan was rated 7, and Salech himself scored 7 for showing tremendous strength and composure to score the decisive goal, despite missing a penalty and looking ring-rusty on his return to the starting XI.
Substitutes Make an Impact
Chris Willock (on for Tanner, 68) earned 7 for some excellent deliveries into the box, and Ronan Kpakio (on for Scanlon, 68) also scored 7 for slotting into the defence comfortably. David Turnbull (on for Moylan, 87) was introduced in the closing stages to help Cardiff see out the victory.
