After the high of an opening day home victory, Cardiff City came down to earth with a 0-0 draw at Port Vale in their first away game in League One.
Brian Barry-Murphy admitted Cardiff City were “lucky” to take anything away from their goalless draw at Port Vale, as the League One newcomers produced the better chances but failed to score a decisive blow.
The Bluebirds, coming off an opening-day victory over Peterborough, saw goalkeeper Nathan Trott make an impressive start, keeping his clean sheet with a series of saves.
The 25-year-old also saved skipper Calum Chambers’ blushes in the first half by preventing an own goal, while Vale’s Mitch Clark had a second-half shot ruled out for offside.
“Overall, we have no complaints about the result,” stated Barry-Murphy.
“We were fortunate to receive a point based on how well they played and areas of our performance that needed to be improved.
“So, we’ll surely accept the clean sheet and the point.
“There was too much goalmouth action for my liking and we didn’t have enough control.”
Cardiff’s boss, who lauded the “incredible” travelling support, conceded his team’s performance lacked poise and organisation for extended stretches.
“Our positioning was wrong in the first half and as a result our play became quite rushed,” stated the player.
“We played efficiently last Saturday and were successful in getting behind the opposing team’s last line.
“We got to the back line tonight, but they played with a back five, which made things more difficult.
“We needed to be more patient. However, it identifies several opportunities for improvement.
“What pleased me was the boys’ character in defending their goal, making good blocks, and keeping Nathan’s clean sheet on his debut.” That was significant.
Barry-Murphy believed the point owed more to defensive resilience than offensive ability.
“We will absolutely accept the clean sheet and the point.
“We’d like to improve certain aspects of our performance, especially in front of such a large travelling crowd. “We have no complaints.”
The Irishman, who is still in his early days at Cardiff, emphasized that his team’s commitment and humility provide him with a great basis on which to grow.
“The players have demonstrated incredible humility and work ethic in training since the first day I joined the club, and it is my obligation to show them how we want to play and reinforce those concepts as the game becomes more tough.
“As long as the players do that, it is my obligation to show them how we play, and we will get to where we want to go.
“We have a youthful team, and we played quite well on Saturday, with a lot of success penetrating behind the opponent’s last line.
“We got the last line tonight, but they were playing with a back five, which makes things a little more difficult.
“You have to be more patient in terms of how you switch play to isolate their wide defenders, and we sort of treated the game the same as Saturday where we tried to attack heavily on the one side, and as such our play became a little bit rushed, fed into the opponents’ game plan and took away from ours.” ]
The draw ended Port Vale’s run of six consecutive league and cup defeats over Cardiff, which spanned three decades.
Darren Moore’s squad, which was promoted from League Two last season, put on an impressive performance that pleased their manager.
“It was a good performance,” Moore acknowledged.
“I believed we set up correctly and got it right. But I told the players that if there was one minor criticism, it was in the last third.
“When we got into those scary places, we just needed that little bit of calm.
“But I always feel that if we create opportunities like this, we will score goals. “On another night, we would have scored one or two goals.”
Moore went on to say, “We have moved up a division, and we are familiar with the features of this league.
“Credit to the boys. After conceding two goals and losing on Saturday, keeping a clean sheet and performing well in front of our own fans is what we want to see from Vale.
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