Barry-Murphy praises 'strong-willed' win over Stevenagepublished at 23:00 GMT 29 December
Image source, Huw Evans Picture AgencyHead coach Brian Barry-Murphy praised Cardiff City for their perseverance in a "strong-willed" win over Stevenage which kept the Bluebirds top of League One.
Cardiff dominated their promotion rivals on Monday but fell behind against the run of play before fighting back to triumph 2-1 thanks to Yousef Salech's 82nd-minute goal.
A seventh successive home league victory kept Cardiff three points clear at the top of League One, with a game in hand over second-place Lincoln City.
"It's a good place to be. I'd rather be there than anywhere else. Trying to stay there is the challenge," said Barry-Murphy.
"I'm really pleased with the players and the way they played, especially when we went behind in the game.
"It was evident how good they [Stevenage] are defensively. We have the highest regard for Stevenage and what they do, so we knew it was going to be difficult, but the players were even more strong-willed in how they played.
"We train all the time to never give up and to always just look at the next action, the next moment in the game and keep going no matter what the score is. And once that starts to happen in games, it can become a really powerful trait that the players believe it can happen."
In defeating Stevenage, Cardiff secured a seventh straight home league win for the first time since they won promotion to the Premier League under Neil Warnock in 2018.
"We're really grateful for the support," said Barry-Murphy. "Almost 20,000 again on a Monday and the expense for families in December is extraordinary, I know that myself.
"To see so many people come out again after such a short run from the last game, it felt really positive. I know we went behind and it was very disappointing, but I felt as if we were in a pretty good place and we'll create chances.
"And once you attack that Canton Stand, then you can feel the energy increase and increase and it drives the players forward. It's an amazing stadium and amazing support that we're very grateful for."





























