EFL

Erol Bulut delighted to seal first league win as Cardiff boss

By Sports Desk August 26, 2023

Cardiff boss Erol Bulut was relieved to get his first league win in a last-gasp 2-1 victory over Sheffield Wednesday and believes it has been coming.

Wales skipper Aaron Ramsey had a hand in the opening goal of the game two minutes after half time as Ike Ugbo hammered in his third goal in four games since joining from French Ligue 1 side Troyes in the summer.

Barry Bannan’s screamer looked set to earn a point for Wednesday but Will Vaulks was adjudged to have handled the ball in the seventh minute of added time.

That gave Ryan Wintle the chance to step up and hammer home the winner from the penalty spot to give new Cardiff boss Bulut his first league win.

“I didn’t expect it [first win] to be so difficult. After three games, what we played, we were unlucky at Leicester and Leeds, conceding last-minute goals, so confidence was not like before,” said Bulut.

“That is why this game was really important for us. We could have been 2-0 up if (Callum) O’Dowda or (Yakou) Meite could have taken their chances.

“I think we deserved the win. Everybody fought and we really wanted these three points.

“Sometimes it’s not enough to play well. At Leeds, we played well for 45 minutes, 45 minutes at Leicester. We could have more points by now but 45 minutes is not enough.

“Today, for 90 minutes we were really fighting and we had our moments to make it easier for ourselves but I’m really happy we got three points for the morale of the team. It’s really important.”

Wednesday are still pointless after four games since coming up from League One.

“I think it was our best performance of the season today and we need to continue like this. After we drew level we began to control the game and tried to go on to win it,” said Wednesday boss Xisco Munoz.

“We need to improve on our clean sheets because at the moment we need to score at least two goals to win any game. We lost today because of some of our mistakes, it wasn’t so much a case of Cardiff winning it.

“I am very, very sad for my players because I know how hard they are working every day. We have lost the game because of some silly mistakes.”

Bulut confirmed after the game that goalkeeper Ryan Allsop has been given the go ahead to leave the club. He has been linked with a move to Hull.

“We got a message from his management. If somebody wants to leave, we don’t keep anybody here,” explained Bulut.

“For that shirt, you have to fight. He did it in years before but his management said they wanted to make their move, so we made our move also.

“We took Alex Runarsson on loan so we let him go.”

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