Erol Bulut welcomed the return of Cardiff’s confidence after the Bluebirds moved within seven points of the Championship play-offs by beating Huddersfield.
Famara Diedhiou’s first-half finish secured a 1-0 victory as Cardiff claimed three consecutive wins for the first time since September.
“The last four games, I’m happy,” Bulut said after taking a 10 points from those matches.
“We are performing – it was not easy after the Bristol City win on Saturday, a derby – and we have to think positive.
“If you win games you feel much better. The last games we get our confidence back and it looks much better.
“We have 10 games to play and hopefully we can show much more.
“But I don’t think about play-offs right now. We take every game by game and at the end we see what we are going to get.
“There is 30 points (to play for) and we are trying to get the maximum.”
Senegal striker Diedhiou joined Cardiff on loan in January from Spanish club Granada.
It was the 31-year-old’s first Championship goal since bagging a brace for Bristol City in a 3-1 success at Middlesbrough on February 23, 2021.
Bulut said Diedhiou was unhappy at being omitted from Cardiff’s 1-0 Ashton Gate win against his former club on Saturday.
“Famara was expecting to play the last game against his old team, he was angry but he kept it for today,” said Bulut.
“He has played four years in the Championship and scored more than 50 goals at Bristol City.
“He has the experience. He showed that it is a good start and I hope he can continue like that.”
Huddersfield remain in relegation peril, above the bottom three only through having scored more goals than 22nd-placed Stoke.
“There are reasons why we are 21st in the table and in the last few years nearly the same,” Andre Breitenreiter said after his first defeat as Huddersfield head coach following a win at Watford and a draw against Leeds.
“It is not possible to change things in two weeks. But I learned a lot about the team and observed many things we should change because we are fighting for our lives to stay in the league.
“We need the same performance from the last two games and this was a day we should forget as soon as possible.
“I could have changed everyone after the first half, it was too slow and it was too easy for Cardiff to create chances.
“The second half we controlled the game and had big chances but you don’t deserve to get a point when it’s not 100 per cent.”
St. Jago, Eltham, STATHS and Wolmer’s through to Walker Cup final four
St. Jago High, Eltham High, STATHS and Wolmer’s Boys all advanced to the semi-finals of the Walker Cup knockout tournament after quarter-final wins on Thursday.
St. Jago booked their spot in the last four after a 3-2 win over Calabar High at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex.
St. Jago took an early lead before Calabar equalized in the 45th minute through Kevaun Campbell. St. Jago retook the lead five minutes into the second half through Richardo Lewis before Seon Cato made it 3-1 in the 74th minute.
Calabar got a consolation goal through Sheldon Pusey eight minutes from full time but it wasn’t enough.
In the second game of the double header at the Anthony Spaulding Sports Complex, Wolmer’s Boys got the better of St. George’s College 2-1.
Elsewhere, STATHS got a comfortable 3-0 win over Charlie Smith at Calabar to advance while Eltham beat Jonathan Grant 3-1 at the Spanish Town Prison Oval to make it through.
Venezuela 1-1 Brazil: Super sub Segovia holds Selecao to shock draw
Substitute Telasco Segovia delivered the pivotal goal that saw 10-man Venezuela hold Brazil to a 1-1 draw in CONMEBOL World Cup qualifying.
The shock result leaves Brazil in third place, trailing second-placed Colombia by two points and far short of Argentina in first.
Brazil opened the scoring just before half-time as Raphinha curled a delightful free-kick over the Venezuela wall from 20 yards out to break the deadlock.
On the other side of the break, however, half-time substitute Segovia equalised just 41 seconds after the restart, striking from outside the box, having run onto Jefferson Savarino’s short lay-off.
The visitors were provided with a prime opportunity to restore their lead when Rafael Romo fouled Vinicius Junior in the box. But the Real Madrid forward was unable to capitalise on the resulting penalty, seeing his initial effort saved before firing the rebound wide.
As tensions rose, the game delivered further drama as Alexander Gonzalez received his marching orders in the 89th minute for lashing out at Vinicius after fouling Gabriel Martinelli.
In a farcical ending to the lively affair, sprinklers popped up in the pitch in added time to delay proceedings, but neither side could find a way through.
Data Debrief: Instant impact for super sub Segovia
Segovia's goal, 41 seconds after coming on, is the fastest for a player coming off the bench in the last three editions of the South American World Cup Qualifiers.
Venezuela have now scored two goals in the first 15 minutes of the second half, only Brazil (four) and Colombia (four) have scored more in the 2026 CONMEBOL World Cup Qualifiers.
Kelleher repays Ireland trust in Finland victory
Republic of Ireland winger Mikey Johnston said the team had always trusted Caoimhin Kelleher after he made a crucial penalty save in their 1-0 Nations League win over Finland.
Johnston's corner set up Brighton and Hove Albion striker Evan Ferguson for the decisive goal on the stroke of half-time, after Finland had twice been denied by the woodwork.
The visitors had a golden chance to level in the second half, but Liverpool goalkeeper Kelleher made a stunning save to deny Joel Pohjanpalo from 12 yards following a handball from Ferguson.
The result means Finland are relegated from Group B2, while Ireland must come through a play-off to remain in the competition's second tier.
Speaking after the game, Johnston credited Kelleher's all-important penalty save, saying: "I always trust him to go and save a penalty. He has reacted really well and stepped up in a big moment.
"We were aiming for the win. They had moments but there were a few chances we could have taken as well.
"We're happy that we've come away with the win. Sometimes in the last year we would have been on the other side of a bit of bad luck."
Ireland round off their campaign against England on Sunday, in Lee Carsley's final game in charge of the Three Lions before Thomas Tuchel takes the reins in January.
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