The Bluebirds boss spoke after his side slipped to a 2-0 home defeat by Wycombe Wanderers
Brian Barry-Murphy admitted he was left baffled by the red card shown to Gabriel Osho as Cardiff City slipped to a damaging defeat at home to Wycombe Wanderers.
The Bluebirds boss felt his side were in control of the contest when the key moment arrived late in the first half, with Osho dismissed for a high challenge – a decision Barry-Murphy clearly disagreed with.
“I thought Gabriel tackled with one foot, his studs were close to the ground. It was a yellow card,” he said after the match.
He added of Osho, who has had a mixed campaign to date: “I think he’s been in great form. We saw on Saturday how important he is to the team.
“We’re starting to really see the quality that he possesses and how important he is for our young team moving forward and it’s just a small setback.
The sending off proved a major turning point, but Barry-Murphy was quick to praise his side’s response, insisting they remained the better team – even with 10 men – and did enough to win the game.
“Very disappointed with the result,” he said. “Naturally felt as if we were in good control of the game. The sending off changes a lot, but the players’ efforts were incredible.
“We created a good chance with 10 men in the second half and I thought we would score, but we didn’t.
“I thought we were in control of the game at all stages, if I’m being honest. Even with 10 men, I thought we were the dominant team, but the scoreline doesn’t reflect that and at the end of the day that’s all people will remember.”
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Cardiff created a host of opportunities across the night but were unable to convert, something the manager was reluctant to criticise too heavily.
“You have to go through all the emotions of football,” he added. “We’re keen to have more opportunities on goal, more shots, more crosses, more goalmouth action for the supporters to enjoy.
“We did that again tonight. I’m sure we’ll score. I think we’ve been the top scorers in the league for quite a long time, so I don’t think we can criticise the players for that.”
Barry-Murphy also pointed to key moments that could have swung the game, including Cian Ashford’s surging second-half run. Join the Cardiff City breaking news and top stories WhatsApp community.
“When Cian ran as far as he did and went through on goal, there was nothing more certain in my mind that he would score, but he didn’t,” he said.
“We attacked right to the end. We had a decision to make when Gabriel got sent off about bringing on another centre-back, but we kept all our players on the pitch.
“On behalf of the supporters, we want to attack all the time and try to win games and not take a backwards step – and we didn’t.”
The result continues a mixed run of form, but Barry-Murphy insisted performances remain strong and dismissed suggestions that pressure is affecting his squad during the run-in. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.
“I think we’re in pretty good form performance-wise,” he said. “We don’t win all the games. We have games remaining and our intention is to try and win every single one.
“The players are in great form and I’m very confident moving to Saturday.
“I thought we played brilliant on Saturday – so much expression, so much intensity, we played with great freedom. The same again today, we started the game really well. So I’m very pleased with the players and very happy where we are.”
There was also a moment of confusion on the touchline that saw Barry-Murphy himself shown a yellow card, which he later clarified was down to a misunderstanding with the referee.
“I think it was a misunderstanding,” he explained. “I think the referee thought I was looking for a yellow card, but I wasn’t.
“He informed me that waving your hand looking for a yellow card is a yellow-card defence in itself, but I wasn’t.”
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