KERS EYES POSITIVES AFTER LATE BLOW

David praises players, despite late Mackems goal

Cardiff City's Assistant Manager David Kerslake spoke of his disappointment in conceding an injury time equaliser to Sunderland on Saturday afternoon.

The Bluebirds had dominated large spells of the contest, though fell to two late Mackems goals at Cardiff City Stadium.

“
The players are devastated in there after conceding so late on in the game – so are the staff,” said David following the final whistle.

“We got ourselves into a fabulous position and with the quality we have we expected to see the game out.

“For the first 35 to 40 minutes we blew Sunderland away. Credit to them though, Gus changed their shape and they kept the ball much better.

“The disappointing thing for us was that we were 2-0 up and although we were under the cosh, we should have kept the ball better than we did. It was still 2-0 with eight minutes to go and we conceded a poor goal. It's something we will look at – there's work to be done.”

But as for the positives, the former Tottenham and Leeds midfielder commented: “We scored two really good goals - Fraizer's back on the score-sheet as well which is pleasing. I thought in particular the first half was exceptional, but we should have carried that on in the second.

“This is a wonderful group of players. Every one of them wholehearted, with a great togetherness playing at a fantastic place where the support is second to none.

“
We go to Arsenal on New Year's Day with a belief and confidence. We held our own against them here a few weeks back. We know that they are one of the finer sides in Europe but we had a good go at them here.

"We go to the Emirates in good spirits. It does feel like two points dropped today because of the position we were in, but it's another point gained in the grand scheme of things. We haven't dropped into the bottom three all season and we're making a good fist of it.”