MORRISON LOOKING FORWARD TO FACING ROYALS

“Obviously Reading are my old club,” Sean said, “but it’s just another game. For me, when I came here, it was about getting Cardiff City promoted; it’s not about getting one over on my old team. It’s another game at the end of the day, and getting three points is all that matters. It’s nothing new to me – I’ve played against my former teams before – but it’ll be nice to play against my former teammates.”

“I don’t think performances have been bad away from home,” he said. “We had some good opportunities against Birmingham to win the game – but it’s just one of those things at the moment. We’ve been winning home games, and it feels like we’re going to win again, but away from home, we’re doing our best but it’s not seeming to work at the moment. I’m sure it’ll come good. I don’t think it’s anything to do with home or away, I just think it’s how it’s happened. Maybe we need a bit of luck here and there, but I’m sure we’ll come good.

“We know how important away fixtures are, and if we can get some points on the road and maintain our form at home, that can propel us right up the table. If we can get that right before Christmas and get ourselves in a good run, we could leapfrog the teams ahead of us.

It took probably ten days for my eye to recover. It was just a scratch that caught me, but the doctors sorted it out with eyedrops and it was monitored for a few days.”

“There’s competition,” he said. “Obviously Ben is back, and he’s been a massive influence despite getting injured in pre-season. Since he’s been back he’s been fantastic in training, we was fantastic again at Birmingham. It’s nice to play with him, but it’s the manager’s decision who plays; it’s a headache for him, I’m sure, but the more players in those positions that can give the manager those problems is healthy for the team. 

“You want to play week-in, week-out. I’ve been in positions where I’ve trained five days a week and then been left out on the Saturday, so some players will be left out. We’ve got a big squad at the moment, and there’s nothing new there.”

“Alfie’s not down at all,” he said. “He’s coming to training and doing brilliant work every day. I think you only need to start worrying when he’s not getting into those positions. He’s getting into them, but it’s just not falling for him at the moment. That chance he had at Birmingham, where the keeper made a good save, if that had gone in then we wouldn’t be having this conversation. He’s a fantastic player, and his goal record speaks for itself. He’s a great goalscorer.

“I don’t think much has changed in the time since I arrived here. Obviously there’s been a change in manager, but the Club still wants to move forward and get back in the Premier League. I think we should be higher in the league at the moment, but we know that and we’re working hard to put that right. 

“We’re definitely through the period of readjustment since the managerial change. He’s working hard and has put his policies over to us, but we’re over that transitional bump now. Since he’s come in, a general stability has been brought to the group. Inside and outside the training ground, it’s a lot better.”

“Nigel Adkins is a great manager, and they’ve got a fantastic team, just they’ve gone through a bad stage. They started the season fairly well, but then had a run of eight or nine games where they only won one. I’m sure they’ll come back from that though.”