The Bluebirds suffered a narrow defeat to Arsenal on Sunday, losing 3-2 in a thrilling Premier League fixture at Cardiff City Stadium.
But one of City’s stand-out performers was Danny Ward, who, after an impressive display at Huddersfield Town, was rewarded with his first Premier League start and repaid the faith shown in him by Neil Warnock with a superb header to level the scores at 2-2.
Despite the defeat, Ward was full of optimism when speaking to the press and media after the match, and set his sights on continuing a good level of performance throughout the campaign.
“We got on the front foot early doors, and put some pressure on them”, began the striker. “We knew that if we put a bit of pressure on them there may be a couple of mistakes, which there were. It shows we can compete at this level.”
Ward, who signed for the Bluebirds in June 2017, went on to give overall verdict on the game, and was full of praise for his fellow City teammates, having gone so close to snatching a point against top-six opposition.
“We knew Arsenal were going to have a lot of possession, but I thought we set up well and dealt with it for the majority of the game. We need to take out chances, but unfortunately, we didn’t today.
“It shows that we can score goals and put teams under pressure, but we need to take our chances to make sure that we take home points from the game.”
Ward’s 70th minute header, his first goal in the top flight and his fifth for the club overall, was just reward for an excellent personal display - but the striker was keen to prioritise the impact of the result ahead of personal accolades.
“It was good to finally hit the back of the net, because I know we’ve struggled in the last couple of games.
“It’s always good to get the first goal of the season, especially in the Premier League, but the main focus is always the result, and we didn’t get that today.
“Looking back at the chances we did, I think we should have done.”
Watch more reaction and highlights of the game on Cardiff City TV...
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