Joe Ralls spoke to the press after Cardiff City’s 2-1 home win over Stoke City.
“It’s always good to get back out there with the boys,” Joe began. “Obviously, we’ve had a couple of funny results and got a decent enough point in the week, but it was important to get the win today and try and sort out this home record.
“The home run has been disappointing. We had some tough games against Leeds and Leicester, but it’s the other ones that have been really disappointing. There were a few that we probably should’ve won if you look at it. It’s disappointing and we weren’t really sure why it was, but we wanted to put things right. That was the message today before the game; to go out and really show what we’re about and take the game to them and play at a high tempo. I thought we did that to begin with, then we sat back and invited a bit of pressure, but we got the result and that’s all that matters.”
There were goals for Kion Etete and Karlan Grant this afternoon, their first at CCS for a while. The captain was not only pleased for the goal scorers, but for the attacking unit as a whole.
“I’m really pleased for them,” Joe continued. “They get a lot of pressure, and they feel it, especially when any forward player isn’t scoring. They wanted to go out there and show what they were about and express themselves, and I thought they did that. All three of them were brilliant the whole game. Kion and KG got their goals, but Bowler was bright all game as well. It’s great for them and hopefully it’ll give them a big confidence boost going into the final stretch.
“You could see how much the goals meant to those guys today. It’s always a relief for forward players when they score after a while. All three attackers can be really pleased with their performance. Rubin as well has really shown his quality over the last few weeks, and it’s something for them to build on going forward.”
With a home win under their belt, Ralls and the rest of the squad are looking forward to what’s to come, starting with next week’s Severnside derby.
“I think this has got to be a turning point for us,” Joe ended. “We’re disappointed with how the last few weeks have gone, but it was important that we just got that win in order to give everyone a lift. Now, we can really look forward. We’ve got great games coming up and we’re really excited about playing in them, and this win will hopefully give us confidence going into them.
“We know we’ve got a massive game coming up next week against Bristol City, and we’re really looking forward to it. We had a good win here against them earlier in the season. We know how amazing it feels to win these derbies, and we’ll be looking to do that again.”