Barry-Murphy Praises Colwill's Goal Threat After Cardiff Draw

Joel Colwill needed one moment. He took it.

On his first Championship start, the 21-year-old midfielder rose to glance in a second-half header that stopped Cardiff City’s slide and earned a 1-1 draw with Stoke City, denying the Bluebirds a third straight defeat.

He might easily have had two.

Colwill, who hit seven goals last season, became the spark Cardiff had been missing before the break. After half-time he found space, demanded the ball and, with one clever run after another, dragged his team up the pitch. Only the post stopped him from turning one point into three.

"It was a great finish and very important for us - he carries a big goal threat," said head coach Brian Barry-Murphy, who made no attempt to play down Colwill’s impact. "You saw he got close to another goal. His movement in the box in the second half, particularly, was very good."

The shift did not happen by accident.

Barry-Murphy admitted he altered Colwill’s role at the interval, pushing him higher and closer to Yousef Salech to give Stoke’s defence a different problem.

"Joel played a little bit too deep in the first half, but in the second half he was very good, very close to Yousef [Salech]," he explained. "A lot of our best moments in the box, he was on the premises, which is a big part of his role for the team."

While Joel stepped up, Cardiff were missing another familiar attacking influence.

Older brother Rubin Colwill sat out the game after an ankle issue flared up again, a concern given his importance to Barry-Murphy’s plans.

"Rubin's ankle wasn't OK yesterday. He didn't train," the Irish coach said. "There was talk of putting him on the bench, but I wasn't sure he would be fully fit if he was to come on. That was also the case on Saturday, and I didn't want to risk it because of what he's been through with the ankle."

Cardiff, still searching for their first Championship win of the campaign, can at least cling to one positive: Barry-Murphy is hopeful Rubin will be available for Saturday’s trip to Bolton.

If the elder Colwill returns and the younger keeps arriving in the box with this kind of menace, how long can that wait for a league victory really last?