Cardiff go back top as Swans continue to slide: Welsh football weekend round-up
Cardiff City returned to the top of League One with an away victory over Northampton Town, as south Wales rivals Swansea continued to slide in the Championship.
There was a 0-0 draw on the road for Wrexham and Newport’s change of manager brought no change in result at Oldham.
Let’s get into the action on a packed weekend.
Cardiff reach summit but Colwill injury blow
Cardiff righted what was starting to become a tricky month for the Bluebirds with a healthy 1-3 win at Northampton Town on Saturday.
Joel Colwill opened the scoring with his first league goal for the club after just seven minutes, before his brother Rubin was forced off inside hour an hour.
Ethan Wheatley equalised for Northampton before restoring the Cardiff lead with an own goal before Chris Willock sealed the result in added time.
Despite the victory, Colwill’s injury was concerning. The Cardiff midfielder was seen leaving the ground on crutches with an ankle injury.
“He damaged his ankle ligaments,” Barry-Murphy added.
“I think the nature of the way the injury occurred suggests it won’t be a short-term injury.”
Colwill, 23, has been an influential figure for Cardiff this season, playing in all 15 league games to date.
Swansea slide continues in Bristol
Bristol City produced a convincing home win over Swansea City, who had prospective new head coach Vitor Matos watching from the stands.
Swansea are reportedly close to appointing the Portuguese coach as Alan Sheehan’s successor, but all he learnt was that he has a lot of work to do at his new club.
Current caretaker Darren O’Dea said after the 3-0 defeat that he is in the dark over his future at the club.
“Football moves on pretty quick and there’s another game in a couple of days time so all my thoughts are with the players now to make sure they recover right,” said O’Dea.
“There’s definitely enough there to bring the club in the right direction. Now someone needs to lead that.
“The circumstances are difficult but, when you put perspective on it, working with these lads has been a pleasure.”
Wrexham have Okonkwo to thank for draw
Wrexham manager Phil Parkinson hailed Arthur Okonkwo’s performance as the ‘keeper kept out a dominant Ipswich side to secure a 0-0 draw.
The 24-year-old produced a number of key saves at Portman Road – most notably to deny Chuba Akpom – as the Red Dragons held the Tractor Boys to a goalless draw.
It was the goalkeeper’s third successive clean sheet – which saw Wrexham extend their unbeaten Championship run to six matches.
“Arthur’s a goalkeeper who is right at the top of his game,” Parkinson said.
“The players in front of him I thought were really good today. I think it’s great for Arthur because we’ve spoken about bringing a lot of players in this season, which we have. Arthur has grown into the division and he’s getting more and more confident by the week.
“It’s very rewarding for all of the staff to see a player who has been up through the divisions who is now performing so well, like Max [Cleworth], at Championship level.”
Newport woes continue in Fuchs’ first match
Newport suffered a 3-0 defeat to Oldham Athletic in Christian Fuchs’ first match in charge after succeeding David Hughes in the County dugout.
The former Leicester title winner said that his new side need to get “back to basics” as the Exiles attempt to lift themselves off the foot of League Two.
“My mentality as a manager is to do what’s required right now – right now, we need to go back to basics,” Fuchs said.
“We need to make sure that we solidify our shape behind the ball, solidify our defence, get something on the board and then hopefully that gives them a little bit more confidence and we can create momentum.
“Because that’s definitely not there right now, I don’t blame the boys, they haven’t had a good season so far.”
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