“I never thought we’d lose!” Bluebirds boss’ claim after dramatic victory against Ipswich

By Reef Parker

Cardiff City manager Erol Bulut insisted he never felt his team would lose against Ipswich Town – even though they went behind as late as the 79th minute.

Kieffer Moore struck against his former club to give the visitors the lead, before an astonishing finale that saw Ryan Wintle equalise before substitute Callum O’Dowda struck a dramatic winner in the 100th minute.

“From when the game started, I felt like we were never going to lose it,” said Bulut.

“I think maybe it was the best (performance of the season).

“We’ve been so prepared for today…from the first minute to the end the effort was there.”

Bulut claimed that thinking on the fly and adapting was a key factor ib Cardiff’s victory.

He added: “All the players showed concentration.

“Before the 1-0 (to Ipswich) we put KG (Karlan Grant) up front so he could find space in behind to score.

“When we conceded we had to change again, we put KG on the side and Fam (Famara Diedhiou) in the centre to attack crosses.”

Bulut’s change of tactics paid off brilliantly, as it was Diedhiou’s flick-on that assisted O’Dowda’s last gasp winner.

“I never stopped believing in my team,” said Bulut.

“In life you have to believe and we believed we would win this game, and we did, it’s amazing”.

However, the Cardiff boss isn’t getting ahead of himself after a fourth successive victory.

“I will not change my opinion, we will take it game by game, at the end we will see what we get,” he said.

“We do not want to make the players go crazy (talking about playoff hopes).”

Asked what has sparked his team’s improvement, Bulut replied: “Confidence is very important, so when you saw us a few weeks ago confidence was low.

“You can only get it back with fight and trying new things”.