Cardiff Remain Unbeaten After 2-2 Thriller at Derby
Cardiff remain unbeaten two games into their return to Championship football after goals from Cian Ashford and Yousef Salech earned a 2-2 draw at Derby.
The Welsh side were good value for their point, having twice taken the lead in front of a raucous Pride Park crowd of 28,926. The Rams, unconvincing for large periods, capitalised on defensive lapses to secure their first point of the new campaign through Carlton Morris and Bobby Clark.
With a depleted squad due to injuries, Brian Barry-Murphy’s side began the match with a makeshift central-defensive pairing of Perry Ng and Joel Bagan and were forced to withstand strong early pressure from the hosts. Within the opening three minutes, Ng produced a perfectly timed goal-saving challenge on Clark, while goalkeeper Nathan Trott was called into action twice in quick succession — first pushing away a curling effort from Corey Blackett-Taylor, then smothering a shot from Oscar Fraulo after Ronan Kpakio’s under-hit back-pass, with Bagan clearing Clark’s follow-up off the line.
Cardiff gradually settled into the game, with Jacob Widdell Zetterstrom producing his first save of the match to tip a powerful 15-yard drive from Rubin Colwill onto the crossbar. After Trott denied Blackett-Taylor with his right leg at the near post and Lewis Travis curled an effort wide, the visitors took the lead in the 19th minute. Kpakio headed Alex Robertson’s left-wing corner back across goal, and Ashford steered the ball into the bottom-right corner from eight yards for just his second goal since December.
Derby equalised in the 26th minute when Max Johnston’s long diagonal ball found Morris, who shrugged off Ng’s challenge before forcing the ball past Trott from close range. Cardiff, however, were back in front before the break, as Ollie Tanner and Colwill combined effectively down the right before Colwill squared for Salech to finish confidently past Zetterstrom — his third goal of the season in all competitions.
John Eustace’s side restored parity just four minutes into the second half when Blackett-Taylor once again caused problems for right-back Kpakio, pulling the ball back from the byline for Clark to fire home from 12 yards.
Shortly after the hour mark, Morris headed wide from an Alex Mowatt corner, while at the other end, long-range attempts from David Turnbull and Jack Moylan failed to trouble the goal. Substitute Lars-Jorgen Salvesen also fired straight at Trott in stoppage time after being gifted possession by a loose pass from Kpakio, as the match ended honours even.
