At the time, not many of Salech's teammates were close to him in terms of goalscoring, and with veteran frontman Callum Robinson as the only natural replacement, who had cultivated himself as a reliable back-up throughout the season, many were wondering who Brian Barry-Murphy would turn to.
Our staff put a lot of effort into sending those reports but from now on there's no point. There's no acknowledgement of what we're saying, it's just ignored. We get a reply but the reply is always in agreement with what's happened. It's not good enough. We're not going to waste our time on it, we're going to focus on what we're doing for Cardiff city and try to give our supporters and players the protection they need.
It was a great moment, I appreciate, always thankful. In some moments when you don't win games, they have been not happy, but it's normal. But overall, the fans have always been there. These are the kind of games that I fall in love even more with the players because you cannot imagine how easy it is to slip, to slide, because they are tricky games.
Starting with the hosts, coming under a huge amount of scrutiny last season as they sacrificed their Championship status with a whimper, Cardiff have their sights firmly set on booking an immediate second-tier return this time around. Last seen over the weekend putting in a dominant display as they cruised their way to an empathic 3-0 victory at home against Mansfield, Brian Barry-Murphy's camp are enjoying what has quickly become a real flurry.
Marcell Washington's powerful strike gave the visitors the lead after great build-up play, only for Cardiff midfielder Troy Perrett to level the match two minutes later. But calamity struck when Arsenal goalkeeper Alexei Rojas was shown a red card for a foul, and the hosts capitalised on their player advantage with goals from Will Spiers and Trey George.
I'm in my workplace and I feel I should never feel threatened in that workplace... I wasn't waiting for him to make the first swing. So I did. Somehow, there were four male Cardiff fans - late 20s, early 30s. They recognised me [and] immediately started running their mouths off at me. I ignored the first jibe. The second, I responded to and I confronted them about it. Words were said. One of them, a tall chap with glasses, made a hostile move towards me.
The character of the team [pleased me most] the way we responded to a difficult setback in the second half the personality that we showed through the course of the game, but even more so then it was hugely satisfying for us the team is improving all the time strong glimpses of what we can achieve
After more than 21 years without facing one another, Cardiff had to wait a little longer to reacquaint themselves with their Welsh rivals, as Wrexham completely failed to turn up for the first half. The Bluebirds' victory came as little of a shock, if anything their progress to the quarterfinals should have been far easier. Yousef Salech put the League One side into a 13th-minute lead, but Cardiff missed numerous chances to finish off the derby before it began in earnest.
Although Brian Barry-Murphy might have seen his promotion contenders sign off September with a shock 1-0 loss at home against Burton, the Bluebirds came roaring back in a remarkable fashion over the weekend. Eventually clinching a pulsating 4-3 victory against Leyton Orient, the former Rochdale boss has seen his squad win three of their previous four appearances across all competitions.
