Brian Barry-Murphy hails youthful Cardiff after second-half fightback

New Cardiff boss Brian Barry-Murphy was full of praise for his young side after they staged a second-half comeback to earn a 2-1 home win over Peterborough in their opening game of the League One season.

Victory gave Barry-Murphy a winning start to his reign, having taken over in the summer following the Bluebirds’ relegation from the Championship.

He selected Cardiff’s youngest team this century, only to see Posh take the lead through a Brad Ihionvien penalty in the 33rd minute.

But skipper Rubin Colwill levelled with a fine free-kick shortly after half-time before 18-year-old Ronan Kpakio grabbed the winner.

“We saw a lot of potential out there and the style with which the boys played was evident throughout,” said Barry-Murphy.

“We didn’t create as many chances in the first half as we would have liked given the positions we got into. When we arrived in behind their defensive line we had good moments but couldn’t find the right selection.

“In the second half, the players’ application and understanding to keep doing the same things and to repeat that was evident. I was pleased with that application overall.

“When you get to half-time and you are losing 1-0 in a game you feel you should be winning, it is very easy to start changing things because you think they aren’t working.

“So I just reminded the players about how well they had done and told them never to take a step back.

“They told me they would do that and they were true to their word. They were really aggressive in how they wanted to win the ball back off a good team, who were really dangerous when they played beyond our pressure.

“They showed personality and I was very proud of their aggression on a day when so much was expected of them.”

Sir Alex Ferguson was at the Cardiff City Stadium to watch his son Darren’s Peterborough side.

And Darren Ferguson felt he could scarcely have had a tougher start to the campaign.

“This was probably the hardest start to the season we could have had – Cardiff City away in their first game in League One,” he said.

“The free-kick for their goal was a fantastic strike and it was a big moment in the game because it got the crowd up. It changed the whole momentum.

“But it’s the edge of the box and we gave it away. We should never be in that position in the first minute of the second half.

“We were poor on the ball in the middle of the park and the lads know that we weren’t good enough. Too many times we turned the ball over again and we gave it back to them.

“If you’re playing against a team that want to keep possession in the way they’re doing, that’s very expensive. You have to be good on the ball to stop them having it all the time and we weren’t.”