Ralls: Cardiff’s Stoke Performance Demonstrates Ability to Avoid Relegation

Cardiff City captain Joe Ralls believes the team’s showing against Stoke City provides evidence that the Bluebirds possess the necessary quality and determination to avoid relegation from the Championship. The Bluebirds appeared set to achieve their first away league victory of the season, having established a 2-1 advantage at the bet365 Stadium following a Ben Gibson own goal and a strike from Anwar El Ghazi. However, Gibson redeemed himself for his earlier own goal by scoring an equalizer for the Potters in added time, resulting in the points being shared. This draw places Omer Riza’s squad just one point above the bottom three after 20 matches, yet Ralls contends that the overall performance against Stoke proved the Bluebirds have the fighting spirit required to remain in the second tier. “I believe we do, we’re a good side, we’ve got a good group of lads in there that are trying hard,” he told BBC Sport Wales. “Sometimes performances don’t show how much it means to us. That’s disappointing and that’s something we’ve talked about.” Ralls continued, “I think we showed today there’s a group in there that are fighting. We can’t feel sorry for ourselves because we’ve let in a goal at the end and lost a couple of points.” He concluded, “We’ve got to take that performance and standard that we set today, keep that going for the rest of the season and we’ll get enough points to have a good season.” Manager Riza had strongly criticized his players in the aftermath of their 2-0 defeat by Preston North End at Cardiff City Stadium three days prior to the encounter with Stoke. While the visiting team allowed their lead to slip in the final moments against Stoke, Ralls stated that the Bluebirds can be pleased with their reaction to the loss against Preston. “The way the game went, we’re obviously devastated. I thought we played really well,” said Ralls. “The performance on Wednesday [against Preston], we talked about it, it was unacceptable for us as a group.” He added, “We fell right below the standards we want to set at the football club. All you can do after it is talk about it, put it right and try and have the response.” Ralls concluded, “We owed the fans a performance and I think we gave them that. It’s just so annoying we couldn’t get over the line.” He further commented, “I thought we were well worth the three points, it just didn’t quite happen for us in the end.”