Plymouth boss Miron Muslic was in positive mood after his struggling side earned a 1-1 Championship draw at home to relegation-rivals Cardiff at Home Park.
The Bluebirds swept into a 14th-minute lead through Yousef Salech but they were reduced to 10 men – eight minutes after the break – when Dimitrios Goutas was sent off, before Muhamed Tijani came off the bench to earn a share of the spoils.
Muslic, who side moved up to 22nd as a result, said: “We have gained another place in the table so we will take the positive from this.
“I have mixed emotions and feelings because I simply think we threw away the first 45 minutes and in our situation, we cannot throw away four-and-a-half seconds.
“The first 45 minutes was very negative but how we came out of the locker room for the second half was very positive.
“We had the energy we wanted to have from minute one. We had this immediately and suddenly you can put pressure on the opponents and suddenly you can create goalscoring opportunities.
“It was very important for us to get this energy that (substitute) Bali (Mumba) gave us.
“Bali was just on it from the first whistle. His first action was a good shot on goal, his second produced a red card for Cardiff.
“It was just the momentum for us to stay on it. The next stage for us was we knew we had to take advantage of this red card.
“Muhamed gave us exactly just the boost we needed but then I am just a little bit disappointed because we left the script a little bit.
“We had the red card, we had the goal, when we have that advantage, we must stick to the plan but we didn’t do that.”
Cardiff boss Omer Riza was disappointed his side did not put more chances in the back of the net and they dropped down to 21st as a result.
He said: “It was a frustrating game. Some things you can’t account for in games. Everything that can happen in a game probably happened.
“So we are happy to come away with a point at the end after playing with 10 men for 50 minutes. I felt we had the control of the game we were looking for from the start.
“We are disappointed we weren’t able to keep 11 men on the pitch and win the game but coming away with a point would be fair.
“We probably need to finish some of the chances we created and it is something we need to do better. But I still feel we came in at half-time in good spirits and we knew we could do more of the same and put the chances away in the second half.
“But we needed a second goal and the red card came against the run of play and put us on the back foot.
“I have not looked at the sending off again. My initial thoughts was that he (Bali Mumba) just nipped in front of Dimi (Dimitrios Goutas) and he has caught him. I have not seen it cleanly enough to comment on it.
“I just think, obviously, you want to win these games and take three points and try and open up a gap between teams in and around you.”
David Moyes believes James Tarkowski was lucky to avoid a red card for his reckless challenge on Alexis Mac Allister as Everton were beaten 1-0 by Liverpool on a controversial night at Anfield.Diogo Jota’s 57th-minute goal, which Moyes claimed should have been ruled out for offside, gave Liverpool a 100th derby win and moved them a step closer to the Premier League title, but both sides were...
Jack Grealish dedicated his goal to his late brother after scoring in Manchester City’s 2-0 win over relegation-threatened Leicester on Wednesday.The England international hit his first Premier League goal for 16 months, on his first start in the competition since last December, as City moved back into fourth with a comfortable success at the Etihad Stadium.It came on the 25th anniversary of...
David Moyes bemoaned an “offside” goal that gave Liverpool a 1-0 win over Everton – but admitted James Tarkowski was lucky to avoid an early red card on a controversial night at Anfield.Diogo Jota’s 57th-minute goal gave Liverpool a 100th derby win and moved them a step closer to the Premier League title, but both sides were left unhappy with decisions from referee Sam Barr...
Eddie Howe hailed Sandro Tonali’s shooting power after seeing him cap a fine display with a stunning winner to edge Newcastle into the race for Champions League qualification.The 24-year-old Italy international brought an incident-packed encounter to a fitting conclusion with a 74th-minute piledriver which beat goalkeeper Mark Flekken from an improbable angle to hand the Magpies a precious 2...
Aston Villa boss Unai Emery believes Marcus Rashford is “progressively getting better” in all aspects of his game following his first Premier League goal for the club.The on-loan Manchester United forward set Villa on course for a comprehensive 3-0 win over fellow European hopefuls Brighton with a 51st-minute finish at the Amex Stadium.Rashford’s milestone strike came three days ...
Southampton boss Ivan Juric vowed to keep fighting as relegation moved sharply into focus after Crystal Palace denied them only a third Premier League win of the season.Substitute Matheus Franca’s stoppage-time header, to secure a 1-1 draw for the Eagles, means Saints will be down at the weekend if they lose at Tottenham and Wolves beat Ipswich.If relegation is confirmed on Sunday, Southampt...
Derby boss John Eustace insists his side are reaping the rewards for the hard work they have put in since he was appointed as manager after the Rams earned a 2-0 win over Preston to climb out of the Sky Bet Championship relegation zone.Derby came out firing after a lacklustre opening period and Craig Forsyth coolly slotted the hosts in front with his fourth goal of the season.The Rams doubled thei...
Notts County manager Stuart Maynard hailed a “massive” three points as his side comfortably saw off MK Dons at Meadow Lane to maintain their promotion challenge.Two stunning strikes from David McGoldrick and Will Jarvis from the edge of the box, either side of Nick Tsaroulla’s close-range effort, earned County a convincing 3-0 win.“I think every three points is massive now,...
Kieran McKenna was not getting too giddy dreaming of a miracle escape from relegation after Ipswich beat Bournemouth 2-1 to pick up their first Premier League win of 2025.Goals from Nathan Broadhead and top-scorer Liam Delap did the damage as Ipswich put a further dent in Bournemouth’s hopes of qualifying for Europe.McKenna, whose side are still nine points adrift of 17th-placed Wolves who t...
Liverpool re-established their 12-point lead at the top of the Premier League with Diogo Jota’s strike against Everton settling a second controversial Merseyside derby of the season.Jota’s first league goal since mid-January was potentially one of his most important of the campaign as the 1-0 victory kept second-placed Arsenal at more than arm’s length.It also ended Everton manag...
- 1 Hot WAG flaunts 'astonishing' washboard abs in bikini
- 2 Danny Rohl hails Sheffield Wednesday resilience in draw at Cardiff
- 3 Alfie May double sends Birmingham step closer to Championship
- 4 Marcus Rashford scores first Premier League goal for Villa in win at Brighton
- 5 Ryan Lowe and Conor Hourihane felt team deserved more as Wigan and Barnsley draw
- 6 Mat Sadler hails Taylor Allen set-piece skills after Walsall snatch draw
- 7 Chris Davies says Alfie May’s goal drought never concerned him
- 8 Football fan 'eats' raw pig's head in ultimate insult
- 9 Marcus Rashford still looking to improve after firing Villa into FA Cup semis
- 10 Chelsea prepare €70m for Barcelona defender