Cardiff City vs Sheffield Wednesday. Sky Bet Championship.
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Cardiff City 1-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Michael Ihiekwe nets as Owls hit back for point
Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Cardiff City and Sheffield Wednesday at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday; Michael Ihiekwe earns point for Owls as Bluebirds miss chance to pull clear of bottom three.
Saturday 29 March 2025 18:39, UK
Isaak Davies scored his first goal at Cardiff City Stadium since January 2022 to earn the relegation-threatened Bluebirds precious point from a 1-1 home draw with Sheffield Wednesday.
After spending last season on loan at Belgian aside Kortrijk he has returned after a lengthy injury break to make an impact and his first-half strike gave his side the lead and ultimately earned them the point that moved them two points clear of the relegation zone.
Wednesday boss Danny Rohl suggested before the game it would take six wins out of the remaining eight games for his side to reach the play-offs and they eventually battled their way back into the contest after the break to leave with a point.
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Cardiff boss Omer Riza said his side probably needed 11 points to beat the drop over the final eight games and he picked a side with three wide men behind sole striker Youssef Salech to give his team the best chance to make it back-to-back wins after their triumph last time out at Blackburn.
It was one of those three players, Davies, who made the biggest impression as he tormented the visitors' defence down the right and eventually came up with the goal that broke the deadlock in the 21st minute.
He had fluffed his lines with another chance 10 minutes earlier when he was free in front of goal, but he finished off a sweeping move in style as he cut in from the right edge of box before firing with his left foot into the bottom corner.
Cardiff totally dominated the opening 45 minutes with Wednesday failing to get off a shot and playing the whole half on the back foot. It was little wonder then that Rohl made three changes during the interval, hooking Rio Hatsuse, Jamal Lowe and Nathaniel Chalobah.
He sent on Marvin Johnson, Shea Charles and Svante Ingelsson in their place and the energy levels, intensity and commitment rose immediately. Having been forced to play second fiddle to the home side, Wednesday went up two gears and levelled just past the hour mark.
A corner from the left was met with a firm header in the middle of the goal by Michael Ihiekwe and Ethan Horvath had no chance of stopping it. That inspired both teams to keep pressing forward for a winner.
Charles was forced into a diving effort to push a Davies shot clear in the 70th minute and then Salech headed inches wide soon after.
Anwar El Ghazi had one final forlorn shot just before the end of the three minutes of added time for the home side, and they now face two away trips to QPR and Preston before hosting Stoke in a huge game in the relegation zone.
The managers
Cardiff's Omer Riza:
"The players are going to be frustrated and disappointed, but we can't find excuses we have to find solutions. We need the points.
"It was a very good first half and we were hoping for more of the same in the second half. I don't really know why that didn't happen, there seems to be a mental thing with the boys.
"They didn't apply enough pressure in the second half and allowed them to have a bit more time on the ball in the midfield areas, which put us on the back foot. That was disappointing.
"We had worked on set plays in the week knowing how they worked, so to concede from a corner was disappointing. It's one of the moments we are going through.
"It just changed in the second half. We didn't tell them to sit back, we told them to try to go out and get and second or third goal."
Sheffield Wednesday's Danny Rohl:
"Our away performances have been incredible this season, even though we only took a point today. Last season we finished with 53 points, now we have 52 points with seven games to get a lot more points.
"We have reduced the gap from six to five points to the play-offs, it means we look up and I want to see a team who attack the next position.
"We have nothing to lose now, we can go all in. Second half today, we went all in, but in the Championship this is not enough to win a game."
