' The dramatic four days for Rubin Colwill '

The dramatic four days for Rubin Colwill



A week can be a long time in football.

Seven days ago, Rubin Colwill was heading back to link up with his Cardiff City team-mates after earning the honour of his first competitive cap for Wales, another feather in the cap during a remarkable surge to the top.

That rise reached a new crescendo on Sunday, with Colwill coming off the bench to net twice in a 2-1 win over Championship strugglers Nottingham Forest.

His was deservedly the name on everyone's lips at the City Ground, whether it be the fans or team-mates, with several stars anointing him Cardiff's 'star boy'.

So it was perhaps no surprise to hear his name bellowed out with such gusto four days later ahead of kick-off at the Coventry Building Society Arena.

Colwill was handed what many felt was a deserved start as part of an all-Welsh front three against Coventry City, a move that was met with almost universal approval by Bluebirds fans.

But what unfolded was very different to events in the East Midlands.

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Explaining his decision from a purely tactically point of view, Mick McCarthy said afterwards : "It wasn't working. They had the three in midfield and were causing us problems with that.

"So I wanted to match them up with those and put two strikers on as well, with James (Collins) and Kieffer (Moore).

"I think it worked to a point in terms of them in midfield, but we didn't create too many chances for them."

Nevertheless, given McCarthy also admitted that he had reservations in starting Colwill from the off, one can't help but wonder if it was a somewhat calculated move to take the youngster out of the firing line on what was a disappointing night.

After such a meteoric rise, it's easy to forget amid all the recent adulation that we're still talking about a raw 19-year-old who still has a long way to go before he reaches his full potential in the Championship.

Patience will be key, and expectations need to be kept in check, although that's not to say Cardiff fans don't have every right to be excited.

Even so. Days like Wednesday are going to happen. McCarthy knows that. From the sounds of it, the player knows it too, despite the euphoria of the last few days.

"I don't think it's about bringing them down to earth," he said when assessing the context of Harris and Colwill's difficult night.

"I don't think they've got carried away [by recent success].

"The emotion of all that on Sunday for Rubin will have left him probably shattered. The game certainly did. You're enjoying that, but then it's back to work and you've got to do it again.

"They have to learn that. It's not something that just comes. It's about training, working, recovering to go again.

"But they're good players so they'll be fine."

Given his largely anonymous showing, it wouldn't be a surprise to see Colwill start the clash against Bournemouth from the bench at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday, but there's clearly a degree of confidence that he is more than capable of bouncing back.

Of course, it's important to stress that he wasn't the only one to struggle against the Sky Blues.

Moore, so often the unstoppable battering ram up front, endured his quietest night in a Cardiff shirt for some time.

One wayward header aside, the Wales international didn't have a single shot on goal the entire game, and touched the ball just three times inside the box for the whole 90 minutes, with a well-drilled back line pushing him deep or showing him down the channels.

Coventry deserved immense credit for their defensive efforts, and there might well be a concern that they have perhaps stumbled on a blueprint to keep the usually rampaging Moore at bay.

But McCarthy will be more worried about the apparent lack of fallback options at his disposal on Wednesday night.

Substitute Collins, who was one of those introduced when Colwill and Harris were hooked, admittedly should have scored to rescue what would have been a somewhat fortuitous point, but there was otherwise little sign of an upturn in fortunes following the introduction of the Irishman and Sam Bowen.

At Forest, Colwill and Moore played the role of impact subs perfectly given their quality, but after drawing a blank starting from the off here, there weren't too many real matchwinners for the Yorkshireman to turn to on the bench.


Mick McCarthy's claims that the squad is big enough this season and despite in the latest transfer window that saw more departures than arrivals arguably looks a little stretched under such circumstances, with the absence of Joe Ralls, Ryan Giles and Lee Tomlin really hitting home.

But at the same time, his belief in the ability of this crop of youngsters to make a difference is genuine.

Wednesday night you could hear the talk that we were not doing the basics. So its back to that this Saturday against Bournemouth I would say.