Neil Warnock hailed the impact of Marlon Pack after the midfielder played a key role in extending Cardiff’s unbeaten Championship run to seven matches, with a 3-0 home win over QPR.
The Bluebirds midfielder scored his first goal for the club he joined from Bristol City for £4m in the summer and also set in motion the move that finished with Callum Paterson scoring his side’s third.
Added to Sean Morrison’s opener – also his first goal of the season – it gave Warnock his biggest win of the season and moved Cardiff up to 10th in the table, just two points off the play-offs.
Pack was signed by Morrison in order to fill the void left by the hugely influential Aron Gunnarsson and although Warnock may have been stretching it to compare either to the legendary Dave Mackay, from an earlier era, there was no doubting his importance in this win.
“Marlon makes a big difference,” said Warnock of his midfielder who missed a month through injury before returning to the side for last week’s draw at Hull.
“We missed Gunnarsson when he left in the summer and we needed to bring someone in who does a similar job
“Marlon is that type – he does makes us play more. He brings calmness. He doesn’t seem to panic.
“He reminds me a bit of Dave Mackay, he never used to go past the halfway circle, either.
“But we didn’t have anyone else like him, so it was essential we got him. He is a leader and a talker and although he’s scored tonight I still think there are lots more goals in him.
“I just love the way he recycles the ball. He keeps us ticking over.”
Morrison, Pack and Paterson scored the goals, but the Bluebirds have been more dominant in other games this season and finished with nothing.
Here, though, they were clinical in taking their chances and although they rode their luck in defence – as QPR twice struck the post and forced Alex Smithies into a number of saves – Warnock’s side showed enough resolve to see job through.
Warnock added: “They are a good side and we knew they had good players who play with freedom.
“We had to be well organised and disciplined and I thought we were. Apart from once early, I can’t remember Alex Smithies having much to do.
“It was also lovely to see set pieces come off. To work on those and see them come off shows we don’t just bung the ball in as some people claim.
“We could have scored a few more, but I’m delighted.
“We have overcome another obstacle. That’s what the Championship is all about. I think we are getting better, but we can still go quite a way. You need two or three runs in the championship.”
Warnock’s side have struggled to find the winning consistency – with four draws in their previous six matches – that underpinned their Championship promotion campaign two years ago.
But Cardiff are slowly building momentum and now lie within two points of the play-off positions.
This win moved them into the top half of the Championship table and above QPR, who were the architects of their own misfortune with careless finishing betraying tidy approach play time and again.
Pack swept the ball home just before half-time to extend Cardiff’s lead after captain Morrison had headed them in front in the 10th minute.
QPR struck the post in either half, through Eberechi Eze and Ryan Manning, but Cardiff rode their luck and made sure of the win when Pack began the move which ended with substitute Paterson scoring with an emphatic volley in the 71st minute.