By Gareth James
Callum Robinson was hailed as Cardiff City’s “best finisher at the club” by manager Omer Riza after the striker helped deliver a priceless Championship victory at Watford.
Robinson – who was oddly left out of the starting line-up by Riza for the two previous matches – scored twice as Cardiff won 2-1 to earn their first away win of the season.
With fellow strugglers Hull City also winning on the road, the victory was crucial for the Bluebirds, who remain in the relegation zone, but not as detached as they might have been.
Had Cardiff lost, they would have been four points adrift, but a one-point gap will give Riza reason to believe as he head towards the turn of the year.
“Callum is the best finisher we’ve got at the club,” said Riza.
“He’s a great finisher, period. But he hasn’t played the last few games because I’ve given him a rest.
“Watford is a tough place to come, they’re doing a great job this year – top six at the moment – which made this place a fortress, and they had not lost in 17 games.
“It was a good game for us. We needed it and I’m not really bothered where it comes from, it’s just great to have the three points.”
City end 2024 with a huge three points!
Get in, you #Bluebirds!!! #CityAsOne | @quinnbet pic.twitter.com/GLrztOXnyG
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) December 29, 2024
Robinson and his Cardiff teammates made a show of support for Riza as they ran over to him to celebrate after taking an early lead.
Riza added: “I was taken aback by the reaction after the first goal. It was a really nice touch from Callum, and it was nice to see the boys come over.
“It shows the togetherness the boys have got, and the respect they have for me, which is a lovely moment for me.
Robinson opened the scoring in the first minute and grabbed another before half-time, shortly after Giorgi Chakvetadze had equalised, to dent the hosts’ play-off hopes.
The Bluebirds made three changes from their Boxing Day defeat at Oxford, with Jesper Daland, Cian Ashford and Robinson coming in.
Vakoun Bayo, Rocco Vata, Edo Kayembe and Ryan Andrews came in for the Hornets, who were on a 17-game undefeated streak at home.
What a way to end 2024
Top performance from the boys, safe travel back to the fans that came to support us today, you deserved that one.
Let’s push on now pic.twitter.com/CPe83ctXp2— Callum Robinson (@CallumRobinson7) December 29, 2024
The visitors drew first blood within the first 60 seconds. Callum O’Dowda fed the ball through to Robinson, who was able to turn inside the area and fire low past the outstretched Daniel Bachmann.
Cardiff were good value for their lead, as Watford struggled to get to grips with the early stages of the contest.
Vata fired over the bar from 10 yards after 17 minutes in the first half-chance for the hosts.
Cardiff could have doubled their advantage on 34 minutes, when Ashford just failed to connect to a dangerous low cross from Robinson.
They were made to pay for that miss four minutes later when Vata’s cross was too strong for Moussa Sissoko but Chakvetadze latched onto it and curled into the corner from close range.
Any hopes Watford had of building on the equaliser were swiftly checked, however, as Cardiff retook the lead. Ashford got in behind Yasser Larouci before squaring to the unmarked Robinson, who slotted home under barely any pressure.
️ “The boys had to put in a performance. They knew how important it was, and they’ve done that today.”
Read post-match reaction from Omer #CityAsOne
— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) December 29, 2024
The second half started off as frustratingly for the hosts as the first had finished, with Cardiff comfortably dealing with any threat and notably growing in confidence themselves.
Substitute Ollie Tanner was denied a third of the afternoon for Cardiff, when he picked up a wayward ball from Larouci on 76 minutes, and saw his composed effort well saved by Bachmann.
The home team were pushed into attacking for the final 10 minutes of the contest, having not created a single effort of note in the second period as they looked to maintain their unbeaten run.
Cardiff defender Dimitrios Goutas nearly added a third from a free-kick with a glancing header with two minutes of normal time remaining.
Watford continued to underwhelm in seven minutes of stoppage time, with the reaction of both sets of fans at the final whistle telling the story.
Watford manager Tom Cleverley said: “The poor starts are something you try and get to the bottom of, as a coach.
“The logistics of the day, the hotel last night, the warm-up, the tactics, you’re trying to tick off every box and with trial and error get to the solution.
“Sometimes we’re guilty of having the mindset of not throwing the first punch. We need to get out of that habit.
“I do think a part of it is that we’re going through a patch where we’re getting punished on the first opportunity of the game.
“We have to get to a stage where we stop doing that. Today we go into three challenges very half-hearted – again, not wanting to throw the first punch – and we’re nowhere near intense enough in our approach.
“Again, we are approaching games with a passive mindset.”