Manager Omer Riza praised Cardiff City for their draw at Stoke City as a reaction to what he called the worst performance of his tenure in the defeat by Preston in their previous outing.
Saturday’s 2-2 draw at the bet365 Stadium extended Cardiff’s winless run to seven games but took them out of the Championship’s relegation zone.
The Bluebirds were unfortunate not to claim their first away win of the season as Ben Gibson scored Stoke’s equaliser five minutes into added time.
And in terms of performance, it was a vast improvement on Wednesday’s dismal display as Cardiff lost at home to a Preston side who had failed to win in 10 matches.
“The Preston performance was the worst since I’ve been in charge,” Riza told BBC Radio Wales.
“I wasn’t happy and made the players aware of that.
“We’ve come away today [Saturday at Stoke] and we should have won and the performance was better. We needed three points but we didn’t get them.
“We needed a reaction from the Preston game and we got that I feel.”
Next up for Cardiff is a daunting home game against Championship leaders Sheffield United on Saturday, 21 December (15:00 GMT).
After the meek defeat against Preston, Riza is glad to be facing the Blades off the back of a better display at Stoke.
“All the players, to a man, were excellent. We just didn’t quite do enough to get the win,” he added.
“It was a great reaction but we’re just disappointed not to get the three points we really needed.”
