Lawrence pleased with opening day win

Lennie
By CCFCSleepingGiant.com
August 12 2002

Lennie Lawrence was pleased with his team’s weekend performance, but was quick to praise one man in particular – Leo Fortune-West. Lawrence said that he has decided the starting XI for Tuesday – Leo and 10 others.

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Leo Fortune-West was on scintillating form as City picked up three points at Boundary Park. He was the best player on the pitch by several miles and deserves all the praise that he is receiving.

"I thought Leo was outstanding. Without a shadow of a doubt, he was my man of the match," said Lennie Lawrence. “This was probably the best game he's played for Cardiff since I took over as manager."

"Leo won't be dropped for Tuesday," he smiled. “It's Leo and 10 others."

Throwing Fortune-West into the starting line-up ahead of Robert Earnshaw was a brave gamble by the Cardiff chief, but he certainly can’t have any regrets. Leo seemed to win every ball and his work rate was outstanding.

Lawrence added: "I don't care who they are. I don't care how much they cost or if they're Welsh internationals, they can't all play," said Lawrence referring to his 22-man first team squad. "But they will all have a part to play.

"They will all get a share of the action, but they have to rely on me to manage them.

"Earnie has been a little behind in pre-season, but he got his goal today and I'm pleased for him."

Leo’s remarkable display was not the only good point to come from our fruitful trip north. The defence, superbly marshalled by Barker, was solid and our passing was accurate.

Speaking to the Western Mail, Lawrence said: "Our performance was all right considering it was the opening day.

“The strikers got a goal each and the team worked well. We were expected to win convincingly because of last season's result. but it was never going to happen.

"At 2-0 we looked to have it sewn up, but then we had seven minutes of time added on and we lost our concentration. The last few minutes were hairy and we could have done without them, but it's nice to get that first win under our belt."

City’s next match is tomorrow night against Port Vale. Vale lost their opening game 4-1 against a strong Tranmere team. Full match preview and stats to appear on this site later today.