Cardiff City boss Sabri Lamouchi enjoyed a "lovely day" as he watched his side outclass Bristol City in an enthralling Severnside derby.
The Bluebirds helped themselves to a 2-0 win over their English rivals, with goals from Sory Kaba and Jaden Philogene putting them clear before goalkeeper Ryan Allsop was sent off in the dying moments at Cardiff City Stadium. The hosts were the better team throughout as they found themselves back in the goals and picking up three valuable points that lift them further clear of the Championship relegation zone.
It was the perfect response to last weekend's disappointing defeat away to Norwich, after which Lamouchi called on his side, who he labelled "the worst attack in the league" to make improvements.
READ MORE: Cardiff City player ratings as Jaden Philogene shines and Perry Ng enjoys unexpected role
And the Bluebirds boss admitted he was delighted to see his instructions heeded in what he described as an "absolutely massive win" for his side.
"I am happy for us and happy for our fans," he said. "Back-to-back-wins at home, a great atmosphere, unbelievable emotion and a massive win against Bristol, who are are a good team."
"A great performance from my players, I am absolutely proud about what they have done today. What I said after the [Norwich] game to the lads was they need to show to themselves what I am thinking about them. They have the quality and we just need more consistency.
"Norwich is not nowhere, it’s a very good club, a very good team," he added. "But this team just needs more confidence and to have more confidence we just need to do more good performances and get more good results and win more points. With more wins, this team will play more free."
But despite the convincing win, Lamouchi admitted that his side were fortunate not to find themselves a goal down going into the break, with Bristol threatening the host's goal on a number of occasions early on.
"The performance was probably a little bit lucky in the first half not to concede a goal," he said. "But it was an absolutely serious performance in the first half. In the second half we controlled the game and we deserved to score.”
"I was not confident before, just focused in my mission, which is to just let three teams be behind us and to bring from the guys the maximum they can give us, like tonight. It was a brilliant performance. Absolutely brilliant."
The only dampener on the day was the red card for Allsop for a late handball that saw Perry Ng nominate himself to see the game out between the sticks.
Lamouchi added: "Yes [I’m disappointed]. Maybe it was my mistake to make a change before but this can happen, unfortunately for Ryan. We will miss him for the next game. But Perry, he made two great saves. It is unbelievable to finish a game like this, with Perry as a keeper and three more points and a clean sheet. It was a massive win and great performance. A lovely day.
"It was him, it was absolutely his decision. For me it was probably Macca or Kion, a tall one, but he was confident, so I said, 'ok let's go.'"
READ NEXT:
Cardiff City beat Bristol City as Kaba and Philogene score but Perry Ng ends up in goal
Cardiff City player ratings as Jaden Philogene shines and Perry Ng enjoys unexpected role
