Mid Wales

Image source, Huw Evans Picture Agency

Brian Barry-Murphy says he was proud of his Cardiff City players despite admitting they were simply unable to "stem the flow" of West Ham goals as the Bluebirds surrendered a 3-0 lead to draw 3-3.

Jack Moylan's first-half hat-trick appeared to have set Cardiff on their way to a resounding win in Scott Parker's first game in charge of the Hammers on Wednesday.

However, West Ham were transformed in the second half, with goals from Divine Mukasa, Arne Engels and Max Kilman hauling them level.

"I was very clear with the players that at half-time the best form of defence for us was to attack because we were in such a good position, but it wasn't possible," said head coach Barry-Murphy.

"It's rare for us to have less possession than the opponents and we just couldn't stem the flow once they scored.

"The goals are disappointing from our point of view but they're things that we can easily rectify, and I think we showed how dangerous a team we can be in the first half."

Cardiff have been ravaged by injuries this season, and they were without several players again for the topsy-turvy West Ham draw.

The absence of centre-backs Dylan Lawlor, Gabriel Osho, Krystian Bielik and Calum Chambers meant that left-back Joel Bagan had to shift into central defence once again, while right-back Perry Ng – a fitness doubt before the game – was forced off during the second half.

"We're asking the players to put everything on the line because we have such a small squad and the players who came off came off because they were injured and certain players still on the pitch were still carrying knocks," Barry-Murphy added.

"I'm as proud as I've ever been since my time at Cardiff because of the effort and the way we played the game.

"We attacked from the first whistle and even in the second half, when we couldn't attack, we defended the box for our lives in the end."