Cardiff City: Boss Morison wants Bluebirds to leave behind relegation worries

Manager Steve Morison urged Cardiff to produce another winning run to erase Championship relegation worries.

Cardiff host strugglers Derby on Tuesday night, 13 points clear of the drop zone, having been just two points outside the bottom three when Morison took charge in October.

But the Bluebirds boss insists his squad cannot relax.

"Look how quickly we turned around with a few wins and got to where we are now," said Morison.

"The games are coming thick and fast, there are five more before the international break, all huge tests and we need to win some."

Cardiff are 20th in the table, without a win in their last two games following defeats by promotion-chasing Huddersfield and runaway leaders Fulham.

Morison added: "You just have to be on the ball all round. We are concentrating on ourselves and this is the next one… Barnsley are on a charge, they are all going to have runs and we need another little run on the back of two defeats.

"We need to get back on the winning trail as soon as possible"

Derby County are bottom-but-one in the table and eight points away from safety, having had 21 points deducted by the Football League over financial issues.

Morison is full of praise for the job Rams boss Wayne Rooney has done in ensuring relegation is not inevitable despite the points deduction.

The Cardiff manager said: "It's been incredible. They have given themselves every single chance. He has had a pretty depleted squad at times, he has done a fantastic job, one that I am sure they can be proud of.

"If they did not have the deduction, they would have been doing really well in the league. But they are where they are we need to make sure we keep them there."

Morison is forced to leave team selection until the day of the game because of the sickness bug which is still within the club.

On Saturday, Cardiff duo Mark Harris and Uche Ikpeazu were unable to feature in the 1-0 defeat by Fulham, while Jordan Hugill was only well enough to be among the substitutes.

Morison called it his "toughest 24 hours" as a manager and some players are still laid low.

Morison said: "It's a mixed bag, but it has not just come on us this time. It came out of nowhere last Friday. We will get through it and definitely be in a slightly different place to where we were on Saturday.

"You just have to adopt the attitude that 'there is not a lot you can do about it'. You just have to be adaptable and be willing to change and the analyst who put all the set play together have to be on their toes and be ready to change things at the last minute.,

"Us as staff have to be ready and ultimately so do the players. James Collins has gone from training with the [under-]23s on Saturday morning to starting a game of football.

"You have to be ready as a professional, be ready to go at all times. We shall all need to be ready for whatever comes. "