Bluebirds boss Neil Warnock saw his side lose at the Cardiff City Stadium for the first time this season on Boxing Day, but despite the result against Fulham, he admitted being delighted with their season so far.
Speaking to his side's official website - cardiffcity.co.uk - the experienced City manager was of course not happy with the 4-2 reversal to Slavisa Jokanovic's side, but had gone through the first half of the campaign unbeaten on their own patch.
“I’m disappointed to lose the home record, of course I am,” he said. “But if you told me at the start of the season that I wouldn’t lose it until Christmas, I would’ve been delighted.
“I was disappointed with the goals and thought that a couple of things could’ve gone our way. Overall they were better than us on the day, but credit to all the lads who kept going.
“I'm really proud of them to go this long - but it's time to stand up now against one of the teams who gave us our biggest pasting this season in Preston.
"Our aim was to get in the Play-Offs [at the start of the season], but we're aiming a little higher now because we've lifted ourselves higher. We’ll have a good go at it.”
The Bluebirds welcomed back striker Kenneth Zohore after three months out and experienced defender Craig Bryson following a month on the sidelines for the game against the Cottagers on Tuesday and the former Sheffield United boss was pleased to have those options back at his disposal.
“It’s great to get [Craig] Bryson and [Kenneth] Zohore back,” he added. “Both got 90 minutes under their belt too and I particularly wanted [Zohore] to get as much game time as he could today.
“I thought he got better in the second half; we played him through a couple of times and we’ve got to keep him fit because he’s very important to us.”
