Neil Warnock turns 70 on Saturday, becoming only the fourth Premier League manager to reach the age. If he can keep squeezing the most from his modest squad he may see another birthday yet in the top-flight.
This result was an absolute triumph of his abilities. Trailing from an early stage, his players stuck to their instructions, kept unsettling Wolves, and ultimately completed a comeback victory that will give confidence an unlikely survival is possible.
Cardiff’s squad is, in reality, Championship quality. But Warnock, now a septuagenarian, is looking as fresh as ever and pulled off a tactical trick against Nuno Espirito Santo, his old adversary. He produced a bespoke plan to tackle Wolves and lived every minute on the touchline, twitching at each kick and studying every second.
At full-time he gave barely a trace of emotion, but surely will have loved this win against the team who caused such irritation last season. He can enjoy his birthday in the momentary comfort that his side start the day in 15th place. And he can appreciate that at 70 and in the Premier League, he now is in the company of Sir Bobby Robson, Sir Alex Ferguson, and Roy Hodgson. Not bad.
For Wolves, the slide continues. They looked to be on course for an important victory but finished with a fifth defeat in six games and no win since the first weekend of October. Nuno has much to address.
The two managers had begun the night with a very public display of respect. As the cameras rolled Nuno greeted Warnock out of the tunnel with a smile, a birthday congratulations and, yes, a handshake. No problems here, was the message each wished to project.
They had both sung off the same hymn sheet in the build-up to this game too, insisting they had hugged out their differences at the League Managers’ Association following promotion.
But these are fiercely competitive individuals and neither will have forgotten the circumstances of their last meeting at this ground in April.
Wolves earned a hugely important victory thanks in part to Cardiff missing two stoppage-time penalties and in the celebrations Nuno forgot to shake Warnock’s hand. When Nuno eventually tried, Warnock was having none of it, this time the cameras capturing the rather comical sight of Cardiff’s manager wafting his hand dismissively at the Portuguese and inviting him in rather crude terms to kindly go away.
So the show of solidarity could not hide either’s undeniable extra desire to win this fixture.
Warnock even changed formations for the occasion, switching to a back-three system to counter the triple-pronged attack beloved of Wolves. Callum Paterson and Josh Murphy started as two central strikers, with Aaron Gunnarsson providing a shield in front of defence.
Nuno made two alterations to the team beaten so convincingly by Huddersfield, selecting Adama Traore and giving Romain Saiss his first Premier League start of the season in place of Ryan Bennett, presumably to offer more mobility on the ball in defence.
And soon enough, the edge in the technical areas resurfaced. Warnock grumbled about a throw-in that went Wolves’ way, and got into a spat with Helder Costa. Nuno was appealing to the fourth official over decisions, and stalking the touchline with usual menace.
And, in the 18th minute, Nuno was cheering again.
For Cardiff to survive this season, much depends on how they handle set pieces: both attacking and defending. Here they had a back-three measuring 6ft 1in, 6ft 3in, and 6ft 4in in height. But Wolves produced a routine that undid them.
Joao Moutinho delivered an outswinging corner that found the clever run of Raul Jimenez, who glanced a terrific header that was going in until Neil Etheridge dived to make a very good one-handed save.
But Matt Doherty had anticipated the move and met the rebound perfectly, thumping a first-time shot into the roof of the net. The whole Wolves bench rose to celebrate, almost a dozen in black tracksuits encircling the manager.
Cardiff responded with effort and in the 37th minute went close to equalising. Sean Morrison made himself a nuisance at a looping corner that was cleared only as far as Harry Arter, who struck a sweet half-volley with his left boot that curled away to hit the post.
In the 64th minute Arter was at it again, this time hitting a dropping ball from a free-kick with his right. The shot was whistling in until Conor Coady got a deft glance to put it wide.
From the corner, Cardiff levelled. Once more the clearance only reached Arter, who launched the ball high back into the box. Rui Patricio thought he could claim but was shrewdly blocked off by Paterson, with Morrison flicking on to Aron Gunnarsson, who had been granted inordinate space by the Wolves defence. Gunnarsson chested to control, then swivelled to shoot in.
Cardiff City Stadium erupted.
Then, 12 minutes from the end, the noise exploded. After sustained Cardiff pressure, Bobby Reid smacked a shot that hit Saiss and rolled to Junior Hoilett, who did not hesitate to strike a wonderful shot that bent into the top corner, leaving Patricio no chance.