Riza questions Swans security after Cardiff City celebration

When the referee showed a red card to Erol Bulut in stoppage time of yesterday’s South Wales derby it immediately meant that the Cardiff boss would be denied the chance to speak to the press after the game – a directive laid down by the EFL for any manager sent from the touchline.

That left first team coach Omer Riza to do the press duties after the game and he was left to question the Swans security on the injury caused to Ollie Tanner in the celebrations of Callum Robinson’s equaliser with just over ten minutes to go.   Riza said “You’re looking and saying, ‘Should there potentially be more security around the pitch, so fans can’t come towards the advertising signs?’ That’s a heavy sign that has fallen down, Ollie has a big cut on his leg.”

The incident came after a similar one at Crystal Palace on Saturday and Swans boss Luke Williams said that it is something that the club will look at but ultimately this was an action caused by the supporters of the club that Riza is representing.  An over zealous celebration meant that they were too near the advertising hoarding and collapsed them.   If there are reasons why the police refused to lift the bubble restrictions for this fixture then they were clear to see in a thirty second period after the generosity in the Swans defence afforded Robinson the space to equalise and cancel out Liam Cullen’s tenth minute opener.

There can be calls for more security but ultimately the incident happened because of their own supporters and given the speed and instant nature that a goal can be scored it is difficult to see how any level of security could have reacted quick enough to prevent it and the criticism should have referenced the away supports actions as much as anything else.

Onto the game itself, Riza felt that Cardiff were the better side in the second half, something which he will be right on, “Coming into a derby, the passion, the atmosphere, being away from home, we knew we’d have to deal with all those factors and be solid with good structure. We gave them a bit too much possession in the first half, which we had to adjust in the second half.

“When we did that, we got after them a bit more, we were the better team in the second half and could have gone on to win the game.

“We went into half-time 1-0 down and we made sure that we got the tactics right in the second half to go and apply a bit more pressure on them. The subs were excellent when they came on and made a huge impact for us. We got a point and could have possibly got three.

“Callum is dangerous in the box when the ball comes to him like that. The ball from Ollie is a great ball to come on to and strike. He’s dangerous in those areas.”

On the subject of the red card for Bulut in the second half he added “He is still saying the red was a bit harsh.

“He was pulled onto the pitch and their player put his hands on him, which should not happen.”