Rubin Colwill's Late Free-Kick Saves Cardiff City Against Wrexham

Rubin Colwill’s late heroics against Wrexham lit up the derby – but Brian Barry-Murphy is in no mood to rush his midfielder back into the spotlight.

The 23-year-old came off the bench on Monday and bent in a superb late free-kick to snatch a 1-1 draw and spare Cardiff City from defeat against their Welsh rivals. It was the kind of moment that reignites hype around a player in an instant.

“I probably shouldn’t have put him on as early”

Colwill has only just rejoined full training and, by his manager’s own admission, is nowhere near full load yet.

“Rubin has only trained for two days, so I probably shouldn't have put him on as early as I did, but the way the game was going I felt we needed a bit of something different,” Barry-Murphy said.

He got exactly that. Colwill’s introduction changed the rhythm of the contest, and his late set-piece – struck with the confidence of a player who hadn’t just come back from a spell out – ensured Cardiff escaped with a point.

The temptation now, after a moment like that, would be to fast-track him straight back into the starting XI. Barry-Murphy is resisting.

“We’ll just take it day by day with him, and see how he is,” he added. “We all want to see him play, but we have to be patient with him.”

Colwill will be assessed ahead of Cardiff’s next game against Derby, with the staff weighing up the need for his creativity against the risk of overloading him so soon.

Transfer urgency as squad “stretched”

While Colwill’s cameo grabbed the headlines, Barry-Murphy’s other message was just as pointed: he wants reinforcements before the transfer window closes.

“I think it's obvious we're looking to add to the squad,” he said.

Cardiff’s issues are concentrated in one area of the pitch, and the manager did not hide how thin things look.

“We are quite stretched at the moment in terms of that position. We're so stretched because the players are all from the same area of the team — Dylan (Lawlor), Will Fish, Callum Chambers.

“That doesn't change our recruitment strategy, but it means that we probably look more stretched than we probably are.”

So Cardiff walk away from a derby with a dramatic goal, a reminder of Colwill’s quality, and a warning from their manager. The talent is there. The depth is not.