Barry-Murphy 'very satisfied' with return to League One summit

Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy reflected on a "very satisfying" day's work as the Bluebirds returned to the top of the League One table with victory over Mansfield Town.

Cardiff swept the Stags aside with a convincing performance in their 3-0 home win on Saturday.

With previous leaders Stevenage drawing at Wigan Athletic, Barry-Murphy's side reclaimed their place at the summit of League One.

The Mansfield win was all the sweeter as this was Cardiff's first home league fixture since 18 October.

"I think in this stadium the support we've had has been incredible and you can see the energy, how quickly it comes when we're playing well," said Barry-Murphy.

"For the supporters, who've been so behind us so often this season, to get a day like today where they can enjoy the game, enjoy this evening and be at the top of the table is very satisfying for us all. It's very important."

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Will Fish put Cardiff in front during a dominant first half, before Yousef Salech and Cian Ashford struck after the break.

The Bluebirds missed several chances to extend their winning margin, while they also limited Mansfield to precious few efforts on goal.

Asked if this was one of his team's more complete performances of the season, Barry-Murphy said: "We've had different points of the season where we've been pretty good, but I thought, yeah, consistently we were very good today.

"In the key moments of the game we created enough chances to score more goals, but we didn't and then when it's 1-0 you can always think it can become difficult, so to get the second goal at that point was crucial for us.

"The togetherness of the team was very satisfying for me and then the overall performance levels of the whole team in general was very pleasing."

Meanwhile, Barry-Murphy confirmed attacking midfielder Rubin Colwill will have surgery on his ankle injury, but that will not change the initial estimate that he will be out for up to 12 weeks.