Steve Morison aims subtle dig at Stoke City's pre-match comments after impressive Cardiff City win

Steve Morison believes Cardiff City's mature performance in their win over Stoke City highlights just how far his side have come since his first game in charge against the Potters back in October.

That game at the bet365 Stadium was chaotic, with the Bluebirds going 3-0 down before eventually clawing the game back to draw. That performance in October was worlds away from the largely commanding display on show at Cardiff City Stadium on Wednesday night.

Coming into the match, Stoke City boss Michael O'Neill believed Cardiff would not be too dissimilar from the team they faced in Morison's first game in charge. He couldn't have been more wrong.

The style of football has improved drastically and the fact there were only three players in the starting XI from that draw in October highlights how much Cardiff have changed. And Morison, who clearly read O'Neill's pre-match analysis of his Bluebirds side, took pride in showing just how far his City side have come.

"We didn't deserve to be 1-0 down in the first half. I thought we were excellent," Morison said. "We got our just rewards for our performance by being 2-1 up at half-time. They gambled second half, put us under pressure and had a couple of moments, but I still think we had the better chances in the second half.

"If anyone wants to question the players' attitude, application, they are the type of performances that put all that to bed. I thought all round, we defended really well, scored two excellent goals. When we started this whole process we were in the bottom three or four, they were in the play-offs and tonight we finish level on points with them.

"Some turnaround from a team that is apparently the same team that went to Stoke 24 games ago. Really pleased. Proud as