Cardiff 'must feel the disappointment' of Lincoln defeat

Cardiff City head coach Brian Barry-Murphy says it is important his players "feel the disappointment" of their defeat by Lincoln City.

The Bluebirds' 105-day run at the top of League One was ended on Saturday, as they were beaten 2-0 by the Imps - who leapfrogged them into first place in the table.

It was a first home defeat in the league for Cardiff since September 2025, and has allowed the chasing pack to close the gap later on Saturday.

But Barry-Murphy insisted he "never panics", with the Bluebirds still holding an 11-point cushion over third-place Bolton Wanderers.

"When you suffer a defeat at home against a team so close to you it is very disappointing," said Barry-Murphy.

"You have to feel that disappointment and accept it and bounce back from it.

"The players here are in a very good place, and every time we've had a set back we've bounced back."

Despite dominating possession the Bluebirds were unable to create any clear-cut opportunities against a physical and well-drilled Lincoln team.

Long-distance efforts always looked the most likely source of a goal for Cardiff, with Ollie Tanner and Rubin Colwill both coming close in the first half.

But in front of a crowd of 27,280 - the highest figure for a league game at the Cardiff City Stadium since September 2023 - the Bluebirds could not give the fans the "perfect day" their head coach wanted.

"In a stadium with so many of our supporters present, we wanted to give them the perfect day but today that wasn't possible and was not meant to be," said Barry-Murphy.

"Their keeper made a couple of great saves in the first half, I thought if we scored we'd have been in a great situation but we couldn't find it.

"Lincoln did a good job of protecting their goal and then scoring on the breakaway like they did.

"It's a very disappointing result."