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Manchester Evening News
Manchester Evening News
Sport
Joe Bray

'Quality' Tommy Doyle praised for fine debut moment for Cardiff on loan from Man City

Tommy Doyle immediately started to repay Cardiff's faith in him as he produced a brilliant assist on his debut in the Championship.

Manchester City midfielder Doyle has swapped an unproductive spell at Hamburg for a relegation fight in the second tier at Cardiff, and has previously wasted no time in saying he wants to bring a winning mentality to his new loan club.

Such a bold attitude could be misconceived as arrogance, but Doyle soon let his football do the talking as he was given a first start in the Severnside derby at Bristol City on Saturday.

And it only took Doyle half an hour to show his quality, as he whipped in an irresistible cross from the right for James Collins to head home and open the scoring for the Bluebirds.

Unfortuntely for Doyle, Bristol City equalised two minutes later, and went on to win 3-2 but the City midfielder's contribution was mentioned after the game as a bright spark in a disappointing afternoon by manager Steve Morison.

"You look at Tommy and he showed why we brought him to the football club," Morison said after the match.

"That quality, his corners, his ability to take the ball and make things happen, it’s slightly different to what we’ve got. That’s the difference. That moment, he got it and… goal. That’s why we have brought him in.

"That moment, he gave us that one bit of quality we’ve been lacking in previous weeks."

Doyle was substituted after the hour mark, despite impressing supporters, and Morison revealed that his experiences at Hamburg were behind the change.

The England U21 international only made seven appearances since the start of the season in Germany, six coming off the bench for minimal game time, so Morison said he was keen to ease his new signing in to action.

"He hasn’t played," Morison said, explaining the substitution.

"He was doing excellent. Before the game we were always thinking about (playing him for) 45, 50 minutes. I just thought a couple of moments he started looking tired and jaded.

"We had Ryan [Wintle] and Will [Vaulks] on the bench, so there was always a plan in place to get him as far as we can. I think he is going to be a really good player for us. We don’t want to break him in the first game."

Before the game, Morison also confirmed that City have placed no clauses in his loan moves over guaranteeing game time, telling Doyle to earn his place like anyone else.

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