Russell Slade praises scoring impact from Craig Noone against Fulham

Cardiff City manager Russell Slade has praised Craig Noone after the winger scored the equaliser in his side's 1-1 draw against Fulham on the first day of the Championship season.

Noone came on as a substitute at the Cardiff City Stadium and fired in a long-range strike with just four minutes to go, and Slade believes that the 27-year-old is capable of scoring double figures during this campaign.

"He does that sort of thing so many times in training and it was a fabulous finish," he told reporters. "He picked the ball up near halfway and went at Fulham.

"He is capable of scoring double figures this season and I want to see him doing that more. Maybe this is his season to push on again."

As for the overall result, Slade thinks that the Bluebirds were capable of more.

"When you look at the balance of play and the opportunities created we were unlucky not to be in front at half time. Andy Lonergan had an outstanding game in goal and made two excellent saves from Joe Mason," he added.

"In the second half we hit the bar, had a goal disallowed and, against the run of play, conceded a goal after a mistake. At 1-0 down we were up against it, but we changed shape to 3-4-3 in an effort to get a point we did that."

Cardiff's next Championship game takes place next Saturday away to Queens Park Rangers.