Birmingham City boss Wayne Rooney was “delighted” to feel a sense of renewed belief among Blues fans after seeing their side win away from home for the first time in nearly four months.
“I’m just really pleased for the players and the fans,” Rooney said.
“It’s been a difficult few weeks. But results had to improve.”
The 38-year-old former England captain added: “Birmingham had a decent start to the season, then there’s a change of manager and I understand the fans’ frustrations.
“Being on the run we have been, it’s not been easy for them to look at that and believe. But them buying in is great.
“But we had to move the club forward. Results had to improve and I’m delighted about this one.”
Since winning at Ashton Gate, Birmingham had lost three times on the road under Rooney’s predecessor John Eustace at Watford, Preston and Norwich.
When Rooney then took over in October, that poor away form continued, with defeats at Middlesbrough, Southampton, Sunderland, Blackburn and Coventry.
But Blues fans have seen glimpses in that time of what their side might be capable of – and had already afforded the manager the honour of chanting his name even before Wednesday’s win in south Wales, his first away victory as Birmingham boss.
“The Birmingham City fans are a fantastic group who get behind their team,” Rooney added.
“We’ll do everything we can to make sure we give the performances and results to enable them do that.
“The way I want my team to play is to be hard to beat, get into the ball, be aggressive and be in control of the game.
“When we do the basics right, and we don’t get a simple five or 10-yard pass right, we’re in trouble.
“When we do get it right, we look a really good team.
“We dealt with Cardiff really well. We didn’t look like conceding a goal second half. Jordan James was excellent, his running off the ball especially, and Ivan Sunjic coming back in gave us a bit more solidity in the middle of the pitch.
“A manager’s job is understanding the players’ strengths and weaknesses and the more time I spend with them the better that gets.”
Rooney’s biggest test yet will come at St Andrew’s on Monday when Birmingham start the week before Christmas with a home game against Championship leaders Leicester City.