Bluebirds Boosted By Impressive Rudy Gestede

Cardiff City`s young French striker Rudy Gestede produced another very good performance on Saturday, further underlining his potential and excellent start to his Bluebirds career. Gestede was invited to train with us during pre-season, but impressed Mackay and was offered a full time contract. Mackay would never have expected to have given him so much gametime in the first couple of months of the new season, but he has applied himself very well and looks an extremely useful player.

Gestede bears a striker resemblance to former fans favourite Jay Bothroyd, they are of similar height and build and share the same languid, deft style. It is unfair to compare the two at this stage, and Gestede is far from showing the same class, technique and all round contribution to Bothroyd. He is also far from the finished product, and is improving all the time. He is excellent in the air, not just winning his headers - but directing them towards team-mates as well. I can`t remember many occasions when any Cardiff City targetman won so many headers in a game, from Andy Saville, Kevin Nugent, Peter Thorne to Leo Fortune-West - Gestede was a real handful for the Ipswich defence. He has a decent touch, and is not short on pace. Gestede looks to have all the attributes to make a big impression.

In addition to his technical skills, Gestede shows maturity on the pitch and gets on with his game without fuss or complaint. When fouled, he simply gets up and runs to his position, and his commitment was shown when he battled on for 20 minutes during the 2-1 win over Southampton despite being severely hampered by a hamstring problem.

Gestede is fast becoming a fans favourite, and many were pleased to see him named in the starting line-up. Mackay`s faith was certainly repaid by his performance, he was the fans and sponsors` man-of-the-match, and took his goal very well indeed. Gestede also had a glorious chance to win the game for the Bluebirds, after finding himself one-on-one with Stockdale, only to push too far onto his weaker side and seeing his shot saved.

With only Kenny Miller (currently injured), Jon Parkin (on-loan at Doncaster Rovers) and Robert Earnshaw as competition for the strikers position, Gestede looks set to continue to play a big role over the next few weeks. On his showing so far, Gestede has certainly deserved his chance and is definitely deserv ing of a place in Mackay`s starting XI.

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