Cardiff City manager Neil Warnock has defended his decision to withdraw winger Leandro Bacuna so early in the day against Sheffield Wednesday last night.

With the Bluebirds losing 1-0 to the visiting Owls, Warnock made the bold call of taking Bacuna off and replacing him with striker Danny Ward after just over half an hour.

Bacuna was visibly upset with the decision as he left the field, but speaking following the game, Warnock moved to clear up his decision over the former Aston Villa man.

"Leandro Bacuna has done some miles and I think he has played every game for club and country this season. He just looked jaded to me and I thought we could play Danny Ward with the way they were playing," Warnock said, with quotes taken from BBC Sport.

The winger was clearly struggling in the first half and contributed little to proceedings for the home side, who didn't kick into gear until well after the break.

Striker Ward did indeed make an impact at the top of the pitch, ultimately justifying Warnock's decision to bring him on, while fellow sub, Lee Tomlin, got the equalising goal to further vindicate the experienced manager's substitutions.

The point moved Cardiff into 11th, while Wednesday got themselves back into the top six.

The Verdict

Bacuna can sulk all he wants with this one but Warnock got it right and it proved to be a bit of a masterstroke.

He was offering nothing and did indeed look a bit tired, so Warnock is probably just looking after his player to an extent.

Bacuna will come back into the fold. Warnock is a master people manager and will be looking for his winger to come back with a strong reaction.