Bristol City call may have cost Omer Riza the Cardiff City job: View | OneFootball

Omer Riza has earned four points for Cardiff City, but one bold tactical error during Sunday's Severnside Derby may cost him the job

The minimal margin for error at Cardiff City means that just one crucial tactical change during Sunday afternoon's 1-1 draw at Bristol City in the Severnside Derby could prove costly to Omer Riza's outspoken desire to become the club's next permanent manager.

The former Leyton Orient and Watford first-team coach was elected as interim manager following the dismissal of Erol Bulut the previous month.

Bulut, who had penned a fresh two-year contract with the club back in June, only fulfilled three months of that deal before receiving his marching orders in the aftermath of Cardiff's 2-0 home defeat to Leeds United on September 21, which marked a fifth loss from six matches. Cardiff are still rooted to the foot of the league table, of course, although improvements have been made under Riza's temporary tuition.

The Bluebirds are now in search of their 12th permanent managerial hire in just 14 years and are expected to come to a decision during the international break, which has now commenced following the action across the weekend.

Riza, whose only previous first-team managerial experience came with Leyton Orient during the 2016/17 League Two season, is believed to be in contention for the job, while it was claimed by The Mirror that Steven Schumacher, Tony Mowbray, Alex Neil and Nathan Jones are all also in the running.

However, a recent report from WalesOnline's Cardiff City correspondent Glen Williams has seemingly ruled both Jones and Schumacher out of contention, instead revealing that the club's top-brass are considering Reading boss Ruben Selles.

Cardiff City's form under Omer Riza

Cardiff had made their worst start to a league season in more than 100 years when Bulut was finally relieved of his duties last month, a decision which was received with no division whatsoever among supporters.

They were stuck in a rut which the Turk was, for more reasons than one, simply incapable of clawing them away from, although Riza has provided a solid audition for Vincent Tan, Ken Choo, and Mehmet Dalman to take note of.

Riza was handed a baptism of fire when Cardiff were relentlessly split open by Hull City in his first game in charge, falling to an eventual 4-1 defeat at the MKM Stadium despite having taken a rare lead through Callum Robinson after 18 minutes.

However, Riza guided Cardiff to a long-awaited and hard-fought first victory of the new league campaign days later as they edged out Neil Harris' Millwall at home, with Perry Ng's header providing the all-important difference.

Buoyed by a rare and relative sense of confidence, Cardiff then claimed a draw away to fierce rivals Bristol City in the Severnside Derby on Sunday afternoon.

Ollie Tanner's blistering solo strike on the 54th-minute mark was cancelled out by a headed effort from Luke McNally less than twenty minutes from time, and while the trip to Ashton Gate represented some green shoots of positivity for the Bluebirds, one such tactical decision from Riza arguably cost them all three points and may work against his favour with becoming the club's next manager.

Riza has made little secret of his ambitions. When quizzed by the press following his side's 1-1 draw with the Robins, he said: "Of course I want the job. This is why I've worked so hard, to become a Championship head coach.

"I've worked so hard for this opportunity, I'm never going to say I don't want it, because I know I'm ready for the opportunity. I'm passionate and work hard and I'm experienced in what I do.

"So, of course I do. But it's not down to me, it's up to the owner and the board to come up with the right decision with what is best for the club, that's really all I can say on it."

Omer Riza's costly Cardiff City tactical decision against Bristol City

The 2,500 supporters who had travelled across the River Severn to pack out the Ashton Gate away end were rewarded for their efforts when Tanner conjured up real individual brilliance to send Cardiff into a deserved lead shortly after the interval, and the faithful away fans rightly thought they were poised to see their first victory on the road.

Indeed, the exciting winger spurned a glorious goalscoring opportunity just moments after, where he really should have doubled his side's advantage after receiving the ball across goal from Rubin Colwill.

Colwill too may have just left Bristol a disappointed man, having failed to convert his own effort from close range right after putting a chance on a plate for Tanner - and winger Anwar El Ghazi also missed a sitter in the first half.

The trio, then, do need to take a certain degree of accountability for their side coming away from Derby Day with a point as opposed to all three, although the former two were outstanding and, in the view of many supporters, Riza's tactical decision in the wake of those two missed opportunities was what ultimately proved decisive.

Cardiff were flying following Tanner's opener, attacking their opponents at will and with a real sense of swagger, courage and initiative. They were on top at that point, with Liam Manning's men struggling to take a hold of the match and cope with them.

So that is exactly why travelling supporters and indeed those watching on from home were left in collective shock when, after 66 minutes and just 10 minutes of Cardiff being a goal to the good, Riza decided to haul off El Ghazi in place of Jesper Daland, a central defender.

Anything but a like-for-like change, then, as Cardiff lost all attacking impetus when the ex-Aston Villa forward's number appeared on the scoreboard. That is not to say he was his side's chief forward outlet - Colwill and Tanner were much more integral on the afternoon - but his substitution saw Riza ditch a 4-2-3-1 in favour of fielding, in his own words, a 5-4-1 for the remainder of the affair.

At a stage where Cardiff were going for the jugular, playing with momentum and with every chance of killing the game off, Riza very much played parity back into the Robins' hands by throwing bodies behind the ball and replacing attacking initiative with conservative pragmatism.

The margins are so incredibly fine, as we all know, and had Cardiff managed to grind out all three points, then Riza would have been commended for being positively pragmatic and seeing the game out. But they were denied of a second successive victory when Bristol City, whose own momentum generated at the expense of Cardiff's after the change in formation, pegged them back and forced the Bluebirds to settle for a point instead.

By and large, supporters did not shy away from voicing their thoughts on Riza's decision on social media during and after the match, and the manner of his response when quizzed about the subject did not do him any favours.

Riza explained: "It's our third game in seven days and the boys were getting tired. We felt there were pockets opening up in the middle of the pitch and we needed to make the changes to seal that.

"We had Daland on the bench who has come back from injury and is a centre-half who's dominant in the air. We brought Callum [O'Dowda] on the left side because we thought players were getting tired.

"We went to a 5-4-1 if you like. We just didn't stop enough of the crosses into the box.

"The goal has only come from us not clearing properly and it's dropped in and they've scored off the back of it. We stopped one element, but not the other.

"Do I regret it? No, I don't regret it. Because I feel sometimes, in the position we are in at the moment, we need to make sure we come away with a point today. We could have potentially lost the game and come away with nothing.

"It's a good point. Yes, I am a front-footed, attack-minded coach, on another day I'd maybe like to go for it a little bit more, but where we are at, at the moment, I think it was the right thing to do."

Supporters are perfectly entitled to hold reservations about the stylistic approach under Riza, who has handed increased free reign to the likes of Colwill, Tanner, and Alex Robertson but lost the faith of many fans after Sunday. They want to see their side play on the front foot and with the handbrake off while attacking teams with speed, flow and confidence.

That is exactly what they were doing at Ashton Gate before Riza dismissed that to go with five-at-the-back instead. He was very much auditioning to potentially earn his first senior managerial job but the commencement of the international break now means he may not have any more chances to stake a claim and potentially redeem himself, even.

The Cardiff hierarchy are seemingly eyeing a fresh appointment who plays a consistent brand of attacking football and stands by such principles, so the final half hour of Sunday's Severnside Derby could well ultimately count against Riza. Victory would have represented two on the spin for Riza, who surely would have been well-placed to land the gig on a permanent basis.