I don’t want to lecture the players for the performance because it was an important three points over a solid side at this level, but we really could have made life a lot easier for ourselves had we applied a few basics and played with a plan.

I think we should have done a much better job of keeping our width on the night, and the secret to playing against 10 men it to keep the ball moving fast from one side of the pitch to the other, which forces them to continuously have to adjust their shape and helps drain them quicker both physically and mentally.

But I noticed on several occasions, even when Cardiff had 11 players, that Emmanuel Ledesma was coming off his flank and into central positions. I watched when he was choosing to do this and I still couldn’t work out whether he was under instruction or whether it was a natural tendency. If I was in charge, I’d have told him to get chalk on his boots and stay out as wide as he could.

If I couldn’t work that out, I thought the situation was even more bizarre when Akos Buzsaky replaced our little Argentine in the second-half. Buzz practically played in the centre and only came out wide on occasions, which seemed ludicrous to me given that Cardiff were playing 4-3-2. It really made my eyeballs pop out - the space he vacated and occupied only served to suffocate the middle further and gave us no proper outlet out wide.

It was no wonder Cardiff never really looked like they had less players than us, because we didn’t take advantage of the space properly. It seemed like an insane thing for him to do, but surely he was under instruction from the dugout?

What it did allow for was a license for Peter Ramage to creep into this space. He was operating almost like a wing-back, but with the greatest respect to the lad, he’s not really the man you want on the ball in those situations and having to deliver crosses. It annoys me when we have so much talent in the side who can deliver, but we can’t seem to get them in the right areas and on the ball to hurt the opposition.

To be fair to Ramage, he came up with the cross for the goal, but he did over hit his delivery and we got some fortune in the sense that it was a really magnificent header by Gavin Mahon. A great, great finish! And poor old Ramage fell over himself as he punched the air in celebration which I thought was ironic and made me chuckle. Let’s hope his career at Rangers really kicks off now.

Our choice of passing on the night was poor too. There’s a difference between making the right and wrong decisions and actually making a poor pass in terms of its quality. We did a bit of both, but it was the habit of going from A to C and skipping B that led to a lot of our play breaking down.

I saw on many occasions when the correct pass was the 5 yard one to the player standing nearest, who could then lay the ball on and invite pressure and build up momentum on Cardiff. But instead the person on the ball went from A to C and often meant we moved the ball in straight lines as a result and that the pass itself became 5-10 yards too long. As the quality also wasn’t there on the night, it meant we were prone to silly errors that cost us possession or made the move break down.

It’s irritating when you see that happening non-stop, especially when the ball is played into the channels and into no-man’s land. The striker or whoever has to chase a ball that is 50-50 at best, then somehow win it and get it under his control and then turn around and try to pass it to someone else. When we do that, it gives the other team the time to get their shape and positioning right which is what you don’t want.

When we did get success on rare occasions, it was then frustrating to see such little support for the front men. I counted a few times where I saw one of our players get onto the ball down the channel and yet there was nobody supporting from midfield, which against ten and nine men seemed slightly unusual.

To sum up the display I felt that the players didn’t really know or understand what their roles were supposed to be. It was the little things and the breakdown in communication on the pitch that made this clear to me and might have been the result of Cardiff having players sent-off, but in my opinion, it’s about their lack of preparation and plan. And when basic plans like “get chalk on your boots and stay wide” is not happening, or players are bickering with each other over why one didn’t come short or the other didn’t go long which I saw a lot of, then in for those situations it’s a little bit of a concern really.

But there were positives too. We kept another clean sheet and did well enough at the back and we won while not playing particularly well. If Akos is now match fit, we’ve got to find him a place in the team because he’s looking creative and playing with more confidence than the others.

We might need to find a solution for wide-right though as something tells me Ledesma wants to have a crack at playing centrally and I actually think he’s worth a shot in there coming off the bench, or even over on the left where it might be more natural for him given that he’s left-footed.

I love this photo of me and I’ve been thinking about it and agonising over my body language for the past few couple of days.

On one hand, you can see the frustration ingrained throughout my face and body yet we’d just won 5:1. But I wasn’t totally happy with our performance for a variety of reasons and I came away disappointed and feeling a bit down.

A few friends of mine saw this photo and told me I ought to be happy and that a 5:1 win is a good thing no matter the performance. Then another person struck a chord and said to me: “it’s a sign of a good manager to win and not be happy”.

There is of course a balance to be had between knowing what is and isn’t good and knowing what is going to be destructive. On this occasion I just couldn’t hide my frustration because it was genuine. We stopped doing so many things in this match that we had been doing really well in previous games, so I was annoyed and felt it was a step backwards because we replaced that with a lack of effort or just plain stupidity at times.

We still won though and I was really pleased that although we didn’t play brilliantly we were still able to find a way to win comfortably. There’s a fine line though and I keep telling myself that I have to be careful with my body language when I’m operating with a young and new team and that I must be aware of it.

The irony is I only managed to show that frustration for a brief moment as I sent them off on a cool down behind me. I don’t think they would have noticed, but whether that’s a good or a bad thing is open to debate.

It’s important they don’t get the wrong vibe. As much as I was disappointed by things I saw on the pitch, it is also personal. I felt responsible for some of that in the sense that I felt I didn’t make them understand quick enough as the game went on and I couldn’t find the right type of information to give them to make them understand and get the change we wanted to see. Perhaps it’s just down to a lack of experience, but it’s certainly a challenge I’m embracing.

That frustration is still encompassed by a positivity and a pleasant understanding that sometimes they don’t realise what they’re doing well, even when they’re playing well, so you have to be ultra precise with your feedback to get the message across and it gives me and the rest of the coaches something more to work on for next time. And that’s a heck of a lot of fun in itself. I really love this shit!

I came to the game in a positive mood. I guess I wasn’t going to be beaten seeing as it was my birthday and the players came out with the same attitude. I just sensed Birmingham were there for the taking and felt if we went for it, we’d find success.

In all honesty Birmingham showed why they were top of the table. They started really, really well. Some of their football and movement was very good and they fashioned out two excellent chances which yielded two wonderful saves by Radek Cerny in the opening five-minutes.

But after that, we heeded the warning and they never really penetrated us again in the same way. James McFadden showed his class and was a real handful when he was on the ball, but even then, he didn’t really do anything effective apart from looking pleasing on the eye.

It was a terrific performance by Damiano Tomassi on his debut. You really couldn’t have asked for any more from the lad. It was his first competitive football for a long time, so one would expect some rust, but despite a couple of sloppy passes his experience and quality shone through. I loved how he picked and chose his moments to press the play and surprisingly really high up the park at times too. But it was the manner he read the game and intercepted passes with such ease and his passing was exceptionally disguised and clever at times… done in a way that meant we would be more effective and likely to retain the ball.

But, he was pipped only by the current player of the year. I never thought I would say it but at present, Damien Stewart is leading the way big time. It was another colossal performance from him and his progress this season has been immense. I still think the deficiencies in his game are there, but he’s fitter, fresher and able to keep his focus more and with that he’s added maturity and consistency to his performances. Long may this continue and well done to him for his impressive form this year.

I was also delighted for Samuel Di Carmine. What a way to open your account. It was a stunning strike and worthy of winning the game. As soon as the ball came under his control I shouted “hit it” and the interesting thing about him is he has his critics, but up until now, he’s never really had a proper opportunity to have a shot at goal. We’ve seen him scuff a few half chances from wide positions, but he’s never had a clean effort yet in terms of service. Here, we saw the first sign that when the opportunity presented itself, he can hit the back of the net.

I hope there’s more to come, but I was pleased with how many free-kicks he won against the Birmingham defence too. It’s important to relieve pressure off the defence, and he did that intelligently at times even if he went looking for it and was even more crucial when we were down to ten-men.

In terms of our tactics, we looked more composed with ten men in the second-half because we had to think a little more about what we were doing when we got the ball in order to keep possession and not be wasteful and we did that really well. I loved that we went 4-3-2 once Mikele Leigertwood was sent off and I’ve always felt that’s the best way to play with 10. It gave much better passing triangles and angles all over the pitch and allowed us to maintain a more natural shape and possession.

The only issue we had late on, which was understandable, is that when Hogan Ephraim was up front on his own he started to drop too deep into the midfield and give Birmingham too much time on the ball. But this is nit-picking. It was a performance that showed tremendous character and desire to get the result and we deserved to win for our courage alone.

In the meantime, despite Birmingham feeling they didn’t play to their usual standards, after about 9 minutes of play I turned around to Sam and Leonie and said they’d played better in that time than in the whole 90 minutes a couple of weeks ago when they beat us 1-0. So I liked a lot of what I saw, but we’ve proven that even if we haven’t been at our best, or in our best form, that we can rattle these bigger teams and be solid against them when it matters and all that’s required is continuity, maturity and consistency in order to be up there at the end of the season.

All in all, a terrific result on a surreal and freezing evening. I was absolutely delighted with the win!

I’ve found this to be a deeply spiritual ritual. It sounds almost odd to say but it gets me in the mood and focused on the game ahead. There’s nothing like walking into a changing room and seeing those numbers on the wall and your kit ready. I’d like to think it adds a professional touch to the preparation and helps mentally prepare the players and get them in the zone. It certainly gets me in the mood!

I always ask the players and sometimes the other coaches to stay out when I’m doing this as I want to be left alone to concentrate and it’s amazing how much stuff goes through your mind about each player as you put their shirt up on the wall and how it prepares you for the game ahead.

This is of course standard for professional teams, but if you run a Sunday league side or similar, or play in one, then you should start doing this because it really does have an impact. There’s nothing worse than seeing a dozen players all diving into kit bags at the same time and scrambling over stuff in an unorganised and messy fashion. Get to know your players and their sizes and get it all laid out long before the match is due to start!

I admit, that when we’re at home, I leave the door slightly open as the away side walk by and I always can tell if the other team are doing the same by their reaction. It can be really intimidating and indirectly lets them know that they’re going to be in for a game. It’s got great shock value at that level.

Mind games are all part and parcel of football and playing pyschological warfare with your opponents and with your own can sometimes give you that extra belief and edge that you need. It’s the little details that count, but sometimes you have to immerse yourself in that detail and never feel that your boots are too big to do it, especially for the benefit of your own team.

I was pleased that we picked up another three points today but it wasn’t one of our better performances because for some reason or another, we struggled to get going.

Marlborough really should have taken the lead in the first-half and we gave them at least two bites at the cherry before we got our noses in front, which I have to say was against the run of play and teetering on undeserved.

Allana Ashmeil’s low drive in off the post was an excellent finish though and it helped settle us down and as the half progressed we grew stronger and eventually Sarafea Braveboy forced a goal home to give us a 2-0 lead at the break. The two goals came at the perfect time for us in the match and that’s an important ingredient for any successful side to have.

But despite our good fitness levels showing through as the half came to and end, we didn’t really show enough desire and hunger out there and at times too many of them were not putting in the effort they should have been. We spoke to them about this during the break and we came out looking more assured in the second-half.

Marlborough started to visibly fade in terms of their own fitness and struggled to deal with our attacks, especially down the right hand side where they could only clear their lines and conceded numerous corners of which we didn’t capitalise on.

We made hard work of it though and huffed and puffed our way to another three goals as well as hitting the crossbar twice. It was only when the fifth goal went in too that I actually started to feel relaxed and with 20 minutes still to go on the clock, I expected us to finish strongly but to Marlborough’s credit they hung in there and even grabbed a fine goal themselves from a fast counter attack.

At the end of the game I came away feeling as if some of the players weren’t really prepared enough for the roles they played in. We had one or two playing out of their favoured positions and at times it did show. At other times, we learned some more about their strengths and weaknesses and spotted new things we need to work on.

Still, if you don’t play your best and still come away with a convincing win in terms of the scoreline, or even if you just shade it by the odd goal, you can’t complain a great deal about that at all. So fair play to them for grinding out the win.

Team: Syan Armstrong, Alex Lupano, Chloe Julien (Jade Creighton), Nikki Crump, Ellie Sullivan, Melanie Randall, Jade Bowley (Katie Smith), Sarafea Braveboy, Scarlett Hanrahan, Danielle Clare Richards and Allana Ashmeil

Goals: Ashmeil 2, Braveboy, Richards & Smith

I sensed early on that we could actually go on and win this game, but we just lacked that little bit of composure in the final third to create that one golden opportunity that I think we’d have taken had it arrived.

But there’s no point dwelling on what could have been, because this was a very good performance for so many reasons. It’s been a long time since I remember that I really felt like the players were playing for the shirt, or for Gareth, or maybe both!

I came away from the stadium feeling very proud that they were prepared to win as many of those 50-50 tackles as possible and it really meant something to them.

We were playing 4-5-1 again, which seemed sensible given Reading’s home form but we looked a lot more balanced out there. This is the type of defensive performance you want; full of passion and with a tempo that let the opposition know that they were in for a game and that we were ready to pounce if we could.

But we were more balanced too. Martin Rowlands looked a lot better in the holding midfield role and we retained the ball and possession much more freely as a result. Sure, we never really fashioned out any serious chances on goal, but on another day, some of the long range strikes may have come off.

I thought Samuel Di Carmine did well and showed a different type of style to how Dexter Blackstock plays in that system. Di Carmine seems to have a little more tactical movement though Dexter offers more threat in the air at this time. Daniel Parejo also plays better off the frontman, and he can be pleased with his shift even if he did tire a little towards the end.

I thought Mikele Leigertwood was superb at right-back and he set the tone for the team, winning several tackles and along with the others, wasn’t afraid to put his foot in. Stephen Hunt didn’t get a look in all game and even swapped to the other wing for a little bit in the first-half. We seem to have a thing for right-back’s and caretaker manager’s… when Mick Harford was in charge in his first game away to Colchester, he stuck Rowlands there in a surprise move.

With Matthew Connolly being at left-back, we definitely made better use of the ball from our full-back positions and is something that I’ve been going on about for a while. Even Fitz Hall played some lovely inside passes to feet rather than the switch pass he tends to opt for. But the full-backs being better passers definitely helped us maintain our shape and helped with our ball retention too.

Lee Cook wasn’t quite on his game and was a little slugglish and sloppy at times, but really all it needed was him or someone else to sparkle a little and we may well have made that clear cut chance we were looking for. Akos Buzsaky was a little more threatening and I did like the moments he picked and chose to come infield, but we could have got him on the ball in more effective positions to make better use of him.

Still, I’m not going to pick on those details. The defensive display was excellent and Gareth Ainsworth has every right to be proud of the way the team responded in what is obviously a difficult time for us right now.

It was a very good point and a performance full of spirit. Perhaps we didn’t deserve to win the match, but by the same token, we didn’t deserve to lose either and was definitely a performance that everybody at the club should be pleased with as it’s a good platform to build on for Tuesday against Birmingham.

It feels like a long time ago now since we had just one manager in charge for an entire season and I was hoping that we’d get ourselves back on track in this campaign, but the dreaded 15 games in struck again for Iain Dowie.

I’m really sorry it didn’t work out for him, because he’s a bright young man who does a lot of good scientific work on the training pitch to prepare players physically for a long hard season.

What he really needs though is a right-hand man who knows the game inside out from a tactical perspective. A bit like how Ian Holloway made such great use of Kenny Jackett. It may be that Tim Flowers is every bit as capable, but I didn’t really see enough of him to pass such judgement, but that’s the feeling I had looking in from the outside.

Where the hell do we go from here now? It’ll be interesting to see what type of person the club go for to replace Dowie. Will they continue the strategy of finding somebody who knows this division inside out or will they go for a different approach?

Whatever we do, and this is no disrespect to Gareth Ainsworth, but I don’t think we should be leaving him in charge for too long. He’s a terrific guy and a great motivator, but he’s not ready for this level of pressure and expectation and in many ways it’s not fair on him either.

As for Dowie, well, I have to say that I still miss Luigi De Canio’s style and flair. He brought a tactical intelligence to Loftus Road that I’d never seen before in my time as a QPR fan and I felt spoiled by that. I always felt he would have done the job the longer he had with the players and the more he acclimatised to the country.

It’s left me aching and dreaming for more of the same, so whoever comes in, I hope they can do something similar - except this time, I hope the person coming in is a man who is able and capable of sticking around much longer than our last four or five. It’s an expensive and dangerous job to continuously replace the manager and his coaching staff and it’s important to find stability as quickly as possible.

The Board also need to be careful now, because the last thing they need is to give off the impression that they are trigger-finger happy, which presently it seems that they are. A manager and his backroom team need time, and in reality, 15 matches is not a great deal of time when the big picture of reaching the Premier League is supposed to be over a 4-year plan.

But good luck to Iain too and thanks for the time you’ve put into the club as a player and a manager - I hope he stays in the game and finds himself back in work soon enough again.