On Tuesday night he looked as if he could handle the job, following Saturday's defeat of former Championship leaders Forest by ending Ipswich's eight game unbeaten run.

Slade masterminded a comeback after Darryl Murphy's brilliant first half goal had put Mick McCarthy's side in front.

Slade admitted: 'I am a football manager, I have done 650 games, but I know that Cardiff's supporters perhaps didn't know much about me.

It is up to myself and the team to go out and win them over, and I think we are starting to achieve that.'

For good measure he has also helped Peter Whittingham find his shooting boots - the 30-year-old former captain who helped give Slade his first win on Saturday came up with another cracker.

The 30-year-old former captain, who helped give Slade his first win on Saturday, came up with another cracker.

It was a great response to an equally spectacular goal by Murphy.

And it set the scene for goals by Federico Macheda and Adam Le Fondre that have pushed the Welsh club back closer to the play-off places.

Slade had called for more consistency in his efforts to turn round a season that had begun so poorly following relegation from the Premier League.

But until Whittingham, who now has 70 league goals in his eight seasons at Cardiff, suddenly exploded into the game it had seemed more likely that canny McCarthy would come out on top.

Former Sunderland and Celtic striker Murphy has been catching the eye of Republic boss Martin O'Neill again - and little wonder.

The 31-year-old didn't seem to have many options as he picked up a loose ball just beyond the corner of the penalty box after 29 minutes. The one he took was to smash the ball with his left foot into the far bottom corner of David Marshall's goal.

It was hard to argue Ipswich weren't worth the lead at that stage. With the tiny figure of Jonny Williams - all 5ft 6ins of him - dominating the midfield as if he were a giant they had created the most danger.

The on-loan Crystal Palace star picked his way through a series of tackles to make a chance that Conor Sammon put wide, and then tried a long range effort that whistled within an inch of the post.

Then out of the blue - or should that be red - came Cardiff's response and it was every bit as spectacular as Murphy's effort.

Whittingham was 25 yards out when he retrieved a ball that had been headed clear, and took a touch to set himself before smashing a shot that rose into the roof of the net.

It changed the game, and within two minutes of Slade finishing his half time team talk Cardiff were on the attack again, with Anthony Pilkington's volley falling for Macheda to divert it home from a few yards.

And the game was as good as over when with 69 minutes gone Craig Noone twisted full back Tyrone Mings inside out and put over a cross that fell for Le Fondre to volley home.

'Where the second half came from I don't know,' admitted McCarthy. 'If they had played circus music over some of our mistakes it would have been about right.'

Mail Online