"The pick of the bunch" - Cardiff City pundit makes Josh Bowler claim after Leeds United draw | OneFootball

Highlights

This article is part of Football League World's 'Terrace Talk' series, which provides personal opinions from our FLW Fan Pundits regarding the latest breaking news, teams, players, managers, potential signings and more...

Cardiff City gave a strong account of themselves in their season opener at Leeds United.

The Bluebirds traveled to Elland Road against all odds, with Leeds widely regarded among the promotion favourites this term in the wake of their relegation from the Premier League.

And while Leeds predictably dominated the possession stakes and showed real attacking danger through swift interchanges from dynamic duo Crycensio Summerville and Wilfried Gnonto, it was Cardiff who drew first blood.

The Bluebirds raced into a two goal lead before the interval through strikes from debutants Josh Bowler and Ike Ugbo, displaying hallmarks of the quick transitional play that new boss Erol Bulut has tried to implement.

Naturally, Leeds came out for the second half all guns blazing and halved the deficit just minutes after as Liam Cooper beat Aaron Ramsey in the air to head home, and they applied the pressure from there on in.

Cardiff stood firm to withstand a series of dangerous Leeds attacks deep into additional time, but they were eventually powerless to prevent Summerville from restoring parity in the 95th minute with a low driven effort from range.

Nonetheless, there are plenty of positives for the Bluebirds faithful after their opening exchange, and Cardiff City's fan pundit Ben Johnsey has highlighted Bowler's goalscoring debut as one of the main exciting takeaways from West Yorkshire.

Who is Josh Bowler?

The 24-year-old winger arrived as Cardiff's sixth summer signing, and akin to Bulut's prior business, he too represents an exciting and ambitious proposition for a side now hoping to rekindle their identity and compete once again at the right end of the table.

A tricky right winger with explosive and incisive movement, those footballing characteristics shone as Bowler was cutting his teeth in the QPR youth system, subsequently earning a move to Premier League outfit Everton in 2017 despite only playing once for the R's first-team.

Bowler's first real initiation to senior football came during an unproductive loan spell with Hull City in the 2019/20 campaign, but he made his name after joining Blackpool a year later on a free transfer.

His outstanding 1v1 ability caught the eye as Bowler swiftly emerged as one of the most dangerous wide players in the second-tier and scored seven league goals to warrant a switch to Nottingham Forest last summer upon their return to the top-flight.

Immediately loaned out to sister club Olympiakos, Bowler struggled for minutes in Greece but returned to Bloomfield Road on loan for the second half of last season and impressed yet again, although he was unable to keep them in the Championship.

In the wake of Sunday's showdown, we asked FLW's Cardiff fan pundit Ben Johnsey for his thoughts on Bowler's start to life at Cardiff.

"So much as Ike Ugbo got his goal and assist, I thought Bowler had a brilliant time on that right hand side, really caused problems and quite exciting for the future on how Cardiff are likely going to be able to cause teams more problems going forward than last season.

"Obviously only scoring 41 goals in the league, already seeing progression in our wingers that can beat their man but also find the back of the net as well and a really good debut goal from him, well-finished.

"But he also caused that Leeds right-hand-side quite a bit of issues, and against a side like QPR on Saturday, I think he could end up having a field day.