Russell Slade: Cardiff City manager targets four victories

Stuart O'Keefe's second goal of the season secured victory for Cardiff against Derby County

Cardiff City manager Russell Slade believes they need to win at least four of their last seven games of the season to reach the Championship play-offs.

Seventh-placed Cardiff beat promotion rivals Derby 2-1 on Saturday to stay two points behind the top six.

With a trip to leaders Burnley to come on Tuesday, Slade believes his side need a strong end to the campaign.

"We're still outside there and the challenge for us is to get into that top six," Slade said.

"We're still, despite a win, a couple of points adrift and we're running out of games.

"It's very important. We certainly can't get carried away because we've won one game.

"How I see it is we've probably still got to win between four and five games out of of our remaining seven to nick one of the slots."

Record crowd

A crowd of 28,680 watched Cardiff beat Derby, a record attendance for a club game at Cardiff City Stadium.

It was almost double the gate for the Bluebirds' previous home game, a 1-0 win against Ipswich, and aided by a deal which had seen the club give free tickets to fans buying or renewing season tickets.

The victory against Derby means Cardiff have lost just one of their last 16 home games in the Championship.

"It was brilliant. To have that and to see them all behind us, even when Derby did peg us back," said Slade.

"We know we've got a strong home record and, if we all keep pulling in the same direction, then I'm sure we can pull off more wins at home."

'Toughest place in the Championship'

Cardiff's promotion credentials will be given a thorough examination on Tuesday, when they visit Championship leaders Burnley.

The Clarets have the best home record in the division, winning 13 of their 19 matches at Turf Moor and losing just two.

"It's probably the toughest place in the Championship to go right now," added Slade.

"They're looking very strong and favourites to go up, so it will not be an easy place to go. But we go on the back of a very important win.

"So it's important we focus on the next game now, try and build on that momentum we had before the international break.

"I always think that first game back is an important one and we've managed to win it, so hopefully that will give us the confidence to go on into the next game."