Riza ready to do his talking on the pitch

Omer Riza has overseen an upswing in Cardiff City's fortunes as interim manager

As Cardiff City prepare for Saturday's trip to West Bromwich Albion, Omer Riza is hoping results on the pitch can continue to stake his claim to become permanent Bluebirds manager as he "does not want to talk about the job any more".

Tuesday's 2-0 win over Portsmouth saw Cardiff climb out of the relegation places having collected 10 of the last 12 points on offer under interim boss Riza.

The 44-year-old has made it clear he wants the job permanently following the sacking of Erol Bulut a month ago but, despite regular telephone conversations with owner Vincent Tan, Riza has had no steer either way from the Cardiff board.

"I don't really want to talk about the job any more in respect of whether I'm right for it, or whether I'm wrong for it - that's down to the board now and any sort of communication in that respect," Riza said.

"We [Riza and Tan] speak all the time about the same things, but other than the conversation we had the other day [the morning before the Portsmouth game] we haven't spoken since."

Cardiff are in good form, edging Millwall, gaining a hard-fought point at Bristol City and then hammering Plymouth Argyle 5-0 before also seeing off Pompey to raise morale amongst both players and supporters.

"It's been brilliant. It's been brilliant for the boys, brilliant for the club, brilliant for the staff and the fans," Riza said.

"You want to win games, and you want to build morale and momentum and we're going in the right direction.

"We've changed the system, which allows players to be in positions where we can be a bit more of a threat.

"We've given them a little bit more freedom to be able to find space and occupy positions against the opposition that cause a problem and create more opportunities. Hopefully with more opportunities come more goals."

Hawthorns trip a spiky proposition

West Brom have collected just three points out of a possible 15, a run that is the worst since Carlos Corberan succeeded Steve Bruce as Baggies boss almost two years ago.

But they remain fourth in the Championship and in their last outing became the first side this season to come away with even a point at Blackburn Rovers' Ewood Park home.

"I don't think they've [West Brom] won in five... but they're a good side; they're disciplined out of possession and they've got attacking threats in possession and it'll be a tough game - but it's not one we're frightened of," Riza said.

"Their form hasn't been great but they're a good side, their form hasn't been great but they've lost two and drawn three, we're not approaching the game lightly, that's for sure.

"We haven't lost a game in three and we want to continue that. We're going to go away from home, to a tough opposition - for us it's a really good test to see where we've come from to where we are at the moment, to where we're trying to get to.

"It's a great gauge, we've got some tough games and this is the first of them coming up and we're fully motivated to try and get a result."

Key midfielders Aaron Ramsey and Joe Ralls remain on the injury list, with Ramsey at least three weeks away and Ralls a possibility to return against Blackburn Rovers on 9 November.

But Riza is happy with the strength in depth of his squad, with other players having stepped up in recent weeks.

"We're a strong squad, we've got 25, 26 players, everyone wants to play and providing they're working hard and respectful of each other, and they support each other, everyone has an opportunity to play and I've made that clear from the get-go," Riza added.

"Young lads get the opportunity, they do well they play. The only time they come out is there's something tactical that needs to be changed.

"You earn the shirt but you don't just earn the shirt by performing in training and games, you earn the shirt with all your other actions as well, what you do outside of the pitch."