Jones: Targeting promotion

I can't fault my players, they gave everything they have and that's all I asked for before they went out.

Dave Jones
Quotes of the week

Related links

Teams

• Cardiff City

Also see

• Andy Gray
• Tyler's FA Cup facts
• Routes to Wembley

Dave Jones believes his Cardiff side can be proud of themselves despite coming up short in the FA Cup final.

The Bluebirds pushed their Premier League opponents, Portsmouth, all the way in the Wembley showpiece, but eventually fell to a 1-0 defeat.

Despite the disappointment which inevitably comes with falling at the final hurdle, Jones was adamant that his players could walk away from the occasion with their heads held high.

Credit

"I think the supporters, the players and everyone connected with the club can be very proud," Jones told Sky Sports 1.

"I'm just sorry that we didn't bring that final piece of silverware home.

"I think we pushed them all the way and I think it's credit to us how Harry (Redknapp) set his team out and in the end he was making changes to try and stop us.

"But I can't fault my players, they gave everything they have today and that's all I asked for before they went out."

Proud

Jones also refused to place any blame for the defeat at the feet of Peter Enckelman, despite the goalkeeper making the mistake which allowed Kanu to grab the only goal of the game.

"It's no time to blame anybody," he said.

"You could blame someone for giving the ball away, or whatever, but I would was very, very proud and that's all we should be talking about today.

"There's no blame attached to anybody whatsoever and my players gave everything they have got."

Ambition

Cardiff will now be hoping that their taste of the big time will see them achieve promotion to the Premier League over the course of the 2008/09 campaign.

Jones is confident that the infrastructure is in place for the club to be a success, and hopes that he will be given funding over the summer with which to build a squad capable of reaching the top-flight.

"We've got to move on," he said.

"If we don't move on from here we all want shooting because over the last few years we've got on with no money, and hopefully the chairman will now, and he will do, start investing and we can start looking to get out of this division and into the Premier League."

Legend

One man capable of firing the Bluebirds to the promised land is Robbie Fowler.

The former England international was left out of Cardiff's 16-man squad for the cup final, but Jones is banking on the veteran front-man to lead his attacking unit next season.

"It was a hard decision to leave him out," he admitted.

"We need somebody like him next year who can score 25 goals a season.

"But let us have a bit of sorrow and wallow in self-pity. I wanted to win and my players gave it their best shot. We didn't let ourselves down."