International break will benefit Cardiff, says manager Malky Mackay

Mackay played for Norwich City, West Ham and Watford

Cardiff manager Malky Mackay has said the international break has come at the right time for his injury hit side.

The Bluebirds have been plagued by a spate of injuries during recent weeks with striker Kenny Miller the latest casualty.

Miller was forced off after only 10 minutes of Cardiff's 2-1 defeat at Hull City after suffering a thigh injury.

"The injuries are stacking up now and it's bizarre ones," said Mackay.

Mackay is hopeful Cardiff's injury problems will have eased by the time they resume their Championship campaign against Ipswich on 15 October.

"Maybe we'll have another six players back after the international break," he said.

"With the size of my squad I can't afford to lose six players in the first place.

"By the time the international break has finished we will have a lot of them back and hopefully we'll be able to charge on for the next little period until the next international break."

Mackay succeeded Dave Jones as Cardiff manager in June and since then has added 11 new players to the squad.

After 10 games the Bluebirds are ninth in the Championship and Mackay says he is reasonably satisfied with the progress made.

"We've been on a good run and we've played some good teams and had some decent results," added Mackay.

"I could be happier. There's definitely a couple of games where I feel that we could have come out with more points than we did.

"But what I am delighted with is a new group of players have come together.

"What we're doing is building here and we're building a squad and they're beginning to know how each other play and that's important.

"[I'm] delighted with their efforts and the way they're applying themselves for the club and we're gradually making progress."