League summit beckons for Bluebirds

It's been a great couple of weeks for all Cardiff City fans. Two very impressive wins and a draw have hoisted the Bluebirds up to second place in the league. A win on Sunday against an in-form Nottingham Forest will see Dave Jones' men top the league – albeit temporarily, as Newcastle United play on Monday.

What's been key to the recent run that has seen Cardiff win four out of their last five then? Well a quick look in the goals scored column reads an impressive 17 for the last five games, so it's hardly surprising that attack has been the best form of defence recently for City. But the majority of the  goals have come from a rather unexpected source.

Former England U21 midfielder Peter Whittingham has blasted an incredible eight goals in the last five games, including a  hat-trick in the 4-3 victory at Bramall Lane against Sheffield United. Clearly relishing in his new role as the club's penalty taker, Whitts has already exceeded his previous season high goal tally of nine and has raced to 12 goals already. It puts him just behind Michael Chopra at the top of division scoring charts too.

What Cardiff sorely lacked last season and in recent times generally has been a goal-getting midfielder, who can weigh in with 15 or so goals. The club has been blessed with some prolific strikers in recent years – Earnshaw, Jerome, Chopra, McCormack – to name but four. But there has been no midfielder who has been able to ease the burden on the forwards, and consequently season upon season has fizzled out into mediocrity.

It seems like Whittingham has taken on that mantle this season, and I, like most other Cardiff fans have been completely taken aback by this. Yes, he has shown flashes of brilliance in the past, but his laid-back attitude has done him no favours with the faithful and he has failed to perform consistently. Maybe now is finally his time.

But while the front four of Chopra – who incidentally hasn't scored for four games now – Bothroyd, Whittingham and Burke continue to dazzle, it's not so great at the other end of the pitch. Goalie David Marshall has been a real find, and has pulled off some truly superb stops. Well done to Jones for sorting out the long-standing problem between the sticks. Also, youngster Adam Matthews looks like a future Premier League star. His composed displays belie his tender age of 17 .

But there was some truly atrocious defending from both Anthony Gerrard and in particular Mark Hudson at Sheffield United. In truth, Hudson has been error-prone all season, and is not the type of player who instils confidence at all. At times he can look the business, but much like former Cardiff centre-half Darren Purse, he will gift opponents chances with schoolboy-type mistakes.

So that's that. Keep scoring goals from midfield, cut out the errors at the back and everything will remain hunky dory. Simple really. Forest – watch out.