Cardiff City should be thanking Chelsea and Enzo Maresca right now - here's why | OneFootball

Chelsea loanee Omari Kellyman enjoyed an impressive cameo as a substitute in Cardiff City's 4-3 victory against Leyton Orient over the weekend

Cardiff City returned to winning ways by edging out Leyton Orient in a thrilling 4-3 encounter in the Welsh capital on Saturday afternoon, with a dramatic second-half turnaround ending a run of two consecutive home defeats.

A response was required of Brian Barry-Murphy's side following Tuesday evening's languid 1-0 defeat to lowly Burton Albion, which had marked Cardiff's second loss on home soil in as many matches after being subdued by three goals to one at the hands of Bradford City last month.

Cardiff had, of course, claimed consecutive away victories within that time, outclassing Premier League Burnley and winning 2-1 in a major scalp at Turf Moor to set up an all-Welsh EFL Cup fourth round tie at Wrexham before returning from Wigan Athletic with all three points days later, but Orient's visit to South Wales represented perhaps the biggest game of the season to date, with the Bluebirds having hit their first real blip under Barry-Murphy.

It was, by no means, a plain-sailing triumph. Cardiff took the lead, first through Callum Robinson and then Dylan Lawlor, but were pegged back in both on both occasions, as Aaron Connolly capitalised on a calamitous backpass from Gabriel Osho before Idris El Mizouni equalised once again early in the second half.

Then, the O's would take the lead courtesy of Dominic Ballard's stunning curled effort from the edge of the area, but a trio of substitutions shortly after saw a resurgent Cardiff blitz Richie Wellens' side in swift succession, with Yousef Salech and Robinson scoring inside two minutes to place the Bluebirds in the ascendancy with twenty minutes to spare.

Despite late pressure by Orient, the hosts would retain their resolve to hold firm and see out the victory — helped by a number of impressive stops from Nathan Trott, of course. It wasn't a defensive performance for the ages, and Barry-Murphy will have much to mull over, but from an attacking sense, Cardiff were electric and that dynamic was helped by one individual in particular who City may be extremely grateful for as the campaign toils on.

Omari Kellyman impressed for Cardiff City against Leyton Orient

Three minutes after Ballard's aforementioned strike, Barry-Murphy elected to make three substitutions in order to change Cardiff's fortunes and conjure a response. On came David Turnbull, Salech and Omari Kellyman for Ryan Wintle, Joel Colwill and Isaak Davies respectively, in moves which turned out to represent outstanding game-management from the Irishman.

Salech, in typically chaotic fashion, found the back of the net, saw another effort hit against the woodwork and engaged in a number of battles against the physically-imposing Orient backline. Perhaps, then, his substitution proved most impactful, but Kellyman's influence on proceedings should not go under the radar, with his showing sure to give Barry-Murphy plenty of food for thought.

Brought on for only his third league appearance after signing on loan from Chelsea on deadline day, the 20-year-old instantly made an impression as he dovetailed excellently with the marauding Ronan Kpakio down Cardiff's right-hand side. One Johan Cruyff-esque turn would see him waltz past O's wide-man Demetri Mitchell, while he also came close to scoring directly from his own corner and injected a great deal of creativity, invention and dynamism into his side's attack late on.

Tricky in tight spaces with outstanding flair and speed to boot, Kellyman may not have had a direct influence on any of the two goals Cardiff would score within seven minutes of his introduction — in goals and assists terms, at least — but his ability, and willingness, to progress forward with the ball and move possession into dangerous areas changed the dynamic of the game and has, quite rightly, left Bluebirds supporters rather excited indeed.

It now begs the question of when Kellyman will be licensed with his first league start. The Derby County academy product, who joined Chelsea in a staggering £19 million deal from Aston Villa just last summer, has only started once for Cardiff overall, though he was substituted 36 minutes into the Bluebirds' 1-0 EFL Trophy victory at Exeter City in a pre-planned move.

Cardiff return to EFL Trophy action at home to neighbours Newport County on Tuesday, and there is every chance that Kellyman will be trusted from the offset after dazzling against the O's.

After that, however, it's the international break, and once the lay-off is completed, Cardiff will resume their league campaign with fixtures against Reading and promotion rivals Bolton Wanderers.

You get the impression that there will be significant demand for Kellyman to force his way into Barry-Murphy's starting side for those matches, and with the Orient evidence in mind, it may just be too difficult to keep him out for too much longer, with both Cardiff and Chelsea eager to carefully manage his fitness following a near-year-long injury lay-off in West London last term.

Cardiff City may have serious Chelsea, Enzo Maresca gratitude for Omari Kellyman

The move for Kellyman came about through Barry-Murphy's relationship with Chelsea boss Enzo Maresca, with the pair having worked together at Manchester City's academy before the Italian's move to Leicester City two years ago.

Barry-Murphy explained that Maresca was "very supportive" of the move, and Cardiff reportedly beat off Championship interest to land Kellyman on loan for the duration of the campaign.

The deal was naturally greeted with much clamour from supporters, with the prospect of a £19 million winger schooled at Chelsea playing in League One — regardless of the merit of that fee — a richly-exciting one.

Kellyman, perhaps for the first time in his Cardiff career, showed exactly what all the hype is all about on the weekend.

We had seen glimpses of the versatile wide-man's talent, but it really came together to devastating effect against Orient and, should Kellyman stay fit and avoid the injury torment which plagued his debut campaign at Stamford Bridge, he has all the ability to establish himself as a real force in the third-tier.