Cardiff 2-1 Wolves: Bluebirds climb out of bottom three

By PA Sport

Highlights of the Sky Bet Championship match between Cardiff v Wolves.

Anthony Pilkington's late winner lifted Cardiff out of the relegation zone with a 2-1 win against fellow strugglers Wolves.

Wolves took the lead in the second minute through Matt Doherty after an error from Bluebirds keeper Ben Amos. But goals from Matt Connolly and Pilkington completed a stunning second-half turnaround to earn Cardiff's first win in seven games and they are now three points above the drop zone.

Doherty was allowed time and space to power the opener past Amos, who pushed the full-back's goal-bound effort into his own net. It was Doherty's second goal in as many games after netting in Wolves' dramatic 4-4 draw against Fulham on Saturday.

Cardiff's response to going a goal down was good, and their first real opportunity came through Sean Morrison after he headed over a Peter Whittingham free-kick.

The home side were booed off at half-time and Bluebirds boss Neil Warnock made a double substitution for the second period, bringing on Craig Noone and Kenneth Zohore for Lex Immers and Kieran Richardson.

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And the pair made an immediate impact after Wolves' third-choice keeper Harry Burgoyne excellently tipped Craig Noone's effort away from goal and Zohore then went close shortly after as his scissor kick just cleared the bar.

Cardiff's breakthrough came when Whittingham's corner was emphatically met by Connolly to bring Warnock's men level in the 68th minute.

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And shortly after the equaliser, Amos made amends for his earlier clanger when he superbly denied George Saville from point-blank range. His save would prove invaluable when Zohore teed up Pilkington, who fired the ball past Burgoyne with four minutes remaining.

Paul Lambert's men paid the price for sitting back after taking an early lead and trying to play on the break in the second half. But it was Cardiff's constant pressure that prevailed to give Warnock a vital win heading into a run of winnable games over Christmas.

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock:

"We felt a bit sorry for ourselves with the goal. We were behind because of a goalkeeping error.

"It took us 10, 15 minutes after that where we could've lost the game. I just said to them 'stop feeling sorry for yourselves, they are there to be beaten and if we play in the second-half, we can win the game'. That was the message."

Wolves boss Paul Lambert:

"I don't think we did enough in the second-half, whether or not we deserved to lose it, I'm not so sure. I've looked at the tape and it wasn't a corner. We had been coping really well with the corners and long throw-ins."

"It's been an occurrence since August, being near the bottom. We've absolutely got enough to stay up. We're a really good attacking side that needs a bit of experience. We're a young team who will make mistakes, but we've certainly got a threat."

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