Burnley 5-0 Cardiff City: Clarets thump Bluebirds in emphatic win

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship clash between Burnley and Cardiff City at Turf Moor on Saturday | An Ethan Horvath own goal, Luca Koleosho, Josh Brownhill, Zeki Amdouni and Johann Berg Gudmundsson for Clarets in victory.

Saturday 17 August 2024 18:42, UK

Scott Parker saw his Burnley side record another statement victory after beating Cardiff 5-0 in his first home game in charge since replacing Vincent Kompany as manager.

The Clarets built on their impressive opening day 4-1 win at Luton with an assertive performance at Turf Moor, which started with Ethan Horvath's mishap giving Burnley an early lead.

Horvath's mistake was followed by a first-half strike from Luca Koleosho with Josh Brownhill, Zeki Amdouni and Johann Berg Gudmundsson netting after the break as Burnley aim to bounce back from last season's relegation.

Parker got off to an ideal, but fortunate start in front of his new set of fans, nine minutes in, as a rather harmless Dimitrios Goutas back pass slipped under Horvath's foot and trickled over the line, despite the American's best sliding effort to clear.

After the agonising own goal Cardiff responded valiantly and for the 25 minutes that followed had the more threatening opportunities.

Yakou Meite came the closest on the 14-minute mark when he raced onto Joe Ralls' through ball but clattered his shot onto the inside of the post and watched it rebound across the face of goal.

Only eight minutes later, his forward partner Wilfried Kanga thought he had scored his first goal for the Welsh club although his celebrations were quickly dashed by an offside flag.

At that point, Cardiff were the only side to have any shots, and they were the team facing a deficit which was extended just after the half-hour mark, through good work from Jay Rodriguez, who replaced new Tottenham signing Wilson Odobert in the starting line-up.

The forward skipped away from Goutas' tackle and played the ball into the box which bounced kindly into Koleosho's path to lash a fierce strike that stung the hands of Horvath but went in.

Chris Willock tried to inspire Cardiff into a fightback five minutes after the break when turning and firing a shot that did not test Vaclav Hladky.

But instead, Burnley went directly up the other end of the pitch with Vitinho finding an onrushing Brownhill, who tucked his shot around Horvath.

And after a tricky first half where Burnley had to ride their luck, they began to assert themselves in the second period, with Brownhill and Dara O'Shea both having efforts from range.

Cardiff struggled to regain their momentum after that moment and fell even further behind with two late goals.

First Amdouni cracked a shot that clipped the underside of the crossbar with two minutes left before Gudmundsson cut in and nestled the ball into the bottom corner in stoppage time.

The managers

Burnley's Scott Parker:

"I know where Burnley were last year, I have been in that position when you don't win many games and it can be a psychological blow on the squad.

"The most important thing here is to get back to winning ways and build a winning culture, and two wins from two with two tough fixtures.

"I want us to be bright about the future because we have had two great results. I have been in this division twice and I know the demands of it.

"I keep saying there will be bumps in the road but I don't want us to lose sight of the first two games and the level of performance we have shown.

"The deadliness of this team has been there for everyone to see, so we are upbeat and we need to roll with that."

Cardiff City's Erol Bulut:

"It was not easy to come back. We can lose games but the performance has to be better than it was in the second half.

"The second half was not enough to come back and we got injuries and we had to change so we could not push to score.

"It was not a positive day, we were missing a lot of goals, we had a few chances but in football you have these days, it was good that it was at the start of the season.

"So next week we have the derby (against Swansea) and when we are there, I will not accept any excuses.

"The football over 90 minutes and on the scoreboard has to change also."