Wolves 3-1 Cardiff: Danny Batth double sinks Bluebirds

Wolves captain Danny Batth struck twice to help earn a 3-1 Sky Bet Championship victory against Cardiff which moved them closer to safety.

Batth's first-half double and a classy 82nd-minute finish from Helder Costa made it four wins in a row for Paul Lambert's side.

Batth opened the scoring after nine minutes, only for Cardiff's in-form striker Kenneth Zohore to draw City level three minutes later with his 10th goal in his last 11 appearances.

Batth, who had only scored once before this season back in August, grabbed another close-range header in the 41st minute before Costa struck late with his 12th of the campaign as Cardiff's three-match unbeaten run came to an end.

Wolves made the perfect start when Batth had the simple task of heading them ahead from inside the six-yard box.

Cardiff failed to properly clear a Ben Marshall free-kick and the ball was headed back across goal by Andi Weimann for Batth to nod home.

However, the prolific Zohore ensured their advantage was short-lived when he capitalised on goalkeeper Andy Lonergan - who was only in the side because Carl Ikeme failed a fitness test on a hamstring problem - being caught off his line.

Jazz Richards lifted the ball forward and as Lonergan advanced Zohore's back header flew over him into the empty net.

Cardiff then wasted a chance to take control of affairs in the 27th minute when Aron Gunnarsson was let down by his finishing. Gunnarsson was set up perfectly by a left-wing cross from Zohore, only to side-foot his shot wide from 16 yards. That proved to be a costly miss when Cardiff were again undone by a close-range header from Batth. Once again, Marshall had a hand in the goal as his right-wing cross was nodded in at the far post by Batth.

The Wolves captain then went in search of his hat-trick in the 65th minute from Marshall's corner, only to see his header fly over the bar.

Seconds later, Wolves were lucky to still be leading when substitute Craig Noone surged forward and beat Lonergan from 25 yards but his shot crashed to safety off the post.

Wolves should have made the game safe in the 77th minute after a quick Costa-led breakaway but first Weimann and then Dave Edwards squandered the opening.

Costa then showed them how to do it after being released by Edwards with a weaving run through the Cardiff defence before nonchalantly rolling the ball past Allan McGregor.

Wolves boss Paul Lambert:

"I thought we were excellent right from the off. Some of the football we played was fantastic. We beat a really in-form side. There is a lot of work still to be done, but we are on the right road of trying to recreate something really good here and if we do that this place could be great.

"We are exciting to watch and we have a lot of flair players going forward. There are some really great things here. We have produced some really good moments in games. We are in a good place at the moment.

"We knew that we would come under a bombardment against Cardiff and if we could defend that we would be fine, as going forward we are a threat. Costa's goal was world class and that is the type of player he is. He is a top player. He can make you look silly and that is what he did."

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock:

"I don't think they won it, I think we lost it. We got it back to 1-1 and then Gunnar (Aron Gunnarsson) had a great chance. I am disappointed not that we got beaten by a better side but that we got beaten by ourselves really, and that disappoints me.

"Every time we crossed the ball we looked dangerous but we couldn't finish, and Wolves took their chances. People not listening to who they should be marking and you pay the price."