Cardiff City 1-2 Burnley: Bluebirds pay price for early errors and miss huge chances as they fall to defeat

Cardiff City succumbed to a 2-1 defeat at home to Burnley despite a spirited second-half display and goalscorer Yousef Salech hitting the woodwork twice.

A slow start from the hosts was their undoing, with Josh Brownhill and Maxime Esteve benefitting from some pretty lax defending from the hosts.

But Salech, who had earlier hit the post with a snap effort, gave the home fans life when he found the back of the net for the fifth time in a Cardiff shirt just before the break.

And despite a late onslaught, and Salech hitting the bar with a header, the Bluebirds simply couldn’t get a point from the promotion-chasing Clarets, in what will go down as another toughly-contested defeat.

Cardiff seemed to be playing a different pace to the visitors, right from the get-go. Everything Burnley did seemed to have more zip and greater urgency, with their left flank, orchestrated by Jaidon Anthony, causing the hosts all sorts of issues.

There was, however, a real paucity of chances inside the first 20 minutes, with neither goalkeeper really tested. It’s why the opener from the visitors might have felt like a bit of a body blow for the Bluebirds.

Hannibal Mejbri had made a positive run down the left and lifted a cross into a dangerous area. The unmarked Brownhill ran on to it without breaking a stride before side-footing a volley into the bottom corner, via a Perry Ng deflection, to hand the Clarets the lead.

Scott Parker’s side came into the clash in third position and you could see why. Their quality in possession and speed on the break outstripped Cardiff’s efforts, which looked a little laboured in comparison. Sign up to our daily Cardiff City newsletter here.

It wasn’t all one-way traffic, though, especially given how well Salech was playing and the problems he was causing Burnley’s defenders from crosses. The January signing actually struck the post after Callum O’Dowda clipped a hopeful cross into the box, inviting the striker to stick a leg out and make contact – which he did – however the ball trickled past the helpless James Trafford and on to the upright.

Omer Riza will be particularly disappointed with the Clarets’ second. Anthony clipped a ball to the back post and Zian Flemming headed the ball back across goal while the statuesque defenders watched on as Eteve stuck it home into an empty net.

There were groans from the flat crowd and they needed something, anything, to lift them. Thankfully, Salech did just that. City’s first-half goal came two minutes after Burnley’s and three minutes before the break, so at a crucial time, really.

O’Dowda did brilliantly to slide in and win the ball on Burnley’s 18-yard line, playing Joel Bagan in during the process. Bagan whipped a pearl of a cross to Salech, who attacked it with gusto before the ball bounced off his shoulder and kindly into the top corner.

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Cardiff survived some early pressure from Burnley after the restart. Calum Chambers and Dimitrios Goutas survived penalty shouts, the former was a real escape for the Bluebirds after the England international brought down Brownhill in the area.

Riza then rang the changes and lumped all of his arsenal on to the pitch. The formation was completely ripped up, with Perry Ng in midfield and the likes of Aaron Ramsey, Rubin Colwill, Callum Robinson, Anwar El Ghazi and O’Dowda in front of him.

But it was Salech again who was causing the problems for the visitors. With just over 10 minutes to go, Robinson hooked a lovely, left-footed cross into the box and the striker leapt and sent another headed effort on goal – this time seeing it crash into the crossbar, hitting the woodwork for the second time in the evening.

Chambers also spurned a really good chance just a few minutes from time when he was found by Colwill’s square ball, but he curled his shot narrowly wide.

But the biggest chance of the lot fell to Will Fish, three minutes into time-added-on, when a cross was flicked on to him at the back post, only for him to slide his effort wide from point-blank range. And that was the story of the game for the Bluebirds, a night of near misses.

Cardiff City XI: Horvath; Rinomhota (Fish 46), Ng, Goutas, Bagan (Robinson 70), O’Dowda; Chambers, Mannsverk (Ramsey 61), Robertson (Colwill 46); Ashford (El Ghazi 61), Salech.

Subs: Turner, Lawlor, Willock, Davies.

Burnley XI: Trafford; Roberts, Egan-Riley, Esteve, Pires; Cullen, Brownhill; Edwards (Sarmiento 79), Mejbri (Laurent 71), Anthony (Worrall 88); Flemming (Foster 71).

Subs: Hladky, Sonne, Benson, Kolelosho, Barnes.