Cardiff City 0-1 Stoke City: Bluebirds' Championship status hanging by a thread after disastrous defeat

Cardiff City’s Championship status is hanging by a thread following this disastrous defeat at the hands of relegation rivals Stoke City at the Cardiff City Stadium.

A Will Fish own goal five minutes from time was enough to condemn the Bluebirds to what could prove to be a decisive blow to their hopes of retaining their second tier status.

Cardiff, not for the first time this season, looked ordinary for long period of this contest, and the visitors duly took advantage as Ben Wilmot’s late effort was palmed by Ethan Horvath straight off Fish and into the net.

Stoke had already given their hosts plenty of warnings before this late bodyblow too.

Jordan Thompson came closest to opening the scoring in an entertaining first half that was halted for around 15 minutes after a supporter was taken ill just after half an hour.

Million Manhoef similarly spurned several decent chances after the break, while Cardiff substitute Isaak Davies should have scored just before Stoke’s decisive opener, somehow conspiring to scoop his effort over from close range with the goal at his mercy.

Cardiff are now one point adrift of safety due to Derby County’s 2-2 draw with Portsmouth, with just four games to play.

The boos at full-time from the home crowd said it all, on a day that always felt pivotal in Cardiff’s efforts to stay up.

With so much at stake, one would have been forgiven for expecting a nervy and tense start to this contest, but both sides actually showed a reasonable level of attacking intent early on.

Stoke's Lewis Baker probably should have done better after five minutes, blazing over the bar after being teed up by Bae Junho near the edge of the box, and Cardiff, to their credit, responded reasonably well.

Will Fish sent a looping header over the bar two minutes later, before Callum O’Dowda drilled in a daisy-cutter from distance that fizzed narrowly past the wrong side of Viktor Johansson’s left-hand post.

Back came Stoke, with Eric Bocat at the heart of their early efforts. His cross certainly deserved a better finish than the one Junior Tchamadeu was able to provide on 12 minutes. The Cameroonian blazing over under pressure from close range.

Callum Robinson then blasted an effort into a forest of Stoke players at the other end, before Cian Ashford steered O’Dowda’s cross well wide as Cardiff once again sought to strengthen their hold on what remained an entertaining affair.

Ten minutes before half-time, however, the importance of a Championship relegation battle was quickly put into perspective.

As play continued, a pocket of supporters in the Ninian Stand could be seen gesturing to referee Michael Salisbury to stop the game, which he eventually did after a couple of moments.

Yousef Salech and several other members of staff could be seen hopping over the advertising hoarding, while medical staff were also seen rushing over with a stretcher.

Both teams were called off the field, with play halted for around 15 minutes before eventually getting under way again.

The concerning incident clearly affected the atmosphere inside the Cardiff City Stadium, and inevitably the energy of the players too.

Stoke did, however, come closest to scoring just before the interval, as Thompson’s volley took a deflection off Alex Robertson, before rattling the crossbar.

Fish’s defensive contribution just after the interval might well have been just as important. The head of the towering centre-back enough to touch Manhoef’s clipped effort wide of the post.

Manhoef continued to threaten, particularly on the counter-attack, getting the better of Robertson to then race away and drill a low shot wide, before hitting a tame angled effort at Horvath moments later.

Cardiff, as well as looking vulnerable to Stoke’s pace on the turnover, were also looking increasingly laborious in the final third.

Riza responded. First by throwing on super-sub Yakou Meite and Ollie Tanner, before then turning to Rubin Colwill and Davies.

It was the latter pair that came closest to finally breaking the deadlock. Colwill’s flashed ball finding Davies at the far post, but instead of tapping into an empty net, he somehow steered his shot over the bar from point-blank range.

Cardiff would be made to pay for that miss just a few minutes later.

Tchamadeu’s throw was flicked on by substitute Sam Gallagher, before coming off Ashley Phillips, with Wilmot’s resulting shot parried by Horvath straight into the body of Fish, who was powerless to prevent it pinging into the net.

Cardiff felt there was a handball from Phillips in the build-up, but their appeals fell on deaf ears as Stoke held on for what is, for them, a precious three points.

Frustrations were there for all to see from Cardiff fans at full-time, who as they made their way out will rightly be wondering if they will be watching their team in League One next season.

Cardiff City: Horvath; Ng, Fish, Daland, O'Dowda (c); Chambers (Davies 79), Robertson; Alves (R.Colwill 79), Ashford (Tanner 66); Robinson (Turnbull 57), Salech (Meite 66)

Subs: Turner, Bagan, Mannsverk, Willock

Stoke City: Johansson; Tchamadeu, Phillips, Wilmot, Thompson (Pearson 83); Burger, Bocat; Manhoef (Gooch 83), Baker, Bae (Koumas 70); Al-Hamadi (Gallagher 46)

Subs: Bonham, Seko, Lawal, Mmaee, Moran