Cardiff City fell to a 2-0 defeat at home against Championship leaders Sheffield United on Saturday.
Omer Riza made two changes to the side that played Stoke City last time out, with Joe Ralls and Callum O’Dowda making way for Alex Robertson and Joel Bagan.
The game’s first effort came on the 14-minute mark, as Manolis Siopis tried his luck from distance, however keeper Michael Cooper was on hand to pick the ball up safely.
The visitors then went up the other end with an effort of their own, as Gustavo Hamer played a one-two with Callum O’Hare, which droped to Hamer on the half volley, but his effort sliced well wide.
A neat interchange between Chris Willock and Anwar El Ghazi then forced City’s first corner of the game, which was delivered by Robertson and found the head of Dimitrios Goutas in the box, but the visitors scrambled it away.
Yakou Méïté tried his luck from just inside the Blades’ half, aiming to catch Cooper off his line, but the effort went over the bar and left the game goalless at the break.
Jak Alnwick was forced into action early in the second half, with Tom Davies linking up with Kieffer Moore on the edge of the box, but the captain was on hand to palm away to safety. Méïté was again involved in the action, forcing a save out of Cooper at the near post pushing it away for a corner.
The visitors cleared away the danger only for Bagan to pick out Callum Chambers with the crossfield ball, who pulled it back for the substitute Rubin Colwill, but was unable to keep the shot on target. El Ghazi then tried his luck on the hour mark with a long-distance effort, but his curling effort just goes wide of Cooper’s post.
Moore then opened the scoring for the away side, controlling the ball with his chest and hit it with a left footed half-volley into the top corner. Eight minutes later, he made it two with a strike from outside the area.
Up next for the Bluebirds is a trip to Oxford United on the 26th of December, with a kick-off of 3pm.
Cardiff City: Alnwick ©, Daland (Kanga 83’), Chambers, Goutas, Bagan, Rinomhota, Robertson (Kpakio 83’), Siopis, Willock (R. Colwill 48’), El Ghazi (Robinson 72’), Méïté (Ashford 83’). Subs not used: Horvath, Fish, T. Davies, Perrett.
Sheffield United: Cooper, Gilchrist (Baptiste 83’), Souttar, Hamer, Moore (McCallum 74’), O’ Hare, Rak-Sakyi (Brewster 62’), Burrows, Robinson © (Norrington-Davies 83’), Davies, Peck. Subs Not Used: Davies, Marsh, Brooks, Oné, Blacker.