Cardiff City left it late to defeat promotion hunting Southampton 2-1 at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Making his first senior start for his boyhood club, Cian Ashford’s deflected strike earned the Bluebirds all three points on an electric day in the Welsh capital.
Erol Bulut made four changes to the team that played Millwall last time out, with Perry Ng, Jamilu Collins, Josh Bowler and Karlan Grant making way for Mahlon Romeo, Ollie Tanner, David Turnbull and Ashford.
The away side had the bulk of the chances in the early exchanges of the game, with Stuart Armstrong’s speculative effort striking the post in the opening 10 minutes. The Saints opened the scoring through Joe Aribo just four minutes later after Ethan Horvath parried Adam Armstrong’s initial effort.
Horvath made a superb save shortly after to deny Aribo a second, and The Bluebirds had the chance to equalise through David Turnbull just minutes later. Ollie Tanner’s cross found the run of Turnbull, but his header was denied by keeper Alex McCarthy.
Shortly after, debutant Ashford did well to keep the ball in play on the right wing, drive into Southampton’s six-yard box and draw another save from McCarthy while attempting to find Yakou Meite.
But the away side continued to spurn several chances before the break, with Adam Armstrong hitting an effort over the bear and Horvath on hand again to deny David Brooks twice at the end of the first half.
The Saints maintained the pressure after the break, Che Adams dragged an effort wide before Horvath brilliantly denied a header from Armstrong.
The Bluebirds capitalised on all the missed chances as substitute Famara Diedhiou redirected Meite’s effort on goal to level the score with 20 minutes remaining. Raheem Conte, also making his senior debut, excellently ran into the box to pick out the forward.
With 9 minutes of added time shown, 19-year-old Ashford stepped up and tried his luck from outside the box, seeing the ball deflect past McCarthy's grasp and secure the winner in front of the Canton Stand.
With the visitors responding, Dimitros Goutas made an outstanding block to deny Stuart Armstrong at the death as City dented the Saints' hope for an automatic promotion place.
FINAL SCORE: CARDIFF CITY 2-1 SOUTHAMPTON
Cardiff City: Hovarth, Romeo (Conte 65’), Goutas, Phillips, Ralls, Siopis, Turnbull (Diedhiou 61’), R.Colwill, Ashford, Tanner (Giles 77’), Meite. Subs: Turner, Lawlor, Wintle, J. Colwill, Antwi, Sawyers.
Southampton: McCarthy, Walker-Peters, Harwood-Bellis, Bednarek, Manning (Bree 45’), Smallbone (Edozie 80’), Aribo (Rothwell), S Armstrong, Brooks (Fraser 80’), Adams, A Armstrong © (Sulemana 80’).Subs: Lumley, Stephens, Charles, Dibling, Kamaldeen.