Cardiff halted Birmingham's winning run as Yousef Salech secured a 1-0 victory to continue the Bluebirds' climb up the Championship. Salech was named among the home substitutes initially, but defender Krystian Bielik suffered an injury in the warm-up and had to drop out on an afternoon of relentless rain in the Welsh capital.
The late change saw Cardiff reshuffle their resources and Salech plunder a first-half winner, his sixth goal of the season coming 10 minutes after James Beadle had saved his spot-kick. Cardiff have now recorded three straight home wins as they continue to show real signs of adapting to life in the second tier following promotion from League One.
Birmingham had arrived on the back of three successive wins without conceding, and remain in the play-off places after suffering their first defeat since September 9. Cardiff manager Brian Barry-Murphy was serving a touchline ban after receiving his third yellow card of the season.
Both sets of players wore black armbands to mark the 60th anniversary of the Aberfan disaster, in which 116 children were among the 144 who died in the Welsh mining village, and a minute's silence before kick-off was impeccably observed.
Source: Sky Sports Champions League · Summarized by HeadlinesBriefing