Cardiff ease past Bristol Rovers thanks to second-half double

Mark McGuinness and Rubin Colwill scored second-half goals to send Cardiff into the second round of the Carabao Cup with a 2-0 win over Bristol Rovers.

McGuinness, the subject of interest from Luton, finally broke the deadlock at Cardiff City Stadium in the 68th minute when his header from Ollie Tanner’s corner just crossed the line before being cleared by Jake Garrett.

Tanner’s introduction on the hour mark injected new life into the home side and after a low quality first half the Championship side dominated in the second, Colwill making the game safe with a tap in from a Kieron Evans cross as the game went into added time.

It took the home side 25 minutes before they unleashed their first shot when Alex Robertson’s attempt was blocked and went over the bar for the game’s first corner.

Robertson shot on the turn soon after and then Colwill forced a save out of Josh Griffiths with the rebound.

The first chance for Rovers came when Promise Omochere shot from the edge of the box. His shot went way over the bar and he was inches away from turning in a Joel Senior cross at the start of the second half, but League One Rovers could not find the breakthrough and it was Cardiff who would end up progressing.