Cardiff hit back from three goals down to claim stunning win against Burnley

Press Association Sport Staff

Cardiff came from 4-1 down to snatch a dramatic 5-4 win against Burnley in a second successive goal-fest in the Welsh capital.

The Bluebirds had seen a 3-0 lead wiped out by West Ham to drop two points in midweek, but it was their turn to come from behind here as the Clarets’ miserable season continued.

The visitors came into the game in the final relegation spot having won just one of their opening 14 league games, while Cardiff started the clash having suffered only one defeat in their last five games, despite Wednesday’s second-half capitulation.

The Bluebirds started brightly, with midweek hat-trick hero Jack Moylan sending an effort narrowly over the crossbar from 10 yards from a Joel Bagan delivery.

But it was the visitors who opened the scoring when a hopeful punt forward from Lucas Pires allowed forward Andreas Hountondji to go through on goal and slide the ball past Nathan Trott.

Burnley doubled their lead 10 minutes later after great work on the left from Jaydon Banel. The ball came to Marcus Edwards on the edge of the box and he fired through a sea of bodies to beat Trott.

Edwards ran through for a second time in three minutes but his dinked effort went just over the bar, with the chance bringing boos from around the Cardiff City Stadium.

The hosts pulled one back before the break when Rubin Colwill’s goal-bound effort bounced off Ollie Tanner and in.

Cardiff thought they had equalised within two minutes of the restart but Moylan’s effort was deemed not to have crossed the line following a magnificent clearance from Hjalmar Ekdal.

That effort proved costly as a poor clearance from Kristian Bielik found its way to Leeds loanee Largie Ramazani, whose effort found the top corner to restore Burnley’s two-goal advantage.

The afternoon got worse for Brian Barry-Murphy’s side as Alex Robertson diverted Aaron Ramsey’s cross into his own net to make it 4-1.

Cardiff reduced the deficit when a Burnley clearance bounced off Cian Ashford and Yousef Salech – who had come off the bench less than two minutes before – converted to give the hosts a lifeline.

Former Swansea and Wales international Connor Roberts was adjudged to have pushed Salech and Moylan made no mistake to cut the deficit to one.

Frenzy

Brian Barry-Murphy’s men completed their comeback when captain Colwill’s cross found an unmarked Salech to head home off the bar to send the stadium into a frenzy.

Robertson made amends for his earlier own goal by curling in a 30-yard wonder goal to secure the most unlikely of wins for the hosts.

Defeat leaves Burnley four points from safety with a trip to rivals Blackburn after the international break, while Cardiff are now 14th.