Cardiff City 1-2 Burnley: Clarets keep up pressure on Leeds United and Sheffield United with nervy win

Scott Parker’s men looked to be cruising to the three points when they took a two-goal first-half lead thanks to efforts from Josh Brownhill and Maxime Esteve.

But a Yousef Salech header shortly before half-time ensured the Clarets had to see out the victory after failing to restore their two-goal lead via some presentable chances.

Despite conceding their first goal in almost 19 hours’ worth of football, Burnley ensured they didn’t ship a second to hold on for a narrow 2-1 victory.

It means they move onto 71 points, two adrift of Sheffield United in second and five off leaders Leeds United.

After the disappointment of Saturday’s FA Cup defeat, Parker largely reverted back to the side that beat Sheffield Wednesday 4-0 in their last league outing.

The only change came in midfield, as captain Josh Brownhill was preferred to Josh Laurent, who dropped down to the bench.

Bashir Humphreys, Jordan Beyer, Aaron Ramsey and Mike Tresor all remain sidelined, while Shurandy Sambo, Jonjo Shelvey, Enock Agyei and Nathan Redmond were not involved.

As for Cardiff, Omer Riza opted to make eight changes from their 2-0 defeat to Aston Villa in the FA Cup.

The Clarets were on the front foot nice and early, Jaidon Anthony curling straight at Ethan Horvath after Josh Brownhill had almost broken free inside the Cardiff box.

Cardiff were clearly set up to contain Burnley, sitting deep in a rigid shape and often having all 11 men in their own half when the visitors had the ball.

Too often this season we’ve seen the Clarets struggle to create much against that type of set-up, so an early goal to shake things up was certainly the order of the day.

Thankfully that’s exactly what occurred when, in the 19th minute, Brownhill’s shot from Hannibal’s pullback deflected off the leg of a Cardiff defender and past Horvath in goal.

The Bluebirds almost levelled matters and ended Burnley’s long run without conceding in the league when Yousef Salech clipped the outside of James Trafford’s post. The Cardiff striker didn’t seem to know a great deal about it but the Clarets stopper was beaten, but thankfully the woodwork came to their aid.

It was then Burnley’s turn to squander a more-than-presentable chance when Zian Flemming, left totally unmarked inside the box, failed to find the target with a header from Josh Cullen’s inviting cross.

Jaidon Anthony then curled wide after Hannibal had been played in down the right as Burnley hit the hosts on the break.

The Clarets really turned on the pressure towards the end of the half as they consistently peppered the Cardiff goal.

That pressure told five minutes before the interval when Maxime Esteve of all people doubled Burnley’s lead with his first goal for the club.

The Frenchman couldn’t really have missed, with the defender having the simple task of steering home from a couple of yards out after Flemming had done really well to head the ball back across the face of goal.

The half ended with a sting in its tail though as Cardiff reduced the deficit with a really soft goal from Burnley’s perspective - as they conceded for the first time in 1,132 minutes, almost 19 hours.

Marcus Edwards played Connor Roberts into trouble, allowing the Bluebirds to keep the ball alive deep into Burnley territory. A dangerous ball was played into Salech who rose above Esteve to force the ball beyond Trafford with his shoulder, rather than his head.

Burnley, who had been coasting up to that point, didn’t allow the setback to affect them and came out back on the front foot at the start of the second-half.

They were denied two penalties in quick succession. First Brownhill appeared to be clipped inside the box before Edwards also went down close to goal, but referee James Linington ignored both appeals.

The Clarets were then denied a third when Josh Cullen’s low drive was pushed around the post by Horvarth, who saw the shot late as it came through a crowd of bodies.

After failing to get a third when they were on top, Cardiff replied with a spell of pressure of their own, but Burnley stood up to it well.

That almost changed 12 minutes from time though when Salech came inches away from grabbing his second when he clipped the top of the Burnley crossbar with a glancing header.

A nervy end to the game ensued for the Clarets, who even brought on Joe Worrall for Jaidon Anthony to strengthen their defence for the final moments.

Burnley were almost undone right at the death when Will Fish was left totally unmarked at the back post, but somehow turned the ball wide of the upright with only Trafford to beat.

Substitute Lyle Foster could have settled the nerves when he muscled his way clean through on goal, but bizarrely opted to pass to Josh Laurent when he really ought to have shot himself.

Thankfully it wasn’t to matter as the final whistle soon blew for a much-needed three points.

TEAMS

Cardiff: Horvath, Rinomhota (Fish), Ng, Goutas, Bagan (Robinson), O’Dowda, Chambers, Mannsverk (Ramsey), Robertson (Colwill), Ashford (El Ghazi), Salech

Subs not used: Turner, Lawlor, Willock, Davies

Burnley: Trafford, Roberts, Egan-Riley, Esteve, Pires, Cullen, Brownhill, Hannibal (Laurent), Edwards (Sarmiento), Anthony (Worrall), Flemming (Foster)

Subs not used: Hladky, Sonne, Benson, Koleosho, Barnes

Referee: James Linington