Match ends, Cardiff City 0, Preston North End 2.
Preston North End maintained their push for a Championship play-off place with a clinical win at Cardiff City.
After a slow start, the visitors scored two goals in the space of 10 first-half minutes through Emil Riis and Ben Whiteman, who finished off an incisive team move.
Cardiff brought on Aaron Ramsey at half-time for his first appearance since injury in September, but the Wales captain's presence alone was not enough to lift the lacklustre Bluebirds.
Preston move up to ninth in the Championship - two points adrift of the top six - after building on last weekend's impressive win over automatic promotion contenders Ipswich Town.
Cardiff, meanwhile, slip to 14th and are now seven points away from the play-off places having failed to win at home for two months.
Their third successive defeat at Cardiff City Stadium was particularly disappointing as Erol Bulut's side appeared to have breathed some life into their faltering play-off ambitions with a 1-0 victory at Watford a week earlier.
Cardiff were the better side in the opening half an hour against Preston, with Kion Etete and Karlan Grant both having efforts saved by Freddie Woodman.
But having failed to manage a single shot - on or off target - until that point, Preston burst into life with two goals in the space of 10 minutes.
Riis got the first by darting infield from the left wing and squeezing a low right-footed shot past the near post.
The visitors added a stylish second as Will Keane released Mads Frokjaer-Jensen, whose cut-back was swept in by Whiteman without breaking stride.
Those goals hit Cardiff like a punch to the solar plexus, and they struggled to lift themselves off the canvas from that point.
Ramsey's half-time introduction got the home fans on their feet, but their team's performance prompted no such excitement.
As for Preston, this was about as comfortable as away wins get in the Championship.
Woodman had a fairly busy start to the game but had little to do in the second half as his team-mates controlled proceedings to extend the visitors' unbeaten run to three games.
Cardiff manager Erol Bulut:
"We started really well in the first 30 minutes, until we conceded from their first shot. Then our confidence went a bit down.
"For their second goal, I thought there was a foul on Kion [Etete]. The referee allowed a lot of fouls. We don't play rugby - we play football.
"There were more faults from us - we can't say this is why we lost the game - but these are key details. Generally, the game was under control but three shots from the opponent, two goals."
Preston manager Ryan Lowe:
"The first 15 minutes we gave the ball away and we have to give Cardiff a bit of credit but, once we got control of the game, we were fantastic.
"Two good goals and we should have had more. I thought the resilience and desire they showed was excellent.
"We're not going to get carried away. The lads have worked hard on a daily basis and they've been a breath of fresh air to work with. We'll never get too high or low."
Line-ups
Cardiff
Formation 4-2-3-1
- 21AlnwickBooked at 41mins
- 38Ng
- 4Goutas
- 12PhillipsSubstituted forMéïtéat 84'minutesBooked at 90mins
- 17Collins
- 6WintleSubstituted forRamseyat 45'minutes
- 23Siopis
- 14BowlerSubstituted forWilson-Esbrandat 45'minutes
- 15TurnbullSubstituted forColwillat 72'minutes
- 16Grant
- 9EteteSubstituted forDiédhiouat 62'minutes
Substitutes
- 1Horvath
- 2Romeo
- 8Ralls
- 10Ramsey
- 20Diédhiou
- 22Méïté
- 27Colwill
- 30Wilson-Esbrand
- 32Tanner
Preston
Formation 3-5-2
- 1Woodman
- 14Storey
- 6Lindsay
- 16Hughes
- 44PottsSubstituted forMcCannat 73'minutes
- 8BrowneSubstituted forLedsonat 80'minutes
- 4Whiteman
- 10Frökjaer-JensenBooked at 74minsSubstituted forWoodburnat 87'minutes
- 23MillarSubstituted forBradyat 86'minutes
- 19RiisSubstituted forOsmajicat 86'minutes
- 7Keane
Substitutes
- 3Cunningham
- 11Brady
- 13McCann
- 17Stewart
- 18Ledson
- 20Woodburn
- 21Cornell
- 26Whatmough
- 28Osmajic
- Referee:
- Dean Whitestone
- Attendance:
- 18,763
Match Stats
- Possession
- Home52%
- Away48%
- Shots
- Home14
- Away3
- Shots on Target
- Home5
- Away3
- Corners
- Home4
- Away0
- Fouls
- Home5
- Away11
Live Text
Post update
Full Time
Second Half ends, Cardiff City 0, Preston North End 2.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City) right footed shot from outside the box is blocked. Assisted by Perry Ng.
Post update
Corner, Cardiff City. Conceded by Ben Woodburn.
Post update
Corner, Cardiff City. Conceded by Benjamin Whiteman.
Post update
Attempt blocked. Karlan Grant (Cardiff City) left footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked.
Post update
Attempt saved. Dimitrios Goutas (Cardiff City) right footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Manolis Siopis.
Booking
Yakou Méïté (Cardiff City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.
Post update
Foul by Yakou Méïté (Cardiff City).
Post update
Ryan Ledson (Preston North End) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Robert Brady (Preston North End) wins a free kick in the defensive half.
Post update
Foul by Rubin Colwill (Cardiff City).
Substitution
Substitution, Preston North End. Ben Woodburn replaces Mads Frökjaer-Jensen.
Substitution
Substitution, Preston North End. Robert Brady replaces Liam Millar.
Substitution
Substitution, Preston North End. Milutin Osmajic replaces Emil Riis.
Substitution
Substitution, Cardiff City. Yakou Méïté replaces Nathaniel Phillips.
Post update
Attempt missed. Famara Diédhiou (Cardiff City) right footed shot from outside the box is high and wide to the right. Assisted by Manolis Siopis.
Substitution
Substitution, Preston North End. Ryan Ledson replaces Alan Browne.
Post update
Foul by Ali McCann (Preston North End).
Post update
Josh Wilson-Esbrand (Cardiff City) wins a free kick on the left wing.
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No matter who you employ as manager, spend fortunes on signing, you're always going to be awful.