Perry Ng continued his scoring run as Cardiff beat Bristol City 2-0 in the Severnside derby and moved in to the top five of the Sky Bet Championship.
Ng has scored only 12 goals in a league career spanning eight years, but three of them have come in the last six games.
The full-back’s first-half header put Cardiff in front and substitute Rubin Colwill sealed matters in stoppage time with a thumping shot into the roof of the net.
Darren England took charge of his first match since he was at fault for wrongly disallowing Luis Diaz’s goal for offside when working as Video Assistant Referee during Liverpool’s defeat at Tottenham last month.
Thankfully, for England’s sake, the contest passed without controversy. At least, until the closing stages.
Cardiff were convinced they should have been awarded a free-kick when goalkeeper Max O’Leary picked the ball up after Mark Sykes touched Ollie Tanner’s cross to him.
But England ruled that it was not a deliberate back pass – a decision that sent the Cardiff bench into meltdown – and then ignored calls for a Bristol City penalty after substitute Ephraim Yeboah went to ground.
The Robins were heavily depleted with several regulars missing and had only eight substitutes on the bench, including two goalkeepers and four players who have never played a minute of league football. Joseph James made his first senior start at the age of 17.
But the visitors started brightly with Harry Cornick’s deflected effort just curling wide of a post and Rob Dickie off target after Andreas Weimann burst through.
Cardiff’s extra power soon began to tell, however, and Ng tested O’Leary before Karlan Grant forced another stop from the Robins goalkeeper.
Yakou Meite flashed a wicked cross into the six-yard box but, much to the forward’s disgust, no team-mate had gambled on the ball arriving there.
Sykes was relieved not to put the ball into his own net from another Meite cross, but Cardiff struck from the resulting corner after 33 minutes.
Joe Ralls swung it over into a congested area and Ng rose highest to celebrate again after his spectacular midweek free-kick at Huddersfield.
Meite sent a header straight at O’Leary and Callum Robinson had a stinging shot blocked as Cardiff tried to put the contest to bed.
Bristol City rallied as Ahmed Mehmeti’s 25-yard effort was pushed out by Jak Alnwick and the stretching Weimann hooked over a difficult chance.
The visitors continued to press and Weimann met Taylor Gardner-Hickman’s floated free-kick only to send his header over the crossbar.
But Colwill added gloss in the first minute of stoppage time, cutting between two defenders and rifling home a ferocious shot as Cardiff extended their unbeaten home run to six games – their best for nearly four years.
Plymouth Argyle 2-2 Watford: Two-goal Gray rescues point for Rooney's side
Andre Gray scored twice against his former club to salvage a point for struggling Plymouth Argyle as they drew 2-2 with Watford on Friday.
Gray curled in an equaliser in the sixth minute of second-half stoppage time to seal a crucial point for Wayne Rooney's side in their bid for survival in the Championship.
The visitors made a quick start at Home Park when Ivorian striker Vakoun Bayo bundled in a cross from Yasser Larouci only eight minutes in.
Plymouth did, however, equalise against the run of play in the 23rd minute when Lewis Gibson's long ball into the box was met with a spectacular volley from Gray.
Watford regained the lead before the break when Imran Louza's free-kick was knocked back by Mattie Pollock, with centre-back Ryan Porteous on hand to steer the ball home.
But just as it looked like Watford would go home with all three points, Gray picked up the ball on the edge of the area and fired home a stunning effort beyond Daniel Bachmann.
Tom Cleverley's Watford sit in fifth place and trail leaders Sunderland by five points, while Plymouth are 17th with 17 points from 16 matches.
Man United could be without Toone until new year, says Skinner
Marc Skinner revealed that Manchester United could be without midfielder Ella Toone until the new year after she picked up a calf injury in training.
Toone has featured in five games in the Women's Super League this season, but is yet to register a goal or an assist so far this term.
The 25-year-old has missed United's last two games and was not selected in Sarina Wiegman's England squad for their upcoming friendlies against the United States and Switzerland.
She had previously appeared in a staggering 96 straight matches before missing United's WSL showdown with Leicester City last weekend.
But ahead of the Red Devils' meeting with league leaders Chelsea on Sunday, Skinner confirmed they would be without Toone for not only that game, but for the foreseeable future.
"We have three games [after the international break and before Christmas]. There's always the hope, but I think you balance and you go, 'right, if we can get her back, we get her back'," Skinner said.
"But we're just not going to rush her in this moment because it's a calf injury, it's your running mechanism. If we injure the running mechanism, it takes longer.
"So ideally we'd like her back for those games afterwards.
"The projection is she misses this game [Chelsea], she misses the international window, probably misses the first game after that, and then we'll see from there.
"But because it is such a short block of only three games, we'll assess whether it's worth that or actually resetting to come back after Christmas."
Al-Nassr 1-2 Al-Qadsiah: Aubameyang winner ends hosts' unbeaten run
Pierre-Emerick Aubameyang hit the winner as Al-Qadsiah inflicted a 2-1 defeat on Al-Nassr in the Saudi Pro League on Friday to end their 21-match unbeaten run.
Cristiano Ronaldo's seventh league goal of the season put Al-Nassr ahead, but Al-Qadsiah replied swiftly through Julian Quinones before Aubameyang struck the decisive blow.
The hosts drew first blood in the 32nd minute when Ronaldo slotted home after Al-Qadsiah goalkeeper Koen Casteels had spilled a routine catch from Talisca's cross.
However, Al-Nassr's joy was short-lived when Quinones brought down Turki Al Ammar's delivery five minutes later, with the Mexcio winger firing past Bento to level the scores.
Quinones also played a part in the winning goal after brilliantly turning the ball back across goal from Nahitan Nandez's search pass to tee up a simple finish for Aubameyang.
The result sees Al-Qadsiah move level on 22 points with third-placed Al-Nassr, with Al-Shabab also level with them.
Stefano Pioli's Al-Nassr are six points adrift of defending champions and leaders Al-Hilal, who also have a game in hand.
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