Karlan Grant and Ike Ugbo both scored in stoppage time as Cardiff snatched a dramatic 2-1 victory at 10-man Preston.
Grant bundled the ball over the line in the 96th-minute to equalise, before Ugbo’s excellent glancing header three minutes later sparked pandemonium in the away end.
Milutin Osmajić’s 48th-minute goal put Preston ahead but the hosts were on the backfoot for much of the second half owing to Robbie Brady’s red card.
The midfielder was shown a second yellow just four minutes after Osmajić’s goal but Preston did brilliantly to keep Cardiff at bay, only to see their hard work undone in the final minutes.
The result moved Cardiff up to sixth in the table, just a place and a point behind Preston.
The visitors carved out the better chances in a scrappy opening 45 minutes, with Preston goalkeeper Freddie Woodman called into action to deny Bluebirds duo Manolis Siopis and Perry Ng.
Woodman continued to be the key player once again for Preston before the break, as the hosts’ No 1 produced a diving stop to keep out an angled strike from former Lilywhites star Callum Robinson.
However, despite struggling to make any inroads in the opening period, the contest turned on its head after a bizarre moment on 48 minutes, as Osmajic prodded home the breakthrough.
Mark McGuinness’ loose touch presented the Montenegro international with a chance to race in behind the visitors’ defence and he kept his cool to steer the ball past Runar Runarsson.
Despite looking well placed to seize the initiative from Osmajic’s strike, Preston’s positivity was quickly checked just four minutes later, as veteran winger Brady was shown a second yellow card after clipping Yakou Meite in midfield.
Brady’s sending-off completely changed the tempo of the game for Preston in the final half hour as manager Ryan Lowe rotated his side to try to dig in for the win.
With a player advantage in the closing stages, Woodman again came to the fore for Preston, to deny Meite from distance.
As Cardiff continued to probe, Grant conjured up a brilliant opening, with his rasping drive getting the better of Woodman, before clipping the outside of the post.
Cardiff boss Erol Bulut threw on a flurry of attacking substitutes in the final 20 minutes to try to force an equaliser, and the changes eventually wrested the contest away from Preston.
Pinball inside the Preston box, deep into nine minutes of added time, allowed Grant the chance to level with a scuffed effort, before Ugbo got away from his marker at a corner to win the match in the 99th minute.
Real Madrid hit Twente for seven, five-star Wolfsburg also win big
Real Madrid had six different goalscorers as they trounced Twente 7-0 in the Women's Champions League on Wednesday, while Wolfsburg beat Galatasaray 5-0.
Signe Bruun opened the scoring three minutes into the Group B encounter at the Estadio Alfredo Di Stefano, then Maria Mendez's header gave Madrid a 2-0 half-time lead.
Madrid, who had won one and lost one of their opening two games in the tournament, got a third through Naomie Feller five minutes into the second half, then Caroline Weir made it 4-0 with a brilliant free-kick.
Mendez headed home her second of the encounter shortly after the hour mark, while Oihane Hernandez and Carla Camacho got on the scoresheet late on to complete the rout.
The victory took Madrid second in the Group B standings ahead of Chelsea's trip to Celtic.
Wolfsburg were also convincing victors in Group A, getting off the mark for this season's competition as Rebecka Blomqvist scored a hat-trick in their 5-0 thrashing of Galatasaray.
The Bundesliga side – who failed to pick up a point or score a goal in their opening two matches – had a narrow 1-0 lead at half-time through Joelle Wedemeyer, before Blomqvist took centre-stage in the second period.
She tapped home after Janina Minge struck the crossbar, then added her second goal in the 77th minute and her third six minutes into stoppage time.
Vivien Endemann powered home a fifth for Wolfsburg one minute later, as they provisionally moved within three points of Lyon and Roma ahead of their meeting.
Taylor pleased with City's physical test during Hammarby win
Manchester City head coach Gareth Taylor was pleased with how his team stood up to the physical challenge of Hammarby in their 2-0 Champions League victory on Tuesday.
City's win extended their unbeaten start to the season, having won every game in all competitions following a 2-2 draw against Arsenal on opening day.
“Difficult game for us, physical challenge, a physical team in Hammarby. I think they outnumber us a little bit in terms of size, considering when you look at our midfield. But I thought the girls handled it really well," Taylor said after the game
“I thought we dominated the game. In the early parts we were just a little bit off in our final action. We just needed to speed up a little bit in terms of being on the end of it, and we spoke about that at half-time, and we score with Laura getting into that type of position we’d been talking about.
“[The physicality was something] we were prepared for, but dealing with it is a different thing. Having Bunny [Khadija Shaw] and Alanna [Kennedy] on the pitch, two of our more physical players, is really important, particularly for set-plays.
“At 1-0 we were defending a couple of scenarios like that, Yama [Ayaka Yamashita] making a really good save at one point. Then Aoba [Fujino] got the goal that maybe allowed us to change things up a little bit more, get some people off that we’d like to manage.
“I think the girls have dealt with it really well tonight. We expected it, we thought it would be difficult, and they rose to the challenge.”
The victory leaves City top of their Champions League group with a 100% record after three matches, three points above second-placed Barcelona.
Taylor had made changes to City's starting XI, with Lauren Hemp among the trio to drop out from the weekend and she did not feature in the squad. Ahead of their weekend game against Chelsea, who are second in the WSL, Taylor explained the reasoning behind Hemp's absence.
“We’ve just got an issue with Lauren that we just need to analyse a little bit further, that’s all," he said.
“It’s something that potentially happened in the Palace game [on 3 November]. She was able to play in the Tottenham game [last Friday] but wasn’t able to tonight, so we’ll just take a little bit longer to assess and find out more.
“Hopefully [she can play against Chelsea]. There’s an opportunity there, we’ll just have to take a moment tomorrow, have a good conversation and find out where we’re at with the medical staff.”
Campbell gives Sheffield United victory in Steel City derby, Rodriguez strikes late for Burnley
Sheffield United joined leaders Sunderland at the top of the Championship table after a hard-fought 1-0 win against local rivals Sheffield Wednesday.
After a goalless first half, Tyrese Campbell latched onto a pass from Callum O'Hare and slotted past Wednesday goalkeeper James Beadle for the winner five minutes into the second period.
This was the Blades' sixth consecutive clean sheet at Bramall Lane and their fourth straight win home or away, and sees them go level with Sunderland on 31 points from 15 matches.
Meanwhile, Burnley are four points behind the top two after they snatched a last-gasp 1-0 victory against visitors Swansea City.
Jay Rodriguez's stoppage-time penalty secured the points for the Clarets at Turf Moor, ending their four-match winless run and climbing to fourth in the table.
SportsMax is the Caribbean sports channel of choice, committed to providing sporting content of the highest quality to the Caribbean, delivered by a team of highly innovative, passionate and qualified professionals.
(876) 619-7629
digitalmedia@sportsmax.tv
