Blackburn Rovers 1-0 Cardiff City: Bluebirds start new year with a whimper as Dack goal extends winless run to seven games

Cardiff City began 2023 in miserable fashion as a 1-0 defeat by Blackburn Rovers extended their winless run to seven matches.

The Bluebirds had not won on New Year's Day for 10 years and that statistic is going to stretch on until at least 2024 thanks to Bradley Dack's deflected second-half strike, which was enough to earn the hosts all three points.

It was a game which was affected severely by the horrific playing surface at Ewood Park, but even so, Cardiff showed no sign of troubling the Blackburn net, meaning they have now gone more than 260 minutes without scoring a goal.

Worrying times for Mark Hudson as the pressure mounts on his shoulders with the club sinking deeper into an extremely tricky situation.

The first game of the year almost started in truly horrendous fashion for Cedric Kipre, who completely miscued a backpass to allow Sam Gallagher through on goal. The big striker hit his shot first time, with Ryan Allsop back peddling towards his own goal, but the City stopper stuck out a leg to save Kipre's blushes.

There was no doubt that the hosts were the team who started the better of the two sides, with Jack Simpson forced into a couple of early defensive interventions, while Ben Brereton Diaz put the ball in the back of the net before being flagged for offside.

But conditions underfoot were horrendous after the sheer volume of rain which had fallen on Ewood Park in the days leading up to the game.

Cardiff did have their fair share of chances in the first half, though. The pick of them saw Mark Harris intercept an errant Rovers pass before sliding the ball into Gavin Whyte's path. The Northern Irishman took a touch and looked to pull the trigger, however Jake Garrett's magnificent sliding tackle quelled the