Blackburn Rovers 5-2 Cardiff City: Bluebirds dumped out of Carabao Cup after chastening defeat

Cardiff City have been dumped out of the Carabao Cup in the third round after a chastening 5-2 battering at the hands of Blackburn Rovers at Ewood Park.

The Bluebirds managed to keep a lid on things in the first half, somehow, through goals from Callum Robinson and Kion Etete, but as the game wore on the visitors' defence simply couldn't keep up and Blackburn put them to the sword, with Andrew Moran bagging a brace.

There were debuts, for James Crole and Josh Beecher, just about the only positive of the evening, really, because after three wins a row, that heavy loss just threatens to curb City's momentum. All efforts are now on the Championship.

As expected, Erol Bulut rang the changes for the midweek clash, but it afforded some players some precious minutes. Jonathan Panzo made his first start since arriving on loan from Nottingham Forest, while Robinson returned to the starting XI, a welcome sign after the playmaker suffered an early-season back injury. Romaine Sawyers, meanwhile, took the armband.

The bench was packed with academy and under-21s players, another useful exercise for Bulut, who wants to work closer with the academy after the opening of their new academy site in Llamrumney this week.

But, perhaps predictably, the game started with a low tempo and, in truth, a real lack of quality. Cardiff, however, were the first to be undone and it was a bad one to concede from their viewpoint. Goalkeeper Leo Wahlstedt lobbed a speculative ball over the top of City's defence and Jake Garrett took a lovely touch on the edge of Cardiff's box before slotting past Alex Runarsson.

Despite a lack of coherence and rhythm, Cardiff managed to get themselves back into the game within minutes courtesy of a Robinson humdinger. Rubin