Cardiff City 1-1 Birmingham City: Will Vaulks blasts home late penalty to arrest Bluebirds' losing streak

Will Vaulks hammered home a late penalty to arrest Cardiff City's losing streak as the Bluebirds earned a 1-1 draw with Birmingham City in their final home game of the season.

The Bluebirds fell behind in an even contest owing to Jeremie Bela's first-half strike, but the home side continued to apply pressure after the break and it looked only a matter of time before the Blues' defence would be breached.

And it took a combination of two substitutes to finally get City back on terms. Max Watters did well to win the penalty before Vaulks, whose contract is up after the final match against Derby County, emphatically smashed home from 12 yards to ensure City's four-match losing streak came to an end.

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There was another little shake-up to Steve Morison's side as he attempts to glean more insight into what his squad will look like next term. Mark Harris was given a chance from the off, replacing Max Watters alongside Jordan Hugill, while there was room in the midfield for Eli King.

There was an intriguing sparring battle in the opening exchanges, however there was an end-of-season air to proceedings which cannot be denied. Still, there was enough intrigue in the chances created by both sides to keep it semi-entertaining at least.

The first big chance which fell Cardiff's way came after 18 minutes, when a little bit of trickery from Tommy Doyle on the edge of the box opened up a bit of space for Perry Ng, of all people. The wing-back shifted the ball onto his left and sent a low shot towards the bottom corner, but it trickled the wrong side of the post.

Minutes later, though, Cardiff were behind. Doyle's poor free-kick allowed the Blues to hit City on the break through a lovely through ball