Cardiff City 1-1 Stockport County: Joel Colwill stunner helps Bluebirds to a draw as hosts left frustrated

Cardiff City were forced to settle for a point after a scrappy, stop-start 1-1 draw with Stockport County at Cardiff City Stadium, a game which involved a nasty-looking injury to Yousef Salech, a Joel Colwill stunner and a late flurry of chances that somehow failed to produce a winner.

The Bluebirds started brightly and should have been ahead inside the opening 10 minutes. Ryan Wintle picked out Salech with a trademark diagonal and the striker met it from close range, but could only head straight at Ben Hinchliffe in what proved a costly miss.

Moments later, Cardiff were made to pay. Stockport went straight up the other end and Josh Dacres-Cogley’s low effort from distance was parried by Nathan Trott, allowing Kyle Wootton to react quickest and tap in from close range to put the visitors ahead against the run of play.

Things then went from bad to worse for the hosts as Salech suffered a heavy blow to the head following a clash with Brad Hills. After 14 minutes of treatment, the striker was stretchered off to loud applause from the home crowd, with Callum Robinson introduced earlier than planned.

Cardiff struggled to find rhythm but finally found a breakthrough deep into first-half stoppage time. Ollie Tanner combined neatly with Perry Ng down the right and pulled the ball back for Joel Colwill, who took a touch and smashed a deflected effort beyond Hinchliffe to level the scores.

The second half followed a similar pattern, with Cardiff seeing plenty of the ball but finding Stockport stubborn and dangerous on the break. Gabriel Osho and Calum Chambers both produced vital blocks to deny Josh Stokes and Odin Bailey, while Nathan Trott was largely untroubled.

Brian Barry-Murphy turned to his bench, introducing Chris Willock,