Cardiff City 2-0 Bristol Rovers: McGuinness and Colwill on target as Bluebirds through to Carabao Cup second round

Mark McGuinness marked his return to the Cardiff City side by scoring in the in a 2-0 triumph over Bristol Rovers in the first round of the Carabao Cup.

McGuinness is understood to be the subject of transfer interest this summer, chiefly from recently-relegated Luton Town. He missed Saturday's league game following a minor knock according to manager Erol Bulut, which perhaps fuelled more speculation.

But he returned to the Bluebirds' side and produced a trademark headed finish to advance Cardiff into the second round. Rubin Colwill rounded things off when he poked home from Kieron Evans' pinpoint cross in stoppage time, to make the Bluebirds' dominance more akin to the scoreline.

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Cardiff's evening didn't get under way in the most ideal of fashion, with midfielder David Turnbull suffering a pre-match injury forcing him to be withdrawn from the starting XI. Eli King replaced him.

There were lots of talking points pre-match when the team was announced, including a debut for Alex Robertson and first start for Wilfried Kanga up front. Mark McGuinness, who is the subject of intense transfer interest from Luton Town among others, returned to the XI alongside Joel Bagan at centre-half. Ronan Kpakio made his competitive debut, while Luey Giles got the nod at left back. Raheem Conte, who deputised at right back at the end of last season, was given his head on the wing. Michael Reindorf was rewarded with a bench spot after scoring six goals for the U21s since his arrival this summer.

So it was a much-changed team for the hosts, who once again dominated the ball without creating any real clear-cut opportunities to trouble the Rovers defence.

It took