Norwich City 2-0 Cardiff City: Sara and Marquinhos score as Canaries down Bluebirds

Cardiff City came hurtling back down to earth with a 2-0 defeat by Norwich City at Carrow Road.

The Bluebirds were riding the crest of a wave following two wins in as many games, but two goals in four minutes in the first half ended their mini winning run.

Gabriel Sara got the first for the Canaries, while Marquinhos netted the hosts' second to put the tie to bed. In truth, they had chances to double that scoreline, which they didn't take.

It was always going to be a tough ask, but, given the way Cardiff started the game, they might have hoped for more.

Sabri Lamouchi opted for a couple of changes before the match, with Connor Wickham afforded his first start and Joe Ralls brought in to bolster the midfield.

It was a new-look formation, with Ralls and Jaden Philogene playing in behind Wickham, tasked with pressing the Canaries defenders.

And it worked early on when Norwich gifted the ball to Callum O'Dowda, who was tackled in the box before the ball fell into the path of Wickham, whose shot from 10 yards out was blocked.

There was no denying that the Bluebirds were the team in the ascendancy during the early exchanges, with Jaden Philogene firing a couple of shots at goal - only to watch them sail over the bar.

More positive pressing work yielded another breakaway chance, this time down the other flank when Mahlon Romeo intercepted an errant Max Aarons pass. He had Wickham, completely unmarked, inside him in the box, but his side-footed effort was saved comfortably by Angus Gunn. The wise option was to play in Wickham.

The crux of it all was that, despite 20 minutes of dominance, the scores remained level. It was a matter of time before the hosts made inroads and Cardiff's lack of cutting edge would come back to bite