Sheffield United 4-1 Cardiff City: Second-half collapse sees Bluebirds hammered by ruthless Blades

Cardiff City's relegation troubles deepened further as a catastrophic second half collapse saw them hammered at the hands of promotion-chasing Sheffield United at Bramall Lane.

An early Sory Kaba penalty gave the hosts a deserved lead midway through the first half, only for James McAtee to hit back four minutes later.

Jack Robinson's header 10 minutes after the break then put the hosts in front, before Cardiff substitute Connor Wickham rattled the bar as his side looked to restore parity.

But another sloppy goal allowed Illiman Ndiaye to round Ryan Allsop and tap home, before subsitute Ciaran Clark completed the rout by heading home a fourth.

It's a result that Cardiff to back-to-back defeats, with relegation still an uncomfortably real possibility heading into Wednesday's trip to Watford.

The Bluebirds remain a point above Reading in the relegation zone, with the Royals taking on Burnley later this afternoon, and while few would have expected a visit to the high-flying Blades to yield much joy, the nature of Cardiff's collapse after such a positive start was deeply alarming.

Sabri Lamouchi chose to make four changes to his side for the trip to South Yorkshire, presumably in search of a similar performance to that seen at Blackpool on Good Friday, but will have surely been unimpressed by his side's efforts in South Yorkshire.

In a way, this game summed up Cardiff's recent fortunes. For much of the first half, they were actually the better team at Bramall Lane, although Jack Simpson's early yellow card hinted at the potential defensive fragility that was to come.

But up front, Cardiff asked their fair share of questions. Jaden Philogene fired wide early on, while home goalkeeper Adam Davies had to be alert to turn Ryan