Cardiff City 4-0 Preston North End: Dillon Phillips saves two penalties in rout

Kieffer Moore's penalty was his 14th goal for Cardiff since signing from Wigan last summer

Cardiff City thrashed Preston North End in an eventful encounter to continue their renaissance under Mick McCarthy.

Cardiff scored in the opening seconds of each half thanks to Kieffer Moore's penalty and Josh Murphy's fine finish.

Bluebirds goalkeeper Dillon Phillips then saved two penalties in a minute, denying Paul Gallagher and Ched Evans.

Marlon Pack struck the hosts' third on the rebound before substitute Mark Harris seized on a dreadful back-pass to complete the rout.

Cardiff remain unbeaten in seven matches under McCarthy, and a fifth successive victory moves them back within three points of the play-off places.

For Preston, a fourth defeat from five matches sees them slip to 14th in the table.

This will have been one of the more perplexing losses for Alex Neil's men, who may have forced themselves back into the contest had it not been for Phillips' heroics.

But thanks to his saves, Cardiff march on under McCarthy and, after a wretched start to the season under his predecessor Neil Harris, the Welsh side are mounting an improbable promotion push.

Described as "giants" by opposition manager Nathan Jones after their 2-0 win at Luton on Tuesday, Cardiff again made use of their imposing physicality on this occasion.

Their opening goal came from a long throw, Will Vaulks hurling the ball into the Preston box, where Sean Morrison was fouled by Jordan Storey. Referee Jeremy Simpson awarded the first of the afternoon's three penalties, which Moore struck emphatically into the top corner.

Set-pieces were a reliable source of opportunity for the home side, who were close to doubling their lead when Morrison's header from a Harry Wilson free-kick was saved by Daniel Iversen.

Preston favoured the aerial route as well, with Ched Evans seeing a header held by Phillips.

However, apart from those three efforts in the opening quarter of an hour, neither side created any chances of note in an ugly first half of full-blooded tackles and more clearances than passes.

There was more quality in the opening minute of the second half than the entirety of the first, as Cardiff flew out of the blocks once more.

Wilson was the creator, dribbling into the Preston half and passing to Murphy, who shifted the ball on to his left foot and fired into the far bottom corner.

Having offered next to nothing going forward until that point, the visitors woke up after falling 2-0 behind.

Alan Browne's header forced Phillips into a save and, after Wilson brought down Preston substitute Anthony Gordon for a penalty, the Cardiff goalkeeper seized his moment in the limelight.

Dillon Phillips celebrates his penalty heroics

Phillips dived to his right to save from Gallagher, who followed up his shot but was beaten to the ball by Aden Flint - only for referee Simpson to point to the spot again and book the Cardiff defender.

This time Ched Evans stepped up and shot to the right but Phillips was equal to it again and roared with delight after twice keeping Preston at bay.

That rather took the wind from the visitors' sails and, five minutes later, they were three goals down.

A mix-up between centre-back Liam Lindsay and Iversen allowed Sheyi Ojo to cross for Moore and, although Iversen managed to save his header, Pack was on hand to score with the rebound.

Lindsay also had a hand in Cardiff's fourth, as his back pass was picked off by Harris, who had only been on the field a matter of seconds by the time he scored into an empty net to round off an incident-packed fifth win for McCarthy.

Cardiff manager Mick McCarthy:

"I'm delighted. Any win is a good win but 4-0 is better still, very pleasing.

"When I came in I looked at the squad and thought we could get a good team together, that we could get a tune out of these guys.

"I think it would have been beyond my wildest dreams or expectations to draw the first two and win the next five. You always hope to do it and plan to do it.

"But I said to the lads, it's not me and TC [Terry Connor, assistant manager] that's the silver bullet here, it's them. They've done all the hard work, the grafting, and credit to the players."

Preston manager Alex Neill:

"The game finished 4-0 but it didn't feel like a 4-0, not in a million years. I've been involved in them where one team is very dominant, but we caused our own problems.

"If you make those mistakes at this level, then you won't give yourself an opportunity to get anything from the game.

"It's a harsh lesson and a sore one to take, but we've only got ourselves to blame."