Birmingham City 0-4 Cardiff City: Harry Wilson scores hat-trick for Bluebirds

Harry Wilson's goals took his tally to six for Cardiff since joining on loan from Liverpool

Harry Wilson scored a brilliant hat-trick as Cardiff City strolled to a comfortable win at Birmingham City.

The Liverpool loanee gave the visitors an early lead with a beautifully clipped effort off the outside of his left foot from long range.

Wilson then curled a clever free-kick around the Blues' wall to put Cardiff 2-0 up at half-time.

Substitute Mark Harris powered in a third before Wilson completed his hat-trick with another superb free-kick.

That was the 24-year-old Wales attacking midfielder's first hat-trick of his senior career.

Already out of play-off contention, Cardiff remain eighth in the Championship table.

Birmingham, who secured their survival a week earlier, drop to 18th after only a second defeat in nine games under Lee Bowyer.

Blues were just three points clear of the relegation zone when their former midfielder replaced Aitor Karanka in March, with Bowyer overseeing five wins, two draws and only one loss in his first eight games to steer his side to safety.

Cardiff had enjoyed a similar revival after Mick McCarthy was appointed in January, going 11 games unbeaten before a dip in form derailed their play-off ambitions.

McCarthy dismissed the pre-match suggestion that this was a "dead rubber", and he demonstrated his intent by starting Wilson in the penultimate game of his season-long loan from Liverpool.

The Wales international rewarded that decision with his best performance in a Cardiff shirt.

His first goal stemmed from a Birmingham mistake as defender Marc Roberts' misplaced pass went straight to Wilson, who looked up, saw goalkeeper Zach Jeacock off his line and lifted an elegant shot with the outside of his left foot which curled into the far corner.

Wilson's second was similarly impressive, whipping a 25-yard free-kick around the Birmingham wall, leaving Jeacock unsighted and scrambling across his goal in vain.

The home side struggled to respond with any meaningful scoring opportunities, with Steve Seddon and Ivan Sunjic miscuing some of their rare efforts on goal.

Cardiff, by contrast, had plenty of chances to extend their lead in the second half, with Harris and Rubin Colwill forcing Jeacock into two excellent saves.

But the Birmingham keeper had no answer to Harris' next effort, a thumping finish after a fine pass from fellow substitute Josh Murphy.

Jeacock was similarly powerless when Wilson scored with a second free-kick, this time a sumptuous strike into the top corner to seal a hat-trick of the highest quality.

Birmingham City head coach Lee Bowyer:

"They didn't crumble, they didn't hide. They kept trying to do the right thing. I've learned a lot.

"All those players can hold their heads high because they haven't let anyone down. They didn't let me down.

"I'm learning about the other players that have been on the fringe.

"They won't play against the power and the physicality of that team every week, but I'm learning about whether players can play from the start."

Cardiff City manager Mick McCarthy:

"It's as good a hat-trick I've ever seen. It was fabulous.

"The first one is absolutely awesome. It was sublime, that, the outside of his left foot, not really set to hit it and he pulls that out.

"The second one, he bent it around the wall and the third one just popped the tin hat on it.

"It was wonderful. As good a hat-trick as you'll ever see."