Blackpool 0-2 Cardiff City: Bluebirds dominate Tangerines

Cardiff's win was only their third in their last 25 league visits to Blackpool

A dominant display by Cardiff City saw them earn a 2-0 win at Bloomfield Road against newly-promoted Blackpool.

Leandro Bacuna headed Cardiff ahead on 52 minutes as Blackpool failed to deal with a long throw from the Bluebirds.

Cardiff had dominated the first half but failed to beat Chris Maxwell in the home goal who made several saves.

Blackpool barely threatened until the latter stages but they were hit on the break with four minutes remaining as Kieffer Moore headed home a second.

The hosts hit the woodwork late on, but could have no complaints with the result in a contest Cardiff might have had won before the interval.

Both sides were looking to build on hard earned 1-1 draws in their opening league fixtures, with Cardiff held at home against Barnsley, while Blackpool's Shayne Lavery scored a 93rd-minute equaliser against Bristol City as the Tangerines marked their return to the Championship after a six-year absence.

A lively atmosphere led to a fast start at Bloomfield Road and Cardiff had three good chances to take the lead inside 15 minutes, but Welsh goalkeeper Maxwell saved smartly to deny Aden Flint's header before producing a stunning stop when Ryan Giles raced clear.

Leandro Bacuna is the older brother of professional footballer Juninho Bacuna who plays for Huddersfield Town

The Bluebirds kept pushing and Flint's acrobatic volley was within inches of producing the opener on 14 minutes, but the ball struck the crossbar.

Cardiff continued to fail to make their physical dominance pay as James Collins - with last season's top scorer Moore remaining on the bench after a bout of coronavirus - saw two headers saved before Maxwell denied Giles' 30-yard cross from creeping in.

Blackpool were enjoying plenty of possession but all the chances were Cardiff's with Collins heading wide from close-range on 38 minutes after Flint headed back Giles' cross.

The 2,000 Cardiff fans would have been frustrated at the missed chances and those frustrations were almost compounded on 42 minutes, but Jerry Yates dragged his shot wide from a rare Blackpool attack.

However, Cardiff opened the scoring with their first chance after the interval when Sean Morrison flicked-on Marlon Pack's long throw and Bacuna headed home from close range.

Bacuna had been as guilty as any player in spurning chances in Cardiff's season opener and the Bluebirds were almost pegged back - as they were a week ago - when Blackpool broke at pace, but substitute Josh Bowler cut inside and fired over.

Morrison then volleyed wide before the hosts almost made Cardiff rue their misses when Grant Ward's long range blast was brilliantly tipped over by Dillion Phillips who also denied Yates' curler.

However, the Seasiders were then hit on the break as they flooded forward and substitute Will Vaulks and Giles combined to provide the chance for Moore who made no mistake with an emphatic header.

Cardiff's clean sheet was secured when the hosts saw James Husband hit the woodwork with a late effort.

Blackpool boss Neil Critchley said:

"I don't think we deserved anything from the game. The best team won.

"They made us play their type of game, asked us a lot of questions, pinned us back... and we were happy to be 0-0 at half time.

"It didn't change and they deserved to be winning. We had a really good spell at 1-0 and if we scored, who knows?

"They scored a fantastic counter-attack goal and you can accept that when you are pushing forward. But over the 90 minutes, we didn't do enough."

Cardiff City boss Mick McCarthy told BBC Sport Wales:

"The fans enjoyed it and we enjoyed them, they travelled in numbers and made a load of noise and to be fair, they saw a good performance.

"We should have been in front at half time and we maintained the performance, got a couple of goals and kept a clean sheet. I am really pleased with the performance.

"It is always a worry when you should be ahead at half time and you aren't. But thankfully it didn't come back to bite us.

"I thought we played well last week against a really good team, but we backed it up with a good performance today... it's nice to get the first win."