Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff City: Uche Ikpeazu hits debut winner for Bluebirds

Cardiff signed Uche Ikpeazu (left) on loan from Middlesbrough on transfer deadline day

Uche Ikpeazu came off the bench to score just eight minutes into his debut as Cardiff City ground out a valuable win at bottom club Barnsley.

The hosts shaded a dire first half, with Josh Benson closest to scoring.

Cardiff struck with their first shot on target in the 71st minute, as Ikpeazu shrugged off two defenders before finishing neatly.

Barnsley thought they had snatched a point in added time but Aaron Leya Iseka's goal was disallowed for offside.

Tempers then boiled over after the final whistle as Barnsley's coaches and players confronted their Cardiff counterparts on the way to the tunnel, leading to a booking for Bluebirds manager Steve Morison.

Not that Morison will care after a second win in the space of four days which takes Cardiff nine points clear of the Championship relegation zone.

As for Barnsley, a fifth successive defeat keeps them at the foot of the table, eight points adrift of safety.

The Tykes are now winless in 12 with just 17 goals in 28 matches this season - but they were marginally the better side in a dreadful first half.

The home side had the only real efforts on goal, with Benson having a volley saved by Alex Smithies before Devante Cole dragged a shot wide from the edge of the penalty area.

Cardiff were a shadow of the team who beat Nottingham Forest on Sunday to end a run of six league games without victory. Whereas they were energetic and aggressive on that occasion, they were passive and sloppy in Yorkshire.

The second half followed the same pattern until Ikpeazu was introduced in the 63rd minute.

Eight minutes later, fellow substitute Aden Flint launched a long ball over the top of the Barnsley defence, which Ikpeazu controlled before outmuscling two would-be tacklers and rolling the ball into the net.

Leya Iseka had two late chances - heading wide from a corner and finishing from an offside position - but Cardiff withstood the pressure to claim a precious three points in their bid for survival.

Barnsley boss Poya Asbaghi told BBC Radio Sheffield:

"This type of loss is brutal - there have been too many of these games during this season, where we feel that it is an even game, or maybe we even have a little bit of an advantage but still the opponents end up winning.

"Today I think we totally controlled the game in the way we wanted. It was not a game where either side had a lot of chances but we were the ones controlling and pushing them.

"For their goal, it's a two-vs-one situation that we should control but they still ended up scoring which was decisive. It was a tough, tough goal to concede at that moment.

"We have to keep performing - in the end these games will turn around into victories. There are still enough games for us to turn things around."

Cardiff manager Steve Morison told BBC Sport Wales: "It was huge. An absolutely horrible game of football. I didn't enjoy it one bit but all that matters is winning.

"I thought Isaak Davies when he came on was phenomenal, changed the game. Big Uche came on and did what big Uche can do - he stuck two of them on his back and put the ball in the back of the net.

"A fantastic team effort and a clean sheet."

On the post-match altercation, Morison said: "The [Barnsley] assistant manager didn't like the fact that they lost and didn't handle it very well. It was fine, he just picked the wrong person.

"It was an awful tackle [by Barnsley's Mads Andersen on Cardiff's Alfie Doughty]. That was why there was so much passion at the end because that was a real naughty tackle.

"They were hiding towels for long throws and being really nasty, and you know what happens when people are like that? They get their comeuppance and it's karma."