Cardiff City 1-0 Blackburn Rovers: Late Mark Harris stunner earns Bluebirds win

Mark Harris strikes a spectacular winner for Cardiff

Cardiff City earned a dramatic first win under interim manager Mark Hudson as Ryan Allsop saved an injury-time penalty from Blackburn's George Hirst.

Cardiff missed a hatful of chances, most of which fell to Callum Robinson, in a frenetic but goalless first half.

Substitute Mark Harris struck with a 20-yard thunderbolt in the 83rd minute.

Allsop looked to have handed Rovers a lifeline when he brought down Dominic Hyam - but instantly redeemed himself by saving Hirst's spot-kick.

Anything other than victory would have been unfair for a Cardiff side who dominated this encounter, and Allsop's late transformation from villain to hero made it a memorable first win for Hudson.

Cardiff are used to managerial change - Hudson is their fifth in three years - and there was no discernible sign of discord when they drew with Burnley in Hudson's first game in charge on Saturday.

The Bluebirds hit their stride in the opening exchanges against Blackburn as well; a pep in their step despite the odd slip on a wet surface.

Cardiff's players pressed their opponents high up the pitch and on one occasion where the away side tried to play their way out of defence, visiting captain Lewis Travis was dispossessed by Sheyi Ojo. He then found Robinson, whose goalbound shot was well blocked by Hyam.

That was the first of three chances in two minutes for Robinson, who pulled one shot wide and had another saved by Thomas Kaminski.

The Blackburn goalkeeper was nowhere near Robinson's next effort - a whipped free-kick from the edge of the penalty area - but fortunately for Kaminski it flew wide.

Having been well off the pace in the first half, Rovers at least managed a shot on target early in the second when Tyrhys Dolan sped down the right and crossed for Sammie Szmodics, whose tame low effort was held by Allsop.

Just as the urgency seemed to be draining out of the game after an hour, Robinson had another chance when he was played in by Perry Ng but, before he could get the ball out of his feet, the Cardiff forward was thwarted by Daniel Ayala's excellent sliding tackle.

There were cries from the home crowd for a penalty soon afterwards as a cross appeared to hit the arm of Blackburn substitute Sam Gallagher, but referee John Brooks was not interested.

Cardiff finally made the breakthrough in spectacular fashion as Robinson played a low pass across the edge of the penalty area, where Harris opened his body and let the ball run on to his right foot, with which he hammered a first-time effort into the top corner.

Just as Cardiff fans were celebrating what they thought was a well-earned win, they were momentarily knocked back when Allsop fouled Hyam. But when the Bluebirds keeper dived to his left to save Hirst's penalty, the Cardiff City Stadium erupted as Hudson and his players savoured a victory they richly deserved.

Cardiff City interim manager Mark Hudson said:

"Brilliant. I'm so proud of the players, what they've committed to, what they've bounced back from with four points against two good teams.

"The team showed their togetherness again, the fight for each other, the press from the front.

"The subs we made showed they're committed. I spoke to Sparky [Mark Harris] before and told him how important he is, and he comes on and scores a screamer.

"We could have put the game to bed a bit earlier, which I told them, but we can't be perfect."

Blackburn Rovers head coach Jon Dahl Tomasson said:

"We've taken many steps in the right direction but the first half was not one of them. Second half was equal, where it could have gone either way.

"We defended our box pretty well. When you don't play your best football, which we didn't do, you need to get a point.

"Credit to George [Hirst] for wanting to take the penalty, you can miss a penalty.

"We're disappointed, frustrated, but we have a good opportunity where we would like to see a reaction at home [against Rotherham] on Saturday."