Cardiff City 2-1 Sheffield Wednesday: Ryan Wintle penalty earns Bluebirds dramatic win

Ryan Wintle's goal was the midfielder's third for Cardiff since joining from Crewe in 2021

Cardiff City snatched a dramatic first win of the Championship season as Ryan Wintle's penalty in the eighth minute of added time consigned Sheffield Wednesday to a fourth defeat from four games.

Ike Ugbo fired Cardiff in front early in the second half with a fine touch and finish, before Callum O'Dowda spurned a great chance to make it two.

Wednesday responded strongly and scored a deserved equaliser as captain Barry Bannan curled in from 20 yards.

But just as the Owls looked set to earn their first point of the campaign, former Cardiff midfielder Will Vaulks conceded a penalty for handball and Wintle punished the mistake by calmly converting his spot-kick to prompt jubilant celebrations from the home crowd.

It was a remarkable way for Erol Bulut to earn his first league victory as Cardiff manager, and an equally cruel manner in which to deny Xisco Munoz his maiden point in charge of Wednesday.

These two sides had mustered just one point between them from their combined six matches before this meeting, and that showed during a cagey start.

Genuine scoring opportunities were at a premium but the probing, nip-and-tuck nature of this contest suited Manolis Siopis, the Greece international midfielder making his first start for Cardiff.

The free signing from Trabzonspor shone at the base of midfield, demonstrating tactical intelligence, positional discipline and the occasional flash of aggression in the tackle to break up opposition play, while also keeping the ball well.

The only real chance of a goalless first half fell to another player starting his first game for Cardiff, as former Reading forward Yakou Meite headed wide from Perry Ng's pinpoint cross.

Wednesday, meanwhile, showed only glimpses of attacking threat, with ex-Bluebird Callum Paterson volleying a cross-come-shot across goal and Josh Windass heading over from a corner.

The game was in need of decisive quality in one of the penalty areas, and Cardiff provided it three minutes into the second half with a well-worked opening goal.

Ng hung a cross from the right towards the back post, where O'Dowda nodded the ball back across goal to Ugbo, who controlled with his chest and blasted into the net from close range.

Ike Ugbo has three goals in four Championship appearances for Cardiff since joining on loan from Troyes

That lifted the atmosphere inside Cardiff City Stadium and, with the home side's confidence on the up, they should have doubled their lead four minutes later when O'Dowda wasted an excellent one-on-one chance as his low shot was saved by Devis Vasquez.

If the goal had shaken Wednesday, that miss was a big reprieve for the visitors, and they were desperately close to an equaliser when Windass - set up by a lovely lofted pass by another former Cardiff player, Will Vaulks - saw his header brilliantly tipped over by Jak Alnwik.

Wednesday laid siege to the Bluebirds' goal, and only a series of last-ditch blocks and clearances kept them at bay - until Bannan struck.

This was the archetypal Bannan goal, the Scot picking up possession on the edge of the penalty area, taking his time to steady himself and pick his spot before curling a left-footed shot into the far corner.

Wednesday were in the ascendancy at this stage but Cardiff wrestled their way back into the contest and forced one final chance when Vaulks - warmly applauded by the home fans when he came on as a substitute - was adjudged to have handled a cross.

Wintle, also on as a substitute, stepped up to take the penalty, fired it low to his left and sent the Cardiff City Stadium into raptures.

Cardiff manager Erol Bulut:

"I didn't expect it [first win] to be so difficult. After three games, we were unlucky at Leicester and Leeds, conceding last-minute goals, so confidence was not like before. That is why this game was really important for us.

"We could have been 2-0 up if O'Dowda or Meite could have taken their chances. I think we deserve the win. Everybody fought and we really wanted these three points.

"Sometimes it's not enough to play well. Today, for 90 minutes we were really fighting and we had our moments to make it easier for ourselves but I'm really happy we got three points for the morale of the team."

Sheffield Wednesday manager Xisco Munoz:

"I think it was our best performance of the season today and we need to continue like this. After we drew level we began to control the game and tried to go on to win it.

"We need to improve on our clean sheets because at the moment we need to score at least two goals to win any game. We lost today because of some of our mistakes, it wasn't so much a case of Cardiff winning it.

"I am very, very sad for my players because I know how hard they are working every day. We have lost the game because of some silly mistakes."