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Football

Cardiff City

vs Stoke City. Sky Bet Championship.

3: 00pm, Saturday 12th April 2025.

Cardiff City Stadium Attendance: Attendance20, 658.

Report and free match highlights from the Sky Bet Championship match between Cardiff City and Stoke City at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday; Late Will Fish own goal steers Potters big three points. Saturday 12 April 2025 18: 58, UK Please use Chrome browser for a more accessible video player Stoke scrambled an 85th-minute own goal winner to steer themselves away from the relegation dogfight and plunge Cardiff deeper into it. A long throw into the home box by Junior Tchamadeu caused panic in front of goal and Sam Gallagher got his head to the ball. Ben Wilmot latched onto it and from five yards turned and shot. Cardiff goalkeeper Ethan Horvath got his foot to it but the ball ricocheted onto his defender Will Fish and went into the net to earn the visitors all three points. Stoke moved five points clear of their hosts who are in the third relegation spot and remain a point adrift of safety with four games to go. Both teams came out and tried to play on the front foot and the tone was set in the first minute when Stoke's Eric Bocat made the first of many forays down the left wing and put in a cross that went right across the face of the home goal without anyone getting a touch. Bocat was outstanding in the first half and caused problems for the Bluebirds with his pace and passing. One sweeping pass from deep in his own half set up the best chance of the half in the fifth minute when he gave Ali Al-Hamadi a ball to chase into the Cardiff box.

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Having won it, Al-Hamadi back-heeled to Bae Junho, who passed it on to Lewis Baker 10 yards out in the middle of the goal with only the keeper to beat. With five goals in his last eight games it looked odds-on Baker would score, but he snatched at the ball and lifted it well over the crossbar. At the other end, Cardiff created early chances as well and acting skipper Callum O'Dowda flashed a 30-yard shot just wide of a post in the 11th minute. The game was brought to a halt in the 35th minute due to a medical emergency in the Ninian Stand. Referee Michael Salisbury eventually took the players off the field and after a 17-minute break he gave each team five minutes to warm-up following their return. Stoke came close to scoring when Jordan Thompson smashed a volley from the edge of the area into the back of Alex Robertson and onto the Cardiff bar and Perry Ng then sent a header into the side-netting for the home side from a Calum Chambers cross from the left. Stoke boss Mark Robins brought on striker Gallagher for Al-Hamadi at the start of the second half and his opposite number Omer Riza made three substitutions between the 57th and 66th minutes to try to breathe new life into his side. Riza threw on Isaak Davies and Rubin Colwill in the 80th minute and it was a Colwill cross two minutes later which presented Davies with a golden chance from two yards. He stuck out his left foot and managed to put the ball over rather than into the back of the net. Cardiff's Omer Riza: "I'm disappointed for the fans and the club that we weren't able to get what we needed from the game. We didn't create any clear-cut moments. "For me there was a clear hand ball in the build-up to their goal, but we simply didn't do well enough in dealing with the long throw-in. "We have four games to go and they are all massive - just like the last eight or nine have been. We have a mountain to climb. "We lost the game to a basic moment which we should have managed better, but we still have 12 points to play for. You have to win games to get promoted and to beat relegation and if we don't start winning then the writing is on the wall. " Stoke's Mark Robins: "It was a difficult game for many reasons. We both found ourselves in a precarious position and it is difficult after a three-game week. "That made it the type of game it was - a lot of sloppy play and a lot of things you normally wouldn't expect from either team. "People were losing their footing, passes were going astray and players making decisions they don't normally make. "But we ended up with a clean sheet, a goal and three points and that is essentially what it was about. We've got to take it and really enjoy it - this is an experience we have come through and we will learn from it and use it to galvanise us. "The fans were brilliant and that helps, and it is a big step forward. We will now have a couple of days' breather before working into the Sheffield Wednesday game on Friday. "We put our bodies on the line and to a man we did what we needed to do. We didn't get everything right, but we were OK and we managed to come out on top. "We still have a lot of football to play. This was a three-point game for us and we have four games to go, none of them easy, but everyone is in a similar boat. " The £250, 000 is up for grabs with Super 6, and as always it is completely free to play. Entries by 3pm Saturday.

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