The Bluebirds took on West Ham at Ninian Park this evening, looking to continue their impressive recent run of form.

Lennie Lawrence stuck with the team that had performed so well against Leicester on Saturday.The list of absentees is still quite long at Ninian Park, Thorne, Page, Campbell, Margetson and Langley all out of contention, whilst Tony Vidmar served the second match of his ban.

West Ham made a change from the side that drew at Plymouth on Saturday. Reo-Coker, who started at Home Park wasn't in the sixteen. His place was taken by Chadwick, with Rebrov coming into the sixteen.

City started the match explosively and took the lead after three minutes. Paul Parry caught Mullins out on the left, and when his low cross was dummied by McAnuff, Alan Lee was on hand to fire the ball past Bywater.

West Ham had plenty of possession after the goal and had a good chance when Chadwick was put in on the right, but Tony Warner was quickly out of his goal to smother the shot.

The Hammers were made to pay for that miss shortly afterwards when City extended their lead. A ball from McAnuff on the right was controlled on his chest by Ledley as he cut across the defender, before he fired a right footed effort into the net for his first senior goal for the Bluebirds.

City looked comfortable and nearly extended their lead from Gary O'Neil's free-kick, but for the third time in four days he was denied by the woodwork. West Ham were denied time and space in which to play throughout the first half, but nearly got back into the match just before half time, but were denied by two goal line clearances in one mad scramble. The Bluebirds held out though and went into the break with a two goal advantage.

Half Time: Cardiff City 2 - 0 West Ham United

West Ham had to do something to try and force their way back into the match, and eight minutes into the second half Don Hutchison was brought on to replace Chadwick. But before he could touch the ball his side found themselves 3-0 down. Alan Lee made the goal with a defence splitting pass that was seized upon by Paul Parry who calmly slotted the ball past Bywater.

The onus was firmly on the Hammers to push forward, yet despite enjoying plenty of possession they found it hard to create many opportunities, largely due to the work ethic of the City players. But after seventy minutes they did force a way back into the match and it was all down to Marlon Harewood.The striker picked the ball in midfield and powered his way towards goal before his progress was halted in the area. The referee deemed the challenge a foul and Harewood dusted himself down to dispatch the penalty.

The match was back on, but only for a short time as the Bluebirds scored their fourth of the night. Gary O'Neil burst forward through the centre and laid the ball to the left where Joe Ledley supplied a low cross that was flicked into the net by Jobi McAnuff, his first goal for the Bluebirds.

The remainder of the match was just about playing out time, which was done so with ease by City, who go into Saturday's match at Rotherham in buoyant mood after this convincing win.

Final Score: Cardiff City 4 - 1 West Ham United

Cardiff : Warner, Gabbidon, Kavanagh, Lee, Barker, Collins, Parry, Williams, McAnuff, O'Neil, Ledley

Subs : Weston, Boland, Bullock, Alexander, Jerome

West Ham : Repka, Mulins, Davenport, Brevett, Chadwick, Lomas, Fletcher, Etherington, Harewood, Zamora, Walker

Subs : Powell, Ferdinand, Hutchinson, Rebrov

Attendance - 14222