Snapshot

The Bluebirds secured a dramatic three points against Leicester on Tuesday evening to move to within five points of third place Nottingham Forest and cement their play-off position.

City were ahead after just ten minutes when Ross McCormack bundled home following Kelvin Etuhu's initial shot. The Bluebirds had chances to double their lead early on, but Leicester would come back strong as the half continued and threatened to equalise.

Fortunately for Cardiff, it was they who scored the next goal. Just before the stroke of half time, Rae found Whittingham inside the area for the midfielder to tuck home his twenty-second of the season.

The Foxes pulled one back shortly after half time through Steve Howard, which alone set up a nervy final third. But things became an awful lot more difficult after Gabor Gyepes was sent off for a professional foul, eighteen minutes from time. City were determined to take the points though and in torrential rain and after five minutes of injury time, the referee blew to signal Cardiff had secured a priceless and memorable win.

Chronological Report

The Bluebirds kicked off at Cardiff City Stadium in this crucial top-six encounter, winning their first corner inside the opening two minutes. Peter Whittingham floated in an accurate ball towards Gabor Gyepes, who came within a whisker of repeating his opening goal at Crystal Palace before Chris Weale scrambled the ball clear.

Leicester had a corner themselves from the very next attack and although Whittingham mis-hit his clearance, Stephen McPhail eventually found Kelvin Etuhu who broke at the retreating Foxes defence. The on-loan striker out paced Jay Spearing and almost found Ross McCormack clear through on-goal; unfortunately for City, Michael Morrison was on hand to intercept the pass.

The visitors looked strong through midfield and threatened through Martyn Waghorn in particular. But after ten minutes of play, City were ahead. Neat play between Mark Kennedy and Whittingham on the left flank eventually saw the ball come to McPhail. The Irishman's cross was cleared initially, but he was given the chance to deliver again and in doing so found Etuhu. The striker composed himself, swivelled and shot, and although Weale did well to parry his effort, McCormack was on hand to stab the ball home from close range.

GOAL: CARDIFF CITY 1-0 LEICESTER CITY (McCormack, 10).

The Bluebirds were almost two-up inside thirteen minutes, though the in-form Chris Burke could only direct his shot wide of Weale's goal after finding space for himself inside the area. Leicester were on the ropes in the early stages, luck rather than judgment on their part keeping City from having more opportunities at goal.

Jay Spearing played a wonderful ball with the outside of his boot down the left-flank for Dany N'Guessan to run onto on twenty-three minutes. For a moment it looked like the winger was in on goal, but Paul Quinn made a fantastic recovering tackle to deny the strike. Two corner kicks followed, and from the second, Richard Wellens came within inches of levelling the scores with a deft near-post header.

McCormack looked to have doubled the Bluebirds' advantage, somewhat against the run of play on twenty-eight minutes. Burke played in a tantalising cross from the right towards the Scot at the back-post, and although he did almost everything right with the angled header, Weale reacted superbly to deny what looked like being an inevitable goal.

Burke was giving Foxes right-back Neilson no end of problems, and after beating him again just before the half-hour mark, the winger delivered another near-perfect ball across goal that was hastily cleared by Hobbs before Whittingham could strike.

Substitution Cardiff City: Adam Matthews on for Darcy Blake (35 mins).

A moment's lack of composure on forty-minutes cost substitute Adam Matthews what would have been a contender for goal of the season. The Welshman picked up the ball deep in his own half on the right-hand touchline before driving forward at the Leicester defence. Pace, power and remarkable agility saw him slice his way through the entire defence, but his finish went agonisingly high of Weale's crossbar. Had it gone in, we would have been seeing replays for some time.

A minute before time, and City had yet another glorious chance to pull away. Matthews again found space on the far touch-line before crossing an inch perfect ball from deep; Etuhu met the cross but without conviction, and Weale was able to save from close range.

But the flow of opportunities eventually paid off. On the stroke of half time, McCormack found space inside the area to shoot at Weale; the 'keeper saved well but only as far as Gavin Rae, and the midfielder played in the waiting Whittingham who tucked home his twenty-second strike of the campaign.

GOAL: CARDIFF CITY 2-0 LEICESTER CITY (Whittingham, 45 mins).

But the half wasn't over yet. Leicester initially thought they had scored directly from a Waghorn corner, but when it wasn't given after looking like it had crossed the line, City broke and almost scored a third. McCormack sprayed the ball out wide to Burke who ran in on Weale; the 'keeper couldn't clear, and when out of his goal, Burke crossed to Etuhu who again should have done better with a free header.

HALF TIME: CARDIFF CITY 2-0 LEICESTER CITY

Substitution Leicester City: Steve Howard on for Dany N'Guessan (45 mins).

Leicester started the second half brightly, and may have pulled a goal back after just two minutes of play. Waghorn found space inside the area before passing to Spearing; the on-loan Liverpudlian's cross was cleared by Rae, though only to Paul Gallagher who struck well at Marshall, forcing the 'keeper into a superb reaction save.

After concerted pressure, Leicester scored on fifty-two minutes through Steve Howard. Another superb in-swinging corner put Marshall under-pressure and although he pushed away the initial ball, Howard was on hand to tuck home the rebound.

GOAL: CARDIFF CITY 2-1 LEICESTER CITY (Howard, 52 mins).

Substitution Cardiff City: Tony Capaldi on for Mark Kennedy (58 mins).

Leicester rallied after their goal and could have equalised had they shown more patience and composure in the final third. But after an initial good spell, the game died down to a slower pace and became an all around tighter affair.

Substitution Cardiff City: Warren Feeney on for Kelvin Etuhu (65 mins).

Substitution Leicester City: James Vaughan on for Martyn Waghorn (69 mins).

Disaster struck for the Bluebirds on seventy-two minutes. With Chris Burke receiving treatment on the sideline and the Bluebirds having used their three substitutes, substitute James Vaughan broke the offside trap to run clear through on goal. Gabor Gyepes did his best to retreat, but stumbled before making contact with the ball and as the last man, felled the striker. The referee had no option but to show the Hungarian a straight red card, and although Burke was able to return to the field after treatment, Cardiff would be short and struggling for fitness in the final fifteen minutes.

RED CARD: Gabor Gyepes, Cardiff (72 mins).

As expected for a team with an extra man, Leicester were dominating. The visiting fans thought their side had equalised when Spearing placed the ball home past Marshall, but the referee's assistant deemed him to have been offside prior to shooting.

Substitution Leicester City: Nicky Adams on for Robbie Neilson (83 mins).

Leicester kept on pushing and in the driving rain, City were hanging on to the points. Steve Howard had a good opportunity with a close range header with three minutes to go, but the substitute's effort went over the crossbar.

This was a real back to the wall effort for the Bluebirds, and they were defending resolutely. Paul Quinn, a makeshift centre-half did incredibly well to clear a Gallagher cross that was begging to be converted. The fourth official indicated there would be five minutes of additional time - for the Bluebirds faithful, it was almost unbearable.

And then, it was all over. City had held out through a torturous period of injury time for a fantastic 2-1 victory. The evening's atmosphere at Cardiff City Stadium was special - the crowd was the twelfth man. City close the gap on third place Forest to five points and will remember this performance and whole-hearted display for some time to come.

FULL TIME: CARDIFF CITY 2-1 LEICESTER CITY