The Bluebirds were held to a one-all draw by the Potters at Cardiff City Stadium on Tuesday night.
Brian Barry-Murphy made one change from their trip to Portsmouth over the weekend, with Joel Colwill starting in place of David Turnbull.
It was the hosts who had the first big chance of the match. Yousef Salech played it back to Ollie Tanner who hit it on the turn and his effort rebounded back out off the post.
Despite City having more chances early on, it was the visitors who opened the scoring. A ball played in-behind the City backline couldn’t get cleared and Ben Johnson’s shot found its way past Nathan Trott.
Some superb work by Tanner opened up the space for Willock to have a shot, but it was well blocked by the Potters defence. Moments later a nicely worked Bluebirds free-kick was fired over by Ollie Tanner.
Nathan Trott was called into action from a George Hirst effort from outside the area; Trott did well to push away after a deflection.
After a quiet end to the first half, the Potters called Trott back into action after the break. A slip from Gabriel Osho meant they were in on goal, but Trott made himself big and kept it out.
Ollie Tanner kicked off more action action after winning a tackle on halfway before breaking down the right flank. His effort was deflected and looped just wide of the post.
City’s deserved equaliser came thanks to a sublime Willock assist. Finding space for a floated cross, Joel Colwill rose highest and finished with a superb header to bring the Bluebirds back level.
Only minutes later it was the head of Joel that almost took City ahead. His diving header could only be kept out by the post and Tanner’s follow-up was then blocked.
A neat ball by Alex Robertson played in Salech who held off two defenders, but his effort whistled just wide of the post. City looked the better side with under 20 minutes to go and were really knocking on the door in front of the Canton Stand.
There was another late chance from Salech after a reverse ball from Moylan put him one-on-one with the goalkeeper, but again the City effort was saved.
Another late chance came City’s way as a free-kick from wide then fell the way of Jack Moylan. His volley took a deflection before hitting the post for the third time of the evening.
CARDIFF CITY 1-1 STOKE CITY
Cardiff City: Trott, Bagan, Osho, Bielik, Ng, Robertson, J.Colwill, Moylan, Willock (Ashford 82’), Tanner, Salech. Subs Not Used: Tyrer, Turnbull, Scanlon, Tankiewicz, Anyadike, Moreno, Kpakio, Robinson.
Stoke City: Johansson, Wilmot, Talovierov, Graham, Johnson, Soumare, Galbraith, Bombino (Bocat 59’), Devenny (Cisse 69’), Bozenik (McGlynn 69’) , Hirst (Jun-ho 59’). Subs Not Used: Griffiths, Anderson,Pearson, Rigo, Manhoef.