The Bluebirds played out an entertaining 2-2 draw with Sheffield United in front of 21,036 at Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
The Bluebirds lined up with their new signing Krystian Bielik at the back alongside Gabriel Osho, who returned from injury.
City had a brilliant start, and it took just over a minute for Jack Moylan to strike in at the near post. It was Cian Ashford who found space before playing it wide to Moylan, who cut inside and fired the Bluebirds into the lead.
The Blades replied immediately, as Alex Robertson brought down Tom Cannon inside the area. The striker stepped up to take the spot kick and sent Nathan Trott the wrong way to level things up after only five minutes.
The entertaining start didn’t finish there, as Moylan had another chance which was kept out by Michael Cooper despite a deflection. The visitors went straight back on the front foot; Patrick Bamford slipped in Callum O’Hare, who placed the ball into the bottom right corner to put the Blades ahead.
After a very busy start to the game, City settled into the match and after a few chances the best opportunity came to Ashford, who saw his shot from the edge of the area saved by the away side's shot-stopper. That was quickly followed by an ambitious effort from the weak foot of Joel Bagan, forcing an important save from Cooper again.
It wasn’t long before the pressure finally paid off. Ollie Tanner danced his way into the box before unleashing a shot which forced another save, but the ball fell to Ashford, who fired into the empty net. The first half came to a close with the scores level after a chaotic start at CCS.
It was City who came out the stronger of the two sides after the interval. Yousef Salech headed one over from close range, and Tanner cut inside but couldn’t whip it past Cooper.
The Bluebirds continued to apply pressure on the visitors’ goal. After a cross was played, Bielik headed it down to Rubin Colwill, who saw a deflection take his effort wide.
After continued pressure from City, it was a header from Bielik which next troubled Cooper, but he did well to scramble across his goal to keep things on level terms.
Next it was the turn of Perry Ng to try his luck from range, but his left-footed effort rebounded off the crossbar. The ball fell to Salech who couldn’t quite get it under his control and turn it home.
Despite a dominant second half performance from the Bluebirds, they were unfortunate not to find the winner at Cardiff City Stadium. A draw means City continue their unbeaten start to the Championship season, and now travel to MATRADE Loftus Road on Wednesday night to face Queens Park Rangers (7:45pm KO).
Final Score: Cardiff City 2-2 Sheffield United
Cardiff City: Trott, Bagan, Osho, Bielik (Scanlon 90’), Ng, Robertson, Moylan (J.Colwill 85’), R.Colwill, Tanner (Willock 72’), Ashford (Davies 85’), Salech (Robinson 85’).
Subs not used: Tyrer, Turnbull, Tankiewicz, Kpakio.
Sheffield United: Cooper, McCallum, Tanganga, McGuinness, Baptiste (Norrington-Davies 58’), Donovan (Shackleton 46’), Peck, Rothwell (Riedewald 65’), O’Hare, Cannon (Brereton Dias 85’), Bamford (Phillips 46’).
Subs not used: A.Davies, Doherty, Campbell, Marsh.