The Bluebirds suffered a 2-1 away defeat at Lincoln City on Saturday, December 20th, 2025.
Goalkeeper Nathan Trott missed out through a hand injury, with Matt Turner replacing him in the team, while there was positive news on the injury front amongst the substitutes. Ollie Tanner returned to the bench for City for his first inclusion in a matchday squad for four months.
It was a foggy final away game of the year for the Bluebirds, with first facing off against third in Sky Bet League One. It was set up to be a real battle from the first whistle, and that's what we saw.
The game saw more cards in the first 35 minutes than chances, with City boss Brian Barry-Murphy and Lincoln City's Tom Hamer and Conor McGrandles all shown yellow cards.
City were dominating the ball but their hosts stayed strong in defence. 37 minutes in, and the Bluebirds saw an effort crash out off the woodwork. Reeco Hackett performed some heroics, stopping Yousef Salech from putting the Bluebirds ahead and clearing off his own crossbar. Alex Robertson struck wide moments later.
Sadly, Robertson wasn't as lucky in defence as an unfortunate clearance from the Bluebirds midfielder went into his own net to give the home side the lead against the run of play.
The hosts took this advantage and ran with it before the break, looking to dampen City's hopes with a second goal before the interval. City's number 41 Turner, though, made two fine stops to deny Rob Street and then Tom Bayliss to keep the deficit at just one at half time.
BBM made a change for the second half, with Ronan Kpakio coming on to replace Joel Bagan. It was the full-back on the other side who would make the first impact of the second period, levelling the game for City.
It was a team move of pure quality. Following a run of one touch passes, Perry Ng played the ball into Yousef Salech in the centre of the park and continued his run, with Salech giving Ng the ball back in front of goal. With George Wickens rushing out, Ng gave the deftest of chips to beat the opposition goalkeeper and equalise.
After Ng's goal, Brian's side continued to push, looking to completely turn the game in their favour as quickly as possible. Omari Kellyman saw a header cleared off the line, while Wickens denied Ryan Wintle at close range.
As is often typical in football, the team in control are punished if they don't take chances, and that occurred once again after 67 minutes as Sonny Bradley headed Lincoln City ahead from a corner kick.
This goal knocked the Bluebirds, and it was the home side that looked more likely to score the important fourth goal of the game. Street struck over at close range with 13 minutes remaining.
The boss looked to his bench with Callum Robinson, Isaak Davies and David Turnbull introduced. City though. didn't look like themselves in the final exchanges of the game, unable to get on the ball and threaten the home side.
It's the Bluebirds that will be top of League One on Christmas Day, but they missed an opportunity to distance themselves further from the fellow automatic promotion chasers, tasting defeat on the road. City's next match is on Boxing Day back in South Wales against Exeter City.
FINAL SCORE: LINCOLN CITY 2-1 CARDIFF CITY
Lincoln City: Wickens, Darikwa, Hamer, Bradley, Reach, McGrandles, Bayliss (Varfolomeyev 90+5), Hackett (Jefferies 86'), Draper (Obikwu 63'), Moylan (Towler 63'), Street (Okoronkwo 86').
Subs Not Used: Jeacock, Towler, Ring.
Cardiff City: Turner, Ng, Fish, Lawlor, Bagan (Kpakio 46'), Robertson (Robinson 74'), Wintle (Turnbull 82'), Kellyman, Ashford, Willock (Davies 74'), Salech.
Subs Not Used: Chambers, J.Colwill, Tanner.