Cardiff 2 Wolves 0 - Report and pictures

Goals from Kenwyne Jones and Sammy Ameobi gave Cardiff a convincing victory as Wolves failed to even register a shot on target in a meek defeat.

[gallery]

Carl Ikeme was restored in goal but his blunder led to Cardiff's opening goal, with Jones nodding over the goalkeeper who got nowhere near a left-wing cross.

And Newcastle loanee Ameobi - who came so close to joining Wolves last month - made it 2-0 after replacing the injured Jones, lashing a deflected shot home from a corner.

Lacklustre Wolves failed to produce a single save from Cardiff goalkeeper David Marshall, as they went down to their second defeat in four days.

Wolves have now conceded seven goals in four games, but it was their lack of creativity up front that will have alarmed Jackett even more, in what was one of the worst performance in his Wolves tenure.

He rang the changes after the 3-2 defeat to Queens Park Rangers on Wednesday.

He replaced Emiliano Martinez, Scott Golbourne, James Henry and Nouha Dicko with Ikeme, Ethan Ebanks-Landell, Rajiv van La Parra and Sheyi Ojo.

As in their previous two games Wolves could have taken a very early lead when three minutes in David Edwards span as he collected Ojo's cross and fired narrowly over.

The Welshman, supporting Benik Afobe up front, was looking dangerous in the early stages and could have gone down when running through on goal.

It came after collecting a slack Sean Morrison pass, but he stayed on his feet and a heavy touch saw goalkeeper David Marshall collect.

Wolves had plenty of possession in the early stages, but did little with it and Cardiff gradually came into the game.

Richard Stearman blocked a goalbound Fabio shot, before Ikeme made a smart save from Joe Mason's shot.

Cardiff City: Marshall (c); Peltier; Morrison, Connolly, Fabio (Manga 88); Pilkington, Dikgacoi, Whittngham, Ralls; Jones (Ameobi 57), Mason.

Subs not used: Moore (GK), Noone, Gunnarsson, Doyle, Revell.

Wolves: Ikeme; Iorfa, Stearman (c), Ebanks-Landell, Hause; Van La Parra, McDonald (Henry 62), Coady, Ojo (Dicko 62); Edwards, Afobe.

Subs not used: Martinez, Doherty, Golbourne, Price, Enobakhare.[/breakout]

Ojo and Edwards combined again for another good Wolves chance, with the on-loan Liverpool wide man's cross met by Edwards who timed his run to perfection, but sent a shot on the slide past the post.

Cardiff had the ball in the net on 26 minutes but Mason's tap-in was ruled out, after he was adjudged to have kicked the ball out of Ikeme's hand with the goalkeeper having both on the ball.

A period of lacklustre play followed with neither side able to find a cutting edge in the final third. Afobe was desperately quiet up front, but had little service to speak of.

[comments_cta header="What do you think?" text="Was this a positive or a negative result?" button="Log in and start commenting"]

Then, out of the blue, five minutes before half time Wolves created the chance of the game so far, after Kevin McDonald's shot was deflected for a corner .

With Cardiff asleep, van La Parra played short to Ojo and his floating cross was met by Kortney Hause, just a yard or two from goal, but he sent his header over the bar.

And Wolves were made to rue that spurned opportunity when Cardiff took the lead on the stroke of half-time.

Fabio was given time to send a deep cross into the box and dangerman Jones lept above Stearman and Ebanks-Landell to nod into an empty net, with Ikeme in no-man's land as he belated attempted to reach the ball.

Cardiff began the second-half on the front foot and Hause had to be on the ball to take the ball off Jones' toes, with the big striker about to shoot.

Jones went down injured in the process but Wolves, to the supporters' annoyance, played on and broke clear, with van La Parra's shot deflected past the post and with Afobe just not able to reach the ball.

Jones - Cardiff's premier threat up to then - limped off through injury but his replacement Sammy Ameobi was no easier to handle, with his pace causing big problems after he was brought on.

And Ameobi, who came so close to joining Wolves on loan in the summer before joining Cardiff at the last minute, soon doubled the Welsh club's lead.

Peter Whittingham's corner dropped to the borrowed Newcastle forward and he lashed a right-foot volley past Ikeme via a deflection.

[comments_cta header="What do you think?" text= "How do you rate the Wolves performance today?" button="Log in and start commenting"]

That forced Jackett into making a double save, with Nouha Dicko and James Henry on for McDonald and Ojo to go 4-4-2.

But. despite the changes, Wolves struggled to make any headway, with Cardiff looking the more likely scorers.

After Iorfa gave the ball away Ameobi raced forward, dumping Ebanks-Landell and Coady on their backsides and then curling a right-footed shot just past the post.

There was plenty of endeavour from Wolves as the minutes ticked down but little inspiration, with a wonderful Iorfa cross which flew just ahead of Dicko one of few bright moments.

Henry, with six players waiting in the box, sent a cross nearer to the 1,000 travelling Wolves than his team mates with a dreadful late cross, which summed up Wolves' second-half performance.

[related_posts title="More on Wolves"]

[interruptor]