After dominating the opening 2 minutes Cardiff went on to put in a performance that had 'relegation favourites' written all over it.
Crystal Palace made it back to back home wins to close the gap on City to just one point. For Cardiff it was a third game in a week without a goal.
City were not unlucky today, just poor in all departments. The defence struggled to contain Cameron Jerome, the midfield could not retain quality possession and thereby deprived Fraiser Campbell of any decent service.
Jerome opened the scoring after 5 minutes. City gave away possession cheaply and Jerome headed Jason Puncheon's cross past Marshall from close range.
Before that Campbell saw his header saved by Speroni inside the first two mins. It was a blistering start from Cardiff but that was the best they managed all game.
The second goal came from Marouane Chamakh in the second half when he controlled and fired into the bottom right hand corner of the net.
Cardiff's performance was littered with errors, poor passing and a lack if quality in all areas. When Palace attacked Jerome offered pace and strength, when Cardiff attacked it ended up with long hopefully balls to Campbell who was left isolated and outnumbered.
Andreas Cornelius added a physical presence in the second half and he produced one of City's best chances when his shot flashed wide. Jordon Mutch's header late on went over and took any hope City had with it.
City did see a lot of possession as Palace looked to hold onto their lead but to be honest it was far too easy for them to defend against.
A really disappointing afternoon in South London ended a week that saw City play three times and not score a goal.
There was some booing from fans who are getting restless seeing City play some quite tedious football.