"It's probably the best I've seen us play this season and at times I thought we were exceptional, playing against a good team in Barnsley today," Malky Mackay said after the match.
"They've been on a fantastic run of late and we knew that it'd be tough game if we weren't at our best. We started the game very well and their 'keeper pulled off some top class saves early on, especially the header from Kenny Miller.
Miller though clashed accidently with Ben Turner and had to come off with a bloody head injury.
"The one person you don't want to run into in our team is Ben Turner. I don't know how it happened, but it was like something out of comic cuts," Mackay continued.
"I still don't know how it happened, but it was a 5ft 101n player running into a 6ft 5in giant. Ben was OK, but Kenny had to have stitches in a nasty cut on his head.
"The doctor will have to check him out before we decide whether or not he will be alright to play on Tuesday night against Burnley."
The injury apart, Mackay had plenty to feel pleased about as his side hammered home their biggest goal tally of the season - and could have scored plenty more. Where Miller led, his replacement Joe Mason soon followed with his first goal for the club.
The former Plymouth striker popped up in the 33rd minute to score from close range after Steele failed to hold onto a Whittingham free-kick and earned plenty of praise from his new manager.
"Joe showed game intelligence that belied his age and I thought he was fantastic. He caused them plenty of problems and is potentially a top player."
And what about the defence?
"It was disappointing with their first goal, it took a big deflection to get them back into it again. After going five up we changed our shape a little at the end and on the look of it their goals looks like more than it is as far as I'm concerned. I look at the way we played and the chances we had. And for the goals conceded I look at the context of how they came, not just the numbers. As said their first goal was a big deflection and the second was a rebound off the back of Mark Hudson, while credit to Barnsley for their third, but we'll be looking at that early next week."
And for the opposition.
"We bumped into an excellent Cardiff side who were really on song and could have scored more goals," said Barnsley manager Keith Hill.
"I accept losing, as we did against Portsmouth, but the manner simply wasn't very good.
"I'm desperately disappointed with that performance and my players know that. There was no need to scream and shout at them - that's not my style anyway - because they knew how I felt.
"The manner in which we lost was not very good and we can take no reward at all from losing a game 5-3. It's easier to play when you are losing and we scored two goals in the second half.
"I just hope I can put this game into isolation because we were culprits of our own mistakes."