Burnley 5 - 0 Cardiff City. Match Report

Last updated : 18 August 2024 By BBC Sport

Burnley kept up their winning start to the Championship season as they punished a series of Cardiff City mistakes to beat the Bluebirds 5-0.

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Ethan Horvath’s nightmare own goal gifted the Clarets the lead after nine minutes as a routine backpass slipped under the goalkeeper's foot, before rash defending by Dimitrios Goutas allowed Jay Rodriguez space to cross as Luca Koleosho smashed home a second.

Any hopes of a Cardiff revival in the second half were dashed when Vitinho’s pass split the Bluebirds defence wide open and allowed Josh Brownhill to race through and finish.

Burnley were not done and scored two spectacular late goals as Zeki Amdouni and Johann Berg Gudmundsson lashed home.

A thumping home win in his first game in the Turf Moor dugout continued Scott Parker’s impressive start to life as Burnley boss after their opening 4-1 win over Luton at Kenilworth Road.

Parker was without first-choice goalkeeper James Trafford who missed out through illness, while Rodriguez was the player tasked with replacing Wilson Odobert after his surprise £25m move to Tottenham Hotspur.

This always looked like a tough test for Cardiff who came to Turf Moor with boss Erol Bulut making two changes to the side beaten 2-0 by Sunderland, but all game plans went out of the window as the Bluebirds surrendered the advantage in this contest in truly farcical circumstances.

Burnley looked extremely impressive in their demolition of Luton, but they barely needed to get out of first gear before Cardiff gifted them a 1-0 lead.

There was little danger for the Bluebirds when Goutas opted to pass back to Horvath, but the goalkeeper allowed the ball to slip under his foot and was powerless to stop the ball trickling over the line as he ended up in the net.

Cardiff might have got back on level terms five minutes later when Joe Ralls sent Yakou Meite clear, but the forward struck the post after firing at goal at full stretch. That was as good as things got for the Bluebirds.

The visitors were ruthlessly punished for another mistake to go 2-0 down as Goutas slid into a challenge with Rodriguez and completely missed the ball, with Rodriguez’s cross deflecting to Koleosho who finished emphatically.

Cardiff have endured a horrible run of results against Burnley, with this defeat meaning they are now winless in away games against the Clarets since December 1990, having lost nine and drawn eight of their 17 games. Their last win at Turf Moor came in 1988.

The omens were not good for a second-half comeback, but any hopes the Welsh side had were dashed entirely when Brownhill scored his third goal in as many Championship matches after Callum O’Dowda surrendered possession.

The hosts were able to cruise at 3-0, having fully punished Cardiff’s sloppy play, before Amdouni hammered a fourth off the underside of the crossbar.

Things got even worse for Cardiff in stoppage time as Berg Gudmundsson added his own spectacular finish, lashing home as he cut inside.

Burnley's five goals came from just four shots on target, with Cardiff's miserable start to the season continuing as they head into the south Wales derby bottom of the Championship, with Burnley top after two games.

Cardiff's bad afternoon was compounded by a possible injury to Wales captain Aaron Ramsey, while the Bluebirds also lost their own skipper, Joe Ralls, to a first-half injury.

Burnley: Hladký, O'Shea, Esteve, Brownhill, Rodriguez (Massengo 87'), Roberts, Foster (Weghorst 74'), Vitinho (Gudmundsson 74'), Pires, Cullen (Amdouni 83'), Koleosho (Hountondji 83'). Subs Not Used: Green, Egan-Riley, Benson, McNally.

Cardiff City: Horvath, Ng, Goutas, Chambers (Fagan-Walcott 66'), O'Dowda (Bagan 66'), Ralls (Colwill 34'), Siopis, Ramsey, Willock, Méïté (Tanner 75'), Kanga (Robinson 75'). Subs Not Used: Alnwick, Rinomhota, Robertson, Ashford.