AFC Bournemouth make two changes from Saturday's Gillingham draw with Joel Ward and Warren Cummings replacing Brett Pitman and Ryan Garry.

Cherries: Jalal, Ward, Guyett, Pearce, Cummings, Anderton, Cooper, Bartley (Pettefer 84), Igoe, Bradbury (Sappleton 71), Kuffour (McQuoid 88).
Subs: Pryce, Webb, Partington, Hutchings.

Cardiff: Heaton, McNaughton, Kennedy, Loovens, Johnson, McPhail, Rae, Bothroyd (Thompson 85), Parry (Comminges 83), Whittingham (McCormack 62), Ledley.
Subs: Enckleman, Purse, Scimeca, Blake.

Att: 3,399

Fresh from beating Southampton at the weekend the visitors opened the scoring inside seven minutes tonight. Welsh International Paul Parry took full advantage of a defensive error and slid the ball underneath Jalal.

Five minutes later it was two-nil when Parry again took control in the area before this time lofting the ball over Jalal. Pearce did his best to clear the ball from the line, but couldn't prevent the goal.

Cardiff didn't relent despite their two goal advantage and goalkeeper Shwan Jalal made a couple of decent saves by the twenty minute mark while Jason Pearce was getting his body in front of anything he could.

On twenty-seven minutes Cherries found themselves back in the game. Jo Kuffour was put under immense pressure on the edge of the area, but he used his strength to keep hold of the ball and work into a shooting position. Inside the area twelve yards out he unleashed a left footed drive to open his account for the season.

Cardiff continued to exert most of the pressure and a fine save from Jay Bothroyd's header on forty minutes was the next chance created thanks to a much improved Cherries defence from earlier in the match. 

Seconds before half time Roger Johnson forced Jalal into an even better save. Rising unchallenged from a corner Johnson powereda header that Jalal reached low to parry away before Bothroyd sliced the rebound wide.

Half time: AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Cardiff City

Bournemouth came out in the second half determined to make Cardiff pay for letting the Cherries back into the game. The goal had given the squad back their confidence and they played with the belief of scoring an equaliser.

Although Cardiff were doing most of the defending Heaton remained relatively untroubled although that didn't deter the forward pressure and some fine passing moved to bring the ball into the final third.

Cardiff were always looking to exploit the gaps as Cherries pushed forward and a quick thought rush from his area by Jalal denied Parry a one-on-one opportunity for his hat-trick.

Ricky Sappleton was given a debut on seventy minutes and in chasing down a couple of loose balls immediately lifted the crowd as he aimed to change his twenty minute stint into a fifty minute one.

Parry was again denied a hat-trick by Jalal on seventy-eight minutes. Substitute McCormack slid the ball through and Jalal narrowed the angle well to make a block save from Parry's low effort.

McQuoid and Pettefer came on as late substitutes for Bournemouth in a bid to freshen things up for the closing stages. Cardiff had started to defend their lead a little more rather than pushing forward and becoming more difficult to break down in the process.

The visiting side  sured up at the back to secure victory with Shappleton's narrow angled drive the most work Heaton had to contend with  in the final ten minutes. There was also time remaining for Jalal to make yet another save denying Comminges in injury time.

Final Score: AFC Bournemouth 1-2 Cardiff City