Cardiff City 1-1 Nottingham Forest

Aron Gunnarsson scored his second goal of the season to bring Cardiff City level

Cardiff City fell further adrift of the Championship play-off places as they drew with Nottingham Forest.

Oliver Burke's sweet finish gave Forest an early lead before Cardiff responded with Aron Gunnarsson's deflected strike.

The Bluebirds dominated for long spells but were frustrated by a Forest side now unbeaten in seven games.

Tenth-placed Cardiff are now six points behind the play-off spots with Forest up to 14th.

• Tuesday's Championship action as it happened

Wayward finishing was the cause of Cardiff's demise as they had lost both their previous matches, and they were similarly unable to make their dominance pay against Forest.

Dougie Freedman's side had to withstand heavy pressure and, although they seemed content with a point, it was the visitors who took the lead.

A quick counter-attack culminated in a pass from Dexter Blackstock to Burke, who used the outside of his right foot to deftly guide a swerving shot into the net for his first Forest goal.

Oliver Burke, 18, celebrates after scoring his first Nottingham Forest goal to give the visitors the lead

Cardiff's response was swift as, three minutes later, Gunnarsson's 20-yard shot took a sharp deflection to leave Forest keeper Dorus de Vries stranded.

The former Swansea stopper had a busy first half, holding on to a Joe Ralls shot before reacting superbly to deny Tony Watt with a one-handed save low to his left.

Despite Cardiff's dominance, the score remained 1-1 at the interval, and Russell Slade's side continued to press in the second half with Gunnarsson heading wide.

The hosts' attacking threat faded as the game wore on, however, and it was Forest who had the final chance as another former Swansea player, substitute Nelson Oliveira, blazed a close-range rebound over the bar.

Cardiff boss Russell Slade: "They parked the bus in the second half, sat very, very deep and made it difficult for us.

"They lived on the counter-attack and we could not unlock the door which is very frustrating, even though we did a lot of very good things in the game.

"They tried to kill the game and see it out from an early stage, but we should have been adding to our tally with the three good first-half chances we had.

"We will just keep working at it, and we played well against a good Forest side who, had they been any deeper, they would have needed snorkels."

Nottingham Forest manager Dougie Freedman: "I think we should have won it at the end, we had the two best chances of the game during that last 15 minutes.

"We tried to slow everything down and quiet their fans down and we felt that was the best way to do it.

"We made a lot of changes and we didn't complain about the number of fixtures. The younger guys we had come in gave us some freshness and allowed us to keep some guys on the bench and bring them on to try and win the game.

"With our transfer embargo I am going to need to be able to call on these players to get us through to the end of the season."

• Line-ups
• Match Stats
• Live Text

Line-ups

Cardiff

• 1Marshall
• 2Peltier
• 5Ecuele Manga
• 16Connolly
• 3da SilvaBooked at 87mins
• 11NooneSubstituted forMachedaat 82'minutes
• 17GunnarssonSubstituted forWhittinghamat 70'minutes
• 8Ralls
• 13Pilkington
• 33Watt
• 9JonesSubstituted forAmeobiat 65'minutes

Substitutes

• 7Whittingham
• 10Mason
• 14Macheda
• 21Moore
• 22O'Keefe
• 28Malone
• 38Ameobi

Nottm Forest

• 1de Vries
• 2Lichaj
• 5Mills
• 25Hobbs
• 4Mancienne
• 32Tesche
• 18Trotter
• 35BurkeSubstituted forLansburyat 85'minutes
• 20WilliamsSubstituted forOsbornat 71'minutes
• 19WardBooked at 77mins
• 23BlackstockSubstituted forOliveiraat 80'minutes

Substitutes

• 10Lansbury
• 15Mendes da Graça
• 17Oliveira
• 26Evtimov
• 27Burke
• 29O'Grady
• 38Osborn

Referee:

Tim Robinson

Attendance:

15,461

Match Stats

Home TeamCardiffAway TeamNottm Forest

Possession

Home62%

Away38%

Shots

Home16

Away6

Shots on Target

Home5

Away2

Corners

Home4

Away1

Fouls

Home10

Away7

Live Text

Posted at

Match ends, Cardiff City 1, Nottingham Forest 1.

Full Time

Posted at 90'+6'

Second Half ends, Cardiff City 1, Nottingham Forest 1.

Posted at 90'+6'

Attempt missed. Nélson Oliveira (Nottingham Forest) right footed shot from the centre of the box is too high following a set piece situation.

Posted at 90'+6'

Attempt saved. Henri Lansbury (Nottingham Forest) left footed shot from outside the box is saved in the centre of the goal. Assisted by Nélson Oliveira.

Posted at 90'+5'

Foul by Matthew Connolly (Cardiff City).

Posted at 90'+5'

Nélson Oliveira (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 90'+3'

Delay over. They are ready to continue.

Posted at 90'+3'

Delay in match Eric Lichaj (Nottingham Forest) because of an injury.

Posted at 90'

Attempt missed. Sammy Ameobi (Cardiff City) header from the right side of the box is too high. Assisted by Joe Ralls.

Booking

Posted at 87'

Fabio (Cardiff City) is shown the yellow card for a bad foul.

Posted at 87'

Foul by Fabio (Cardiff City).

Posted at 87'

Henri Lansbury (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick on the right wing.

Substitution

Posted at 85'

Substitution, Nottingham Forest. Henri Lansbury replaces Oliver Burke.

Substitution

Posted at 82'

Substitution, Cardiff City. Federico Macheda replaces Craig Noone.

Substitution

Posted at 80'

Substitution, Nottingham Forest. Nélson Oliveira replaces Dexter Blackstock.

Booking

Posted at 77'

Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest) is shown the yellow card.

Posted at 76'

Foul by Craig Noone (Cardiff City).

Posted at 76'

Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 74'

Foul by Sammy Ameobi (Cardiff City).

Posted at 74'

Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 72'

Foul by Peter Whittingham (Cardiff City).

Posted at 72'

Ben Osborn (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick in the attacking half.

Substitution

Posted at 71'

Substitution, Nottingham Forest. Ben Osborn replaces Jonathan Williams.

Substitution

Posted at 70'

Substitution, Cardiff City. Peter Whittingham replaces Aron Gunnarsson because of an injury.

Posted at 70'

Delay over. They are ready to continue.

Posted at 69'

Delay in match Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff City) because of an injury.

Posted at 68'

Sammy Ameobi (Cardiff City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 68'

Foul by Jamie Ward (Nottingham Forest).

Posted at 67'

Foul by Sammy Ameobi (Cardiff City).

Posted at 67'

Jonathan Williams (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Substitution

Posted at 65'

Substitution, Cardiff City. Sammy Ameobi replaces Kenwyne Jones.

Posted at 62'

Foul by Matthew Connolly (Cardiff City).

Posted at 62'

Jonathan Williams (Nottingham Forest) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 62'

Attempt blocked. Lee Peltier (Cardiff City) right footed shot from the centre of the box is blocked. Assisted by Tony Watt.

Posted at 62'

Attempt blocked. Matthew Connolly (Cardiff City) header from the left side of the box is blocked. Assisted by Anthony Pilkington with a cross.

Posted at 61'

Corner, Cardiff City. Conceded by Jack Hobbs.

Posted at 56'

Fabio (Cardiff City) wins a free kick in the defensive half.

Posted at 56'

Foul by Oliver Burke (Nottingham Forest).

Posted at 53'

Attempt missed. Aron Gunnarsson (Cardiff City) header from the right side of the six yard box misses to the left. Assisted by Craig Noone with a cross following a set piece situation.

Posted at 52'

Attempt blocked. Joe Ralls (Cardiff City) left footed shot from outside the box is blocked.

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