Cardiff 4 Huddersfield 0

Last updated : 29 December 2002 By Footymad Previewer

The Bluebirds demolished bottom club Huddersfield with Jason Bowen and Robert Earnshaw both netting doubles against the ten-man Terriers.

Bowen started it off in the 19th minute and scored again after 64 minutes, while Earnshaw made it 23 for the season in the 43rd and 73rd minutes.

HuddersfieldÂ’s Danny Schofield was dismissed in the second minute of first-half injury time when the Bluebirds were already 2-0 up.

The visitors had only scored five goals away from home this season but in the opening minutes they did most of the attacking and Martin Smith and Lee Ashcroft had goal attempts saved by Neil Alexander.

It was not until midway through the half that City began to get on top and when Fan Zhiyi slipped a pass to Bowen he raced through the Huddersfield defence before planting a shot in to the corner of the net.

Just before the interval City doubled their lead with a route one goal. An Alexander free-kick went straight up the middle and Earnshaw only needed a slight flick to send it spinning into the net.

In the second minute of injury time Schofield was dismissed after a challenge from behind on Bowen.

It took the Blues 20 minutes of the second half to open up the Huddersfield defence when Bowen was on hand to back-heel into the net.

Then Earnshaw made it 4-0 when he ran on to a Willie Boland through ball to beat the advancing Scott Bevan with ease.

Huddersfield had a late opportunity to reduce the deficit but makeshift striker Nat Brown sidefooted wide when well placed.

City boss Lennie Lawrence was very pleased that his side had bounced back after the defeat at Luton: "The most important thing to me was keeping a clean sheet. Against ten men it was easier but we were already 2-0 up by then.

"It would have been nice to score more, but I will certainly settle for that as it was a test for us after the Boxing Day defeat, but we came through it.

"But to only be in third place with 49 points is unbelievable although we have shown our rivals that we are not beaten yet."