Brave Andy Booth threw himself into a cluster of flailing arms and legs to earn crisis club Huddersfield Town their first win in seven games.
Booth dived in to direct a pinpoint header in off the far post from Kenny Irons' left wing cross ten minutes from time and injured himself in the process.
The former Tottenham striker required several minutes of treatment and was eventually substituted, but the burly frontman's bravery was a symptomatic off a gusty Town performance full of the kind of passion, commitment and guile that has been so sadly lacking for most of the Terriers troubled season.
The home side out fought Cardiff throughout the entire match and it was only wayward shooting that prevented the Welshmen from losing by a bigger margin.
Town's lack of firepower has been one of the major talking points of their relegation haunted campaign. The Terriers have the worst scoring record in the entire football league - just 20 goals and they have lost nine of their 28 league games by a single goal.
Under fire boss Mick Wadsworth's hands are tied because while he would like to bring in a striker on loan the club's finances do not allow him any movement in the transfer market.
But the players rose above the off-field problems to win only their second league match in 13 attempts and give themselves hope of beating the drop.
The Bluebirds nearly fell behind after 11 minutes when a defensive mistake by Scott Young gifted the ball to Martin Smith down the right. Smith played Adrian Moses in behind the City defence and keeper Neil Alexander had to react swiftly to claw the defenders near post effort away for a corner.
And after the break striker Jon Stead latched on to a fine through ball from Irons, jinked past two defenders but only managed to find the corner flag with a woeful 20-yard effort.