Cardiff 2 Leeds United 1

LEEDS’ 12-game unbeaten run came to an end at the hands of the last team to beat them as Cardiff eased the pressure on manager Dave Jones.

The fortunes of the two sides had differed since the Bluebirds left Elland Road with a 4-0 win on October 25, with Leeds avoiding defeat and Cardiff winning just three of their 11 games as Simon Grayson’s men nosed ahead of them in the Championship table.

But Craig Bellamy, so often a scourge of Leeds in his Newcastle days, opened the scoring for Dave Jones’ outfit in the 10th minute and, after Robert Snodgrass had curled home a wonderful 59thminute equaliser, Michael Chopra’s opportunist strike won it for Cardiff with 11 minutes remaining.

Chopra ran on to an innocuous- looking long ball from Peter Whittingham and, for the second time in the game, the visiting defence dozed off, allowing the striker to prod home a winner.

The home side struck first, with Bellamy taking advantage of some slack Leeds defending to net his fifth goal of the season.

The visiting defence failed to pick up Bellamy as he collected a short corner from Chopra and, after exchanging passes with Whittingham, he tucked home under Kasper Schmeichel.

Former Cardiff striker Ross McCormack drove a free-kick against Bellamy in the wall as Leeds looked for a way back in to the game, while at the other end Schmeichel did well to keep out efforts from Chris Burke and Bellamy.

A Bellamy free-kick from the corner of the box was well blocked by Snodgrass and Leeds somehow survived Cardiff ’s onslaught and a Billy Paynter header from a corner could have seen them go in level at the interval.

With Grayson losing patience with the misfiring Mc- Cormack and Max Gradel, he replaced them with Lloyd Sam and Sanchez Watt.

The change reaped instant dividends.

Watt rolled a pass to Sam who skipped inside two challenges and slammed a shot against Tom Heaton but, from the loose ball, Snodgrass picked up possession and curled in an unstoppable effort for his fourth goal of the season.

That soon changed, though, as Whittingham lumped a long ball forward which Chopra ran on to before prodding beyond Schmeichel who had rushed off his line to narrow the angle.