Cardiff | A seven-goal thriller in the Welsh capital

Cardiff City 4 - 3 Leyton Orient

Cardiff City edged past Leyton Orient in a breathless seven-goal contest, responding to back-to-back home defeats with a performance full of resilience and attacking flair.

Author | Jeremy Watson

Stadium | Cardiff City Stadium

Callum Robinson opened the scoring against the run of play, racing onto Chris Willock’s incisive pass to slot home. But Richie Wellens’ enterprising side soon hit back, Aaron Connolly capitalising on a calamitous Gabriel Osho back-pass to level.

Dylan Lawlor restored Cardiff’s lead with a superb solo effort, striding from halfway before firing home from distance for his first senior goal. Yet parity was swiftly restored when Idris El Mizouni’s deflected strike wrong-footed the goalkeeper.

Dom Ballard then curled a delightful effort into the top corner to give Orient the lead for the first time, and on the balance of play, it was a lead they merited.

View from the stands

But Cardiff refused to buckle. Yousef Salech nodded in Rubin Colwill’s cross to make it 3-3 before a rapid counterattack ended with Robinson sweeping home his second of the match, sparking jubilation at Cardiff City Stadium.

There was still time for more late drama, as Osho’s difficult afternoon continued when his mistake presented Connolly with another chance, only for Nathan Trott to pull off a fine save.

The result lifts Cardiff to third in League One, two points adrift of leaders Stevenage, while Orient remain in 17th place.

"Never a dull moment..."

Those were the words of one fan who also said he was “emotionally and physically drained” after this epic encounter.

Alan, another Cardiff fan, added: “Pieces of brilliance and pieces of sheer incompetence. But a great game to win in the conditions. Willock was like a man possessed second half, Trott with some superb one-on-one saves, and Lawlor was like a mountain at the back and even got a goal. Overall, I thoroughly enjoyed that game, full of excitement and feeling of sheer anger at times too.”

Terry got a perfect view of the winning goal and told us: “Those are the types of matches that bring everyone together. We might look back at the match as a pivotal moment if we get promoted at the end of the season.”