Cardiff City 1 - 0 Leyton Orient
Carling Cup Round Two
AN INJURY TIME goal from Peter Whittingham shattered Orient's Carling Cup dreams at Cardiff City on Tuesday night.
Orient, who were reduced to ten men by Sean Thornton's red card midway through the second half, defended stubbornly and looked set to take the game to extra time.
But the Bluebirds controlled the contest from start to finish and their late, late winner was just reward for their dominant display.
Martin Ling decided to give Adam Boyd, Adam Chambers and Wayne Corden a rest, giving Jason Demetriou, Efe Echanomi and Charlie Daniels the chance to step up from the bench.
Cardiff meanwhile, gave debuts to Robbie Fowler and Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink and it was the Welsh club who began on the front foot.
Former Liverpool man Fowler had a decent chance to give the hosts a 13th minute lead, but he shot straight at Stuart Nelson after being fed in by Peter Whittingham.
Two minutes later he clipped the top of the Orient crossbar after receiving a pass from Hasselbaink, who had dropped his shoulder expertly to rid himself of the attentions of his marker.
The Bluebirds continued to press in the early stages and most of the Ninian Park crowd thought their side had taken a 20th minute lead when Hasselbaink found himself in the clear before slipping the ball past Nelson. Aiden Palmer covered around, though, to clear off the line.
With 25 minutes on the clock, Hasselbaink was through on goal again after running onto a Fowler pass, but Nelson sprinted off his line to deny the former Chelsea hitman.
It wasn't until the half-hour mark that Orient had a serious attempt on goal, with Sean Thornton's free-kick flying over the crossbar following a foul by Roger Johnson on Echanomi.
Hasselbaink broke the O's defence again on 39 after Whittingham had threaded a fine ball through. The Dutchman took the shot on early, and Nelson got down well to save.
Cardiff deserved a first half lead, and they so nearly got it on the stroke of the interval when Fowler attempted a cross from the left that sailed towards goal and hit the top of the crossbar before bouncing over.
Orient's inability to keep hold of the ball was costing them dear and they went in at the break knowing that an improvement was necessary.
And within seconds of the second period starting, Wayne Gray rose well in the middle to meet JJ Melligan's cross with a header that dropped wide of the far post.
But the home side upped the pace once again and were soon piling on the pressure.
Nelson came to Orient's rescue again on 55 minutes when Hasselbaink moved to the near post to meet Whittingham's low cross with a shot that looked goalbound until the stopper's intervention.
The opener should really have arrived four minutes later when Thornton was caught in possession, allowing the home side to work the dangerous Paul Parry in down the left. He picked Hasselbaink out with a measured cross, but the striker could only hook over the bar.
The O's really were on the ropes, and the outstanding Nelson made yet another excellent save to deny Parry when he looked set to score in the 63rd minute.
Orient's task was made all the more difficult 22 minutes from time when Thornton was sent off for his second handball offence of the evening.
Ling reshuffled by bringing Chambers on for Melligan and operating with a 4-3-2 formation.
Adam Boyd was also introduced to the fray in the second half, and he was presented with a good chance to give the visitors a shock lead ten minutes from time when, after spreading the play to Jason Demetriou, he strode forward to collect the return ball and fire in a shot that was deflected over the bar.
Play quickly swung to the other end and Whittingham added his name to the list of players denied by Nelson when his stinger from the edge of the box was touched over.
Nelson appeared to be in unbeatable form and he threw himself to the right to tip Hasselbaink's 90th minute header around the post.
But from the resulting corner, the ball was worked to Whittingham outside the box to crack a stunning low shot into the bottom corner and break O's hearts.
Cardiff: Turnbull; Gunter, Purse (Blake 45 + 1), Johnson, Capaldi; Parry, Rae, McPhail, Whittingham; Fowler (MacLean 90 + 4), Hasselbaink
Subs: Oakes (GK), Ledley, Ramsey
Booked: McPhail
Goal: Whittingham (90+1)
Orient: Nelson; Terry, Thelwell, Mkandawire, Palmer; Melligan (Chambers 70), Thornton, Demetriou, Daniels; Gray, Echanomi (Boyd 61)
Subs: Corden, Morris (GK), Oji
Booked: Thornton
Sent off: Thornton
Referee: Mike Russell (Herts)
Attendance: 6,150 (approx 100 away)
