John Smith's PNE Fans' Panel verdict: The first goal was always going to decide outcome

Having seen some pretty dire games in our eight-match winless sequence against The Bluebirds I was not expecting a great deal from this one, so to be sent home from Deepdale in a rather chirpy mood after second successive Saturday home win was a welcome bonus.

We went into the interval goalless, having created very little attacking wise with our best chance falling to a centre-half Bambo Diaby in first-half injury time.

The length of stoppage time at the end of the half was due to an injury to keeper Freddie Woodman in the opening minutes. He might be named Woodman but for me "Ironman " would seem more appropriate after watching him get up from the floor and then make a string of fine saves in another man-of-the-match performance.

This week Ryan Lowe said he thought that we had dealt with going through a rough patch really well.

My own take on our unbeaten run is that we were fortunate to get a point against Luton who were miles better than us but failed to take their chances and then looked pretty punchless in the goalless draw at Hull.

We then only just scraped a win against bottom of the table Wigan but the higher quality of performances in the stalemates against Coventry and at Watford were far more encouraging.

However I thought this game was a difficult one in which to judge whether we have actually improved or just got a break at the right time.

I always thought that the outcome of the match would hinge on which team scored the first goal and I would have to use the words of "I thank you, I thank you and once again I thank you" which Bobby Ball used to say to his partner Tommy Cannon to describe my feelings towards his footballing namesake, when he blasted us into the lead with a blistering strike midway through the second half.

The Everton loanee’s second goal in our colours were the cue for our delighted fans to burst into a chucklesome chant which implied that Cardiff were a very poor side because we were now winning at home.

Not surprisingly The "Men of Harlech" had not been in fine voice during their visit from the Principality and many of them were on the march out of the stadium when their goalkeeper was sent off in injury time for a clumsy challenge.

They would have only just about made it to the exit door when they heard cheers go up as Ched Evans doubled our lead by following in a rebound from the resulting free-kick.