A Joe Ralls hat-trick sealed a 4-2 victory for Cardiff in an incident-packed encounter with Birmingham.
The visitors dominated before Kristian Pederson’s early opener but the hosts completed a first-half fightback thanks to Curtis Nelson’s first Cardiff goal and Ralls’ dubious penalty.
Danny Ward’s dismissal opened the door for Birmingham after the Cardiff striker was sent off for a dangerous challenge on Kerim Mrabti, but Ralls completed his brace to take the hosts two goals clear.
Ivan Sunjic’s long-range strike gave Pep Clotet’s Blues a glimmer of hope, but Ralls secured the three points when he completed his treble from the spot deep into stoppage time.
Cardiff’s set-piece vulnerabilities were laid bare in their South Wales derby defeat to Swansea at the Liberty Stadium, and they were once again on show for all to see after only two minutes.
Fran Villalba’s searching free-kick was met by Lukas Jutkiewicz, who powered a header across goal for the Birmingham players queuing at the back post.
As a Ralls corner curled into the area, the referee adjudged Blues captain Harlee Dean to have tugged on Aden Flint’s shirt and pointed to the spot.
Aden Flint powered Marlon Pack’s corner straight at Camp, who could only palm the ball back into the danger zone. Nelson failed to provide the finishing touch twice in the six-yard box melee but eventually made a solid contact to steer the ball into the net to crown his first league start with a goal.
The momentum swung back the way of Clotet’s side seven minutes after half-time when Ward was shown a straight red card for a crunching studs up challenge on Mrabti.
