Cardiff City 2-1 Crystal Palace

NEIL Warnock was left fuming after a controversial penalty helped Cardiff on their way to a 2-1 win over Crystal Palace.

The Palace boss was keen to avoid a fine, so took to quoting former Manchester United assistant manager Carlos Quieroz's criticism of a referee from last season to show his frustration.

The Bluebirds took the lead on 33 minutes after the referee pointed to the spot following Jose Fonte's challenge on Michael Chopra.

Replays suggested Chopra went to the ground after losing control of the ball.

Chopra, on his return to Ninian Park after a loan switch from Premiership Sunderland, picked himself up and put his penalty past Darryl Flahavan in the Palace goal.

Flahavan, making his league debut in place of Julian Speroni, had had little to do up until that point, although he had looked nervous dealing with back passes.

But Palace's stand-in keeper played a key part in their equaliser four minutes later, as his long clearance sent Paul Ifill through on goal.

Cardiff keeper Ton Heaton came out to try to stop Ifill, only for it to fall to Sean Scannell, who slotted home into the unguarded net.

Scannell, who was Palace's best player by far, made a difficult finish look relatively easy.

After the break, Cardiff's Joe Ledly went down after a challenge with Matt Lawrence and injured his hand.

The Cardiff physio signalled to the bench that Ledley would have to be substituted, but the Welsh international came back onto the pitch a few minutes later.

Within seconds, he put the home team back in front with a thumping shot which Flahavan could do little about.

Palace pressed forward but struggled to create many clear-cut chances.

Scannell came closest to equalising, but fired straight at Heaton.

There was more drama during injury time, as a Cardiff break saw Eddie Johnson fouled in the area by Lawrence, who was given a straight red card.

Chopra stepped up to take the penalty, but saw his shot blocked by Flahavan before the final whistle blew.

Crystal Palace: Flahavan; Lawrence, Fonte, McCarthy, Hill; Watson, Derry, Oster (Moses 71); Ifill, Beattie (Kuqi 62), Scannell. Subs not used: Carle, Ertl, Wiggins. Att: 17,478