CRYSTAL Palace suffered a 3-1 penalty defeat in the second leg of their Carling Cup semi-final at Cardiff City.

Anthony Gardner’s early own goal put the Bluebirds back on terms in the tie after Palace’s 1-0 win in the first leg.

Skipper Paddy McCarthy left the visitors really up against it when he was sent off 12 minutes from the end of normal time after picking up a yellow card.

But despite surviving the onslaught and extra-time, with Cardiff hitting the woodwork three times, it was the dreaded penalty shootout which finally did for the Eagles.

Only Mile Jedinak managed to hit the back of the net from 12 yards and Jonathan Parr’s miss was the final nail in the coffin as Palace crashed out 3-1.

Dougie Freedman made nine changes for Saturday’s 2-1 defeat at Blackpool with this game very much in mind, so it came as no surprise to see him name his strongest line-up for this game.

Craig Conway went to ground far too easily and his fifth minute penalty claims were quite rightly ignored by referee Howard Webb, while seconds later Darren Ambrose saw his shot from just outside of the area go over the bar in Palace’s first attack.

But the Eagles surrendered their narrow first leg advantage in disastrous fashion on seven minutes when Gardner, who scored the only goal at Selhurst Park, headed Don Cowie’s cross into his own net at the near post.

Julian Speroni made a fine save to keep out Peter Whittingham’s 20 yard effort as the hosts continued to apply all of the early pressure.

Kenny Miller placed a header straight at Speroni and Whittingham’s free-kick went straight at the Palace wall.

Replays suggested Palace had a decent penalty shout after Ambrose’s free-kick into the danger zone saw Aron Gunnarsson tug the shirt of Chris Martin.

Another Ambrose free-kick almost led to a second Cardiff goal when the set piece was punched clear by keeper Tom Heaton to set up a quick break for the hosts.

Gunnarsson’s low pass put Miller through on goal and the Scottish striker was unfortunate to drag his low shot past Speroni and the post five minutes before the break.

Wilfried Zaha appeared to have been the victim of a blatant foul just outside of the box but despite the winger requiring treatment, no offence was spotted by Webb.

But it was Cardiff who should have pulled further clear in stoppage time when Miller’s volley beat Speroni but cannoned back off the post.

Nathaniel Clyne did well to get in an early second half cross after a fine run down the right to pick out Martin, whose shot was deflected behind for a corner, from which McCarthy headed harmlessly over despite being unmarked.

Whittingham’s long range low drive wasn’t a million miles away from the target and Martin fired over at the other end after doing well to create space and line up the shot.

McCarthy picked up a yellow card after bringing Miller down, with Whittingham’s 25 yard free-kick tipped over the bar by Speroni seconds later.

Anthony Gerrard hot on the end of Whittingham’s free-kick but his header was cleared off the line by McCarthy on the hour.

Whittingham again tried his luck from outside of the box midway through the half with another effort that went wide.

Sean Scannell was introduced for Martin with quarter of an hour remaining and almost set up a goal when he picked out Zaha, who shot over from inside of the box.

But Palace suffered a major setback on 78 minutes as McCarthy went in late on Miller, prompting Webb to dish out the captain’s second yellow card of the evening to leave the visitors with 10-men.

Freedman’s response was to immediately take off Ambrose and bring on Paul McShane to tighten things up at the back as Palace desperately tried to keep the Wembley dream alive.

The third and final substitution saw Jermaine Easter enter the fray for Martin.

Zaha made a crucial block to put behind Cowie’s 89th minute shot for a corner as Palace edged ever closer to an unlikely period of extra-time if they could survive the four added minutes at the end of the regulation 90.

They did and fair play to them because they spent most of the game under pressure and were left really up against it by McCarthy’s dismissal.

Cowie blasted a shot over from 10 yards within five minutes of the restart after some desperate defending from the Eagles as they tried to clear their lines.

Substitute Filip Kiss failed to place his header on target after the ball was deflected his way by Gardner as he attempted to clear Miller’s cross.

Speroni dealt well with Rudy Gestede’s shot as Cardiff continued to turn up the heat but there was nothing separating the two sides goals wise as they swapped ends for the second period of extra-time.

Cardiff were denied again by the woodwork in the 120th minute when Kiss hit the bar with a rasping shot from 10 yards.

Gestede headed straight at Speroni as the clock continued to tick down towards a penalty shootout, probably Palace’s best chance of booking a final spot.

There was still time for Cardiff to avoid that scenario and they would have done so had Gardner not applied a crucial touch to deflect behind Whittingham’s goal-bound shot.

In the final minute Gunnarsson headed against the bar from Conway’s corner as the Bluebirds were denied by the woodwork for the third time.

That was the final chance and Palace’s dogged defensive display was rewarded with an unlikely shootout.

Cardiff were first up and the responsibility fell on Miller, who fired wildly over to give the Eageles an early advantage.

It was short lived as Easter’s low kick was easily saved by Heaton.

Conway placed his effort straight down the middle to put th hosts in front before Heaton again came to the fore to deny Scannell.

Gestede sent Speroni the wrong way but Jedinak kept his cool to pull it back to 2-1.

Whittingham confidently made it 3-1 and it was left to Parr to keep Palace in the tie but he missed and the Eagles’ amazing cup run was finally over with Wembley within touching distance.

Follow us on Twitter @NewsShopperSprt

Crystal Palace: Speroni, Clyne, Parr, McCarthy, Gardner, Ambrose (McShane 79), Dikgacoi, Jedinak, Zaha, Murray (Easter 83), Martin (Scannell 75). Subs not used: Price, Wright, Garvan, Andrew. Att: 25,562.