Cardiff City have edged to within a point of second-placed Aston Villa in the Championship table with a 2-0 win over Bolton Wanderers on Tuesday night.
Both sides created early chances at the Cardiff City Stadium as Marko Grujic curled wide for the hosts and Derik Osede spurned an opening for the visitors.
The Bluebirds suffered an early setback as Jamie Ward had to be replaced by Yanic Wildschut on 13 minutes due to an injury and nearly fell behind to a Mark Beevers header on the half-hour mark.
However, Neil Warnock's charges weathered the storm and took the lead on 35 minutes as Armand Traore bagged his first Cardiff goal, and his first strike since 2014, with a looping effort into the far corner.
The hosts went close not long after through Sean Morrison's header, which was tipped wide by Ben Alnwick, and on the stroke of half time the 27-year-old succeeded in getting on the scoresheet.
A dangerous delivery from Joe Ralls was met by Morrison and headed home on the rebound to put Cardiff two goals ahead, a lead which they would not relinquish.
The second half saw Bruno Manga rattle the crossbar shortly after the restart, while Ralls, Grujic and Junior Hoilett weighed in with further efforts in what was ultimately a routine victory for the Bluebirds.
CARDIFF CITY (4-3-3): Etheridge; Peltier, Morrison, Manga, Traore; Grujic, Ralls, Paterson; Hoilett (Bamba 87'), Ward (Wildschut 13'), Zohore (Pilkington 84')
BOLTON WANDERERS (3-5-2): Alnwick; Dervite, Burke (Wheater 45'), Beevers; Morais, Henry, Derik (Clough 69'), Vela, Robinson; Ameobi (Walker 87'), Le Fondre
Giuseppe Labellarte
