Wigan Athletic 3-2 Cardiff City: Josh Windass inspires Wigan comeback against Cardiff

Cardiff City’s first game back in the Championship after Premier League relegation ended in defeat as Wigan Athletic came from behind at the DW Stadium.

Joe Ralls, who could well have seen a straight red for his early tackle, gave the Bluebirds the lead after 20 minutes, finishing through a crowd of bodies.

Wigan’s Josh Windass missed a penalty early in the second half but the former Rangers midfielder set up Michael Jacobs to equalise before scoring himself minutes later to give the hosts the lead.

Former Latics striker Omar Bogle came off the bench for Neil Warnock’s side to level for the visitors but Wales international Lee Evans’ strike handed Wigan an opening-day win.

Chasing a record ninth promotion, Warnock would have been pleased with his side’s defensive efforts in the first half, but it was all change after the break.

Windass, who caused Cardiff captain Sean Morrison problems all afternoon, drew a foul from the centre-back soon after the restart but his spot-kick hit the post.

Minutes later the Bluebirds were forced into a change when goalkeeper Neil Etheridge went down holding his hamstring, handing summer signing Joe Day a league debut.

But it was not the bow Day would have been hoping for, the former Newport shot-stopper twice had to pick the ball out of his own net within 10 minutes as Windass made amends for his penalty miss.

Bogle replaced Madine up top for Cardiff, who were missing £5.5m summer signing striker Robert Glatzel through suspension, and made an immediate impact against the team he spent last season on loan with.

However, the Latics did not drop their heads against one of the pre-season favourites for promotion, and Newport-born Lee Evans curled home a winner from 25 yards with 15 minutes remaining.

Wigan boss Paul Cook continues his impressive opening-day record, this victory his seventh in eight games. The only other ended in a draw.

For Warnock it is a first opening-day defeat outside the Premier League since 2002 and for Cardiff a first in 10 seasons in the second tier.

Wigan manager Paul Cook:

“If you’d asked me at 10 past three last Saturday – when we’d just gone 2-0 down at home against Burnley in our last pre-season friendly, and we couldn’t even lift a leg – that we’d win an enthralling game like this first up, I’d have taken it.

“It was two teams who were genuinely trying to win a game of football. The game had everything and sometimes as a manager, you count yourselves fortunate when you come out the right side of a game like that.

“There were so many incidents, so many talking points, and to take all three points against such a very strong team is massive for us. Whenever you go a goal down, you’d be happy to take a point. To take all three points, you’re absolutely delighted.”

Cardiff boss Neil Warnock:

“It was nothing I wasn’t expecting, we know exactly how tough this league is. You have to take your chances and I thought we had chances to kill the game. We didn’t take them and poor defending at the other end has cost us dearly.

“They scored some cracking goals, but they were poor defending from our point of view. They were preventable goals, and that’s something we have to learn from.

“I’m so disappointed because I thought it was a game we could have got three points from, never mind one.”