Gary Madine comes back to haunt Cardiff City as Blackpool somehow avoid damaging defeat to relegation rivals

Pressure looked to be mounting on Michael Appleton when the Seasiders dished up a woeful first-half display, where they were fortunate to only go in a goal down.

But the visitors improved in the second-half in South Wales and levelled when Madine headed home from Ian Poveda’s cross.

While the result means Blackpool are now without a win in six games, drawing their last two, they will be thankful for the point given how desperately poor they were in the first half.

Appleton’s men were grateful to the Bluebirds for their poor finishing, only managing to score once from their 21 attempts on goal.

Pool could have leapfrogged Cardiff with a win but they instead move up to 22nd, two points off safety – meaning they will spend Christmas inside the bottom three.

The Seasiders were dealt yet another injury blow ahead of kick-off with Chris Maxwell missing out with a groin injury.

It meant Appleton was forced into making one change from the goalless draw against Birmingham City as he brought Dan Grimshaw back into the fold.

The 24-year-old, who had started the season as Blackpool’s number one, made his first start since the defeat at Millwall in September.

Marvin Ekpiteta, meanwhile, missed the second and final game of his two-match suspension after being sent off in the 2-1 defeat to Wigan Athletic prior to the World Cup break.

Elsewhere, Jordan Thorniley, Jordan Gabriel, Liam Bridcutt, Kevin Stewart, Lewis Fiorini, Keshi Anderson and Theo Corbeanu are all sidelined by injury.

Cardiff started the game on the front foot, testing Grimshaw as early as the third minute through former Pool loanee Ryan Wintle who shot straight at his former teammate from 25 yards out.

The Seasiders were given a big let-off just five minutes later when Grimshaw got down well to save from ex-PNE man Callum Robinson, who had been left unmarked inside the box from a right-wing pullback.

Blackpool soon hit back with a first chance of their own as Shayne Lavery saw a shot blocked before Jerry Yates looped an overhead kick just over the bar.

Cardiff thought they were about to be awarded a penalty when Robinson nipped the ball past Grimshaw in the box before going to ground.

But rather than point to the spot, referee Josh Smith awarded Blackpool a free-kick for diving and booked the Cardiff forward. Replays appeared to show the visitors were highly fortunate to get the decision go in their favour.

Nevertheless, the home side continued to look the more likely to open the scoring with Gavin Whyte dragging a shot wide of Grimshaw’s near post - the linesman’s flag remaining down despite there being a whiff of offside in the build-up.

Kion Etete had Cardiff’s next chance, heading over from eight yards out after getting ahead of Callum Connolly at the back post.

On too many occasions the hosts were simply allowed to waltz from back to front with ease with very little pressure put on them.

One example of this occurred on the half-hour mark when Cardiff broke from their own box before teeing up Wintle, who somehow managed to miss the target when he really ought to have scored.

The lack of pressure in the centre of the park led to Cardiff finally taking one of their chances 10 minutes before the interval as they deservedly took the lead.

Etete got the wrong side of James Husband to reach a ball over the top before doing the rest with ease, simply lobbing the ball over Grimshaw who was left in no man’s land.

Etete almost grabbed a second four minutes later when, surprise, surprise, another cross was allowed to be delivered into the Blackpool box where the Cardiff forward headed straight at Grimshaw.

Grimshaw was forced into another stop in first-half stoppage-time after Wyhte was found in far too much space once again, but thankfully the keeper stood tall to make the save.

Given how desperately poor Blackpool were in the first-half, it was no surprise to see Appleton take action at the interval.

Ian Poveda was introduced in place of Kenny Dougall, which saw Pool move to a 4-4-2 with Poveda out right and Shayne Lavery out left.

There were ironic cheers three minutes into the second period as Rhys Williams produced Blackpool’s first attempt on target, sending a fairly weak header straight at Ryan Allsop from Sonny Carey’s free kick.

Cardiff’s fans were baying for Gary Madine to be sent off a few moments later when the striker came together with Perry Ng, but thankfully for the Seasiders only a yellow card was shown.

While Blackpool were slightly improved in the second half, they still weren’t causing Cardiff any real trouble in their 18-yard box.

With 25 minutes remaining, Appleton’s decision to bring off Jerry Yates and Lavery for Jake Beesley and CJ Hamilton was greeted by chants of “you don’t know what you’re doing”.

But two minutes later, the Seasiders somehow managed to draw themselves level and it was former boy Madine who came back to haunt his former club.

The striker predictably taunted the Cardiff fans after managing to beat Allsop with a downward header from Ian Poveda’s right wing cross.

Having been lucky not to be 2 or 3-0 down at half-time, the Seasiders could easily have taken the lead moments after equalising.

Firstly Hamilton provided a teasing cross into the six-yard box which Allsop just about dealt with before fellow sub Beesley headed inches wide from Madine’s exquisite cross.

Both sides felt they could still win the game though, with Cardiff threatening to restore their lead with 15 minutes remaining when Etete went through on goal only to be superbly thwarted by Grimshaw.

The game almost ended in embarrassment for the visitors when Luke Garbutt came agonisingly close to conceding an own goal as he guided the ball past the post with Grimshaw stranded.

But the game otherwise petered out somewhat in the final stages with neither side able to launch one final push - leaving both sides to settle for a point that does little to ease their relegation fears.

TEAMS

Cardiff: Allsop, Romeo, Ng, Kipre, O’Dowda (Nkounkou), Wintle, Ralls, Whyte (Philogene), Harris (Colwill), Robinson, Etete

Subs not used: Alnwich, Simpson, Rinomhota, Ojo

Blackpool: Grimshaw, Connolly, Williams, Husband, Garbutt, Dougall (Poveda), Patino, Carey, Lavery (Hamilton), Yates (Beesley), Madine

Subs not used: S. Moore, Thompson, J. Moore, Wright

Referee: Josh Smith

Attendance: 17,544