Kenedy concealed his face with his Newcastle United shirt, but black and white stripes could not mask a dreadful day. Rafael Benítez’s side, reduced to 10 men after the dismissal of the substitute Isaac Hayden, should have smuggled victory out of south Wales, but the Brazilian’s stoppage-time penalty was devoid of any conviction and capped a miserable performance; he became the first player to fail to complete a single first-half pass since 2010 and will be fortunate to escape retrospective action from the Football Association for a lurid kick out at Victor Camarasa, the Cardiff City midfielder.

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Neil Warnock questioned whether the moment when his captain, Sean Morrison, handled Yoshinori Muto’s cross six minutes into stoppage time was inside the 18-yard box, but Neil Etheridge made his second penalty save in two matches to earn Cardiff a priceless first point of the season. Asked if it was his decision for Kenedy, re-signed on loan from Chelsea this summer, to take the penalty, Benítez replied: “Not really. The first taker was [Matt] Ritchie, who was not on the pitch, and Kenedy the second one. He is a good penalty-taker, but it was poor. He is not happy, but we win as a team, draw as a team and lose as a team.”

It would have been a cruel defeat for Cardiff to stomach. Warnock informed his squad of his team on Monday and his side demonstrated as much, proving a slick operation. They dominated from start to finish but failed to put the finishing touches on an otherwise flawless performance, with the summer signings Camarasa, Harry Arter and Josh Murphy particularly influential.

Facebook Twitter Pinterest Newcastle’s Isaac Hayden was shown a straight red card for a foul on Josh Murphy of Cardiff. Photograph: Rebecca Naden/Reuters

Murphy feasted down Newcastle’s right, with Javier Manquillo repeatedly backpedalling in an attempt to get to grips with the speedy winger. By the time Manquillo was replaced and Hayden sent down the tunnel, Murphy was duelling with his twin, Jacob, who was tasked with stifling his brother.

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“We had problems with the right-full-back position; DeAndre Yedlin was injured, we played [Javier] Manquillo, who was injured at half-time, we had to put on [Isaac] Hayden and after he was sent off,” Benítez said. “We had too many problems and in the end, it could be better, but we cannot complain too much.”

Kenneth Zohore, one of four Cardiff changes from the opening-day defeat at Bournemouth, enjoyed his return to action after injury and the striker had a series of half-chances before Kenedy’s 33rd-minute fireworks. With Cardiff on the front foot, Kenedy swung a wild left boot at Camarasa, but the referee, Craig Pawson, seemingly missed it. Arter, an endearing, ubiquitous presence throughout, was equally fortunate to stay on the pitch after a lunge on Joselu, the Newcastle striker. Arter shone on debut, though, recoiling the ball from the feet of Ayoze Pérez in one breath and picking out Zohore in another. Murphy later slipped in Zohore, who tried and failed to tee up Junior Hoilett. After his wayward free-kick, there came an inevitable riposte from the away fans. “You’re just a shit Jacob Murphy,” they sang.

Newcastle grew weary of chasing the game, huffing and puffing without the ball and stop-start with it. When Hayden, 22 minutes after replacing Manquillo, crumpled through the back of Murphy’s legs, his frustrations were clear and Benítez was seething. Another substitute, Muto, fashioned an improbable lifeline, but Kenedy punted his effort straight at Etheridge.

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“It would have been devastation to lose at that stage but, as my dad used to say, I think that was poetic justice in the end,” Warnock said. “I thought it was appropriate, really.”