Last updated on .From the section Championship

Leandro Bacuna put Cardiff City ahead just after 10 minutes

Cardiff City overcame struggling Stoke City to give Neil Harris victory in his first home match in charge.

Gary Madine's deft backheel set up Leandro Bacuna to fire the hosts in front, a rare highlight of a mediocre first half.

The second was not much better, Lee Tomlin and Bacuna's long-range efforts the closest Cardiff came to a second.

Stoke had ample possession but did nothing with it, failing to trouble their opponents.

They fell to a first defeat under new manager Michael O'Neill to remain second from bottom of the Championship, while Cardiff climb up to 10th, four points adrift of the play-off places.

This was a not a game which fans of either side will remember particularly fondly - never mind any neutrals - but that will matter little to Harris as he prospered in the battle of the new managers.

In his first match at the helm at Charlton on Saturday, Cardiff had fought back from 2-0 down to draw. As much as that resolve will have pleased Harris, he will have been relieved to beat Stoke and claim a first victory early in his tenure.

It was well deserved against a seemingly revitalised Potters side who had won both their first two games under O'Neill to drag themselves off the foot of the Championship table.

After victories over Barnsley and Wigan, however, this appeared to be a tougher assignment for the Northern Irishman.

Joe Allen was back in action for Stoke after helping Wales qualify for Euro 2020

Although Cardiff's previous home fixture, a home loss to Bristol City, had led to the departure of former manager Neil Warnock, the Bluebirds had not suffered back-to-back Championship defeats at this ground since 2017.

Eager to impress with Harris in the home dugout for the first time, the hosts started brightly and took the lead with a finely crafted goal.

Madine, a physically imposing centre-forward renowned for his heading rather than his footwork, delicately backheeled the ball into Bacuna's path and the midfielder blasted it into the roof of the net to score his first goal for the club.

That was to prove the highlight of the first half, a flat 45 minutes between two sides struggling for confidence.

Tomlin looked the likeliest player to lift this encounter from its slumber, Cardiff's stocky playmaker finding space between Stoke's midfield and defence to making darting runs into dangerous positions.

He had a long-range shot saved by Jack Butland, while Bacuna curled another narrowly wide as Cardiff searched for a decisive second goal.

And although that never arrived this was still a comfortable victory against blunt opposition, Cardiff edging their way back up the table while Stoke were left rooted in the relegation zone.

Cardiff City manager Neil Harris said:

"It wasn't a classic. It was a typical scrappy Tuesday night football match.

"We played open and expansive football on the weekend. It was exciting, but it's not always going to be like that.

"I thought we were more structured tonight and more shape about them.

"I'm delighted for the players. We'll be better than that, I promise you that. If we have to roll our sleeves up and battle like that then we can do so.

"We limited Stoke's opportunities. Sometimes you need that one moment. I'm delighted with the end product of a clean sheet."

Potters boss Michael O'Neill told BBC Radio Stoke:

"We're disappointed with the result. We're disappointed with a lot of things on the night. It was a game where we had a lot of possession, close to nearly 70% of possession, but we had possession with no purpose.

"Again we put ourselves in a difficult position because we lose a poor goal. And that's ultimately what decides the game.

"Too often tonight we made the wrong decision in the final third or lacked quality in terms of the final ball. The concerning thing was that we didn't work the goalkeeper very much, we didn't create enough clear-cut opportunities.

"We lost momentum and we didn't play with enough belief which was disappointing given we've won back-to-back games."