NOTTINGHAM Forest suffered a dismal day in south Wales as they suffered a heavy defeat, lost Greg Halford to injury and saw Darius Henderson facing a three-match ban following a controversial red card.
Cardiff triumphed 3-0 as second half substitute Rudy Gestede netted twice in six minutes to put the home side firmly in control.
But the outcome of the game had largely been decided in the first half when, after Heidar Helguson had put the Bluebirds ahead with a 26th minute header, Henderson was then sent off after catching the Cardiff striker with an arm in the penalty area in the 42nd minute.
It looked to be a harsh decision, but it left Billy Davies' side to face the League leaders for more than half the game with ten men – and Malky Mackay's team took full advantage.
The result ended the Reds' ten match unbeaten run since Davies returned for a second spell in charge. Worse still, it left Forest to fall out of the top six, with Bolton and Brighton both winning to move above them in the table.
The early exchanges suggested that, with Dexter Blackstock restored to the side to play alongside Henderson up front, Forest were going to adopt a slightly more direct approach than normal.
Blackstock was brought back into the side as one of two changes, with Lewis McGugan drafted back into midfield after scoring his sixth goal in six games against Blackpool last weekend.
His place came at the expense of Andy Reid, who dropped to the bench. But Simon Cox was left out of the squad completely. It is understood that this may be because he has collected nine bookings this season and would have incurred a two-match ban had he been booked today.
But, after this weekend, if the striker does pick up a tenth booking, he would no longer pick up a ban.
It was Cardiff who carved out the first two real attacks of the game, with the experienced figure of Craig Bellamy surging beyond Gonzalo Jara down the Cardiff left and firing a dangerous low ball into the centre, where Greg Halford cleared well.
When Tommy Smith broke the offside trap down the right side, his high, floating cross had Karl Darlow back peddling furiously but, in the end, the keeper made a confident, important claim at the far post.
Forest came close to breaking the deadlock themselves when Chris Cohen rampaged forward down the left, seeing a cross blocked before, at the second attempt, he squared the ball back for Adlene Guedioura to strike powerfully from the edge of the box, with the Algerian's bending shot flying only a foot wide of the post with David Marshall looking on nervously.
Heidar Helguson almost took advantage when he was allowed time and space on the edge of the box, but his dipping shot dropped just over the bar.
While Bellamy spurned a half decent opportunity after cutting in from the left flank with menace once more, firing a shot high and wide with his right boot, when he had well placed options in the centre.
Henri Lansbury had the Forest fans on their feet briefly when he let fly from long range, but his effort was always bending away from goal.
When McGugan played the ball into the feet of Henderson in the box, Leon Barnett slid in with a reckless challenge but, vitally, the defender got a toe to the ball to prod it away.
Guedioura was given space to try his luck from the edge of the box again, but this time saw his effort charged down.
Halford was then booked for a clumsy challenge – but things were to get worse as, from the resulting free kick, Bellamy bent the ball dangerously towards the far post, where Helguson was left with a simple headed finish from close range, in the 26th minute.
Guedioura then produced a remarkable piece of football, beating three men with a series of twists and turns – at a time when he was the last man between Cardiff and the Forest goal.
Even the home fans applauded his technique – but manager Davies may not have had such an appreciative view of things.
Forest should have levelled things, if not for a moment of miss-control from Blackstock.
Lansbury had forced an uncertain save from Marshall with a driven shot. The ball bounced back to the midfielder, who headed across goal to the far post, where Blackstock was unmarked – but his first touch failed him at the vital moment and he was left needing to slide into a thunderous challenge with keeper Marshall.
McGugan almost caught out Marshall with a free kick from wide on the left, which the midfielder sent looping towards the far corner of the net, leaving the keeper to punch over at full stretch.
The resulting corner provided yet more incident, with Marshall claiming under pressure from Halford at his near post – sparking an altercation between both sets of players, with Halford lying injured on the floor as the keeper stood over him.
There was an aggressive atmosphere building in the game, with the players involved in more than one angry confrontation.
And, in the 42nd minute, Forest found themselves down to ten men when Henderson was shown a red card after catching Helguson in the face with an arm, as Forest lifted a free kick into the box.
It did look like the striker caught the Cardiff man, but it was hard to judge whether there had been an intentional swing of the arm – and the Forest players certainly reacted furiously to the decision.
Forest made a change at the interval, with Marcus Tudgay coming on to replace Majewski, while Cardiff took off Helguson, replacing him with Rudy Gestede.
Within two minutes of the restart, Halford had collected an injury, having appeared to catch a boot to the face. He ended up leaving the pitch on a stretcher, to be replaced by Danny Collins.
As Forest broke quickly on a counter attack, Tudgay hit a shot from the edge of the box that took a deflection – but it only guided it into the arms of a grateful Marshall.
McGugan came rather closer to scoring when he cut onto his left foot inside the box and sent a curling shot towards the far post, which was deflected out for a corner.
Then a back pass from Ben Turner almost fell short, with Marshall scrambling to clear as McGugan closed in.
But Cardiff were quickly back on the attack and after Guedioura had fouled Smith, referee Marriner waved play on, only for Blackstock to immediately concede a free kick on the edge of the box – both Forest players were booked by the referee.
And, from the resulting free kick, Bellamy bent a shot against the post. Cardiff did not have long to be frustrated as, within seconds, Andrew Taylor crossed from the left and Gestede rose to head home powerfully from a few yards out.
With an hour gone, it felt like Forest needed just to limit the damage, as Cardiff's confidence grew. Kim forced a fine save from Darlow with a shot that was bound for the top corner.
But, having netted his first goal on the hour mark, Gestede had a second six minutes later, as he again headed home, this time at the far post, from a corner, to make it 3-0 and leave Forest with no way back.
Cardiff, unsurprisingly, were dominant at this point, with Kim coming close with a shot sent spinning just wide of Darlow's upright.
Forest were able to hold on without allowing Cardiff to get another, although Bellamy did come close with an effort fired into the side netting and Noone's cross-shot bounced away off the far post.
Cardiff: Marshall, McNaughton, Taylor, Turner, Kim, Smith (Noone 74), Gunnarsson, Mutch (Whittingham 88), Helguson (Gestede 45), Barnett, Bellamy. Subs: Lewis, Conway, Mason, Nugent.
Forest: Darlow, Jara, Ward, Halford (Collins 50), Cohen, Guedioura (Moussi 75), Lansbury, McGugan, Majewski (Tudgay 45), Henderson, Blackstock. Subs: Evtimov, Harding, Reid, Sharp.
Referee: Andre Marriner.
Attendance: 26,588