Cardiff City recorded only their third win in 14 games to book their place in the Fifth Round of The FA Cup with victory over Bolton Wanderers.
Frazier Campbell scored the only goal of the game just minutes after being introduced to the action and his solitary effort was enough to secure progress for Ole Gunnar Solskjaer's side.
The tie was something of a welcome distraction for both clubs.
Bolton Wanderers 0-1 Cardiff City
The FA Cup with Budweiser
Fourth Round Proper
3pm, Saturday 25 January
Reebok Stadium
Winners receive £90000
By Alex Rowen
With Cardiff rooted to the bottom of the Premier League and their hosts still reeling from last week’s 7-1 drubbing at Reading, both clubs entered the fixture knowing that victory in The Cup could help revitalise their respective seasons.
Yet with one eye on an upcoming trip to Old Trafford, Gary Medel, Steven Caulker and Campbell were amongst five players to give way for the visitors as Magnus Wolff Eikrem was handed a full debut by Solkjaer.
By contrast, Bolton fielded eight of the same side that started at the Madejski last week - David N’Gog the most notable absentee as rumours continue to circulate about a possible switch to Cardiff’s Welsh rivals, Swansea.
Home boss Dougie Freedman was evidently keen for his side to make amends for last week’s heavy defeat and his side had the best of the opening stages, though neither was able to craft a clear cut chance for themselves.
Andreas Cornelius saw an early effort tipped over by Trotters 'keeper Andrew Lonergan and Chris Eagles’ low cross troubled the Cardiff defence, but only for a moment as David Marshall took charge of his penalty area and palmed away.
Chung-Yong Lee looked most dangerous for the hosts, but lacked the support up front to mount any real threat. Having first seen a fruitless 25-yard strike zip wide of the post, the South Korean came a little closer on the stroke of half-time as his volleyed effort missed the target by mere inches.
Hoping to instil some attacking vigour into his side’s second-half performance, Solsjkaer turned to Campbell and Craig Noone at the break. The changes paid off within five minutes of the restart as the two combined to open the scoring.
Noone’s lofted cross simply wasn’t dealt with by Lonergan and Campbell was positioned perfectly to poke the visitors in front.
He could have doubled his tally just five minutes later too, but was unable to adjust his footing enough to place his headed effort on target.
With the momentum swinging in the Premier League side’s favour, Neil Danns fought to restore parity but saw Bolton’s best effort beaten away by Marshall.
Craig Davies’ deflected effort was later tipped away by the Scot and Lee again headed wide as time wound down.
Though both sides traded blows in the closing stages, neither could alter the scoreline and it’s Cardiff whose name will be in the hat for the next round.
Bolton Wanderers: Lonergan, Ream, Mills, Knight, Baptiste, Spearing, Kamara (Odelusi, 73), Danns, Eagles (Moritz, 73), Lee, C Davies
Goals: N/A
Cardiff City: Marshall, McNaughton, Hudson, Turner, Theophile-Catherine, Whittingham, Eikrem (Noone, 46), Gunnarsson, Kim, Mason (Daehli, 80), Cornelius (Campbell, 46)
Goals: Campbell (50).
Referee: Jonathan Moss