Cardiff boost Championship survival hopes with big derby win

Cardiff City boosted their hopes of Championship survival with a thumping 3-0 victory over Swansea City in the south Wales derby on Saturday.

Callum Robinson scored twice in the first six minutes of the second half before Dimitrios Goutas put some gloss on the scoreline and move Cardiff two points clear of the relegation zone.

Some fans had marched to the stadium in protest ahead of the game, but a buoyant derby atmosphere greeted the teams in a tense first half.

Cardiff were in the ascendency after that though – Robinson fired in the opener just 73 seconds after the break and profited from some careless Swansea defending to get his brace with a neat finish shortly after.

Goutas rounded things off with a thumping header from a corner in the 67th minute, with Cardiff winning successive home derbies against the Swans for the first time since December 1985.

For Omer and his family. And for every #Bluebird!

GET IN!!! #CityAsOne | @quinnbet pic.twitter.com/hps7T0Bwf5

— Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) January 18, 2025

Hull City also gave themselves hope of staying in the Championship next season as a 1-0 win over Millwall saw them move out of the relegation zone.

There was not a lot of goalmouth action to speak about at the Den, but the Tigers benefitted from an unfortunate Jake Cooper own goal – Regan Slater’s low right-sided cross inadvertently deflected off the defender and past Lukas Jensen as he tried to stop it from reaching Joao Pedro.

It was a second away win on the bounce for Hull, who leapfrogged Luton Town into 21st, one point above the Hatters.

Bottom-of-the-table Plymouth Argyle, meanwhile, missed the chance to further close in on the teams above them as they lost 1-0 to QPR.

Dan Grimshaw made a string of fine saves to keep Plymouth level amid QPR’s pressure before Rayan Kolli struck a winner in the 65th minute.

It was the first defeat of Miron Muslic’s reign at the Pilgrims, while QPR’s third consecutive win moved them into the top half of the Championship table for the first time in almost two years.