Amario Cozier-Duberry further cemented his place in the hearts of the Wanderers’ fan with another magic moment, writes Pete Oliver.
The on-loan winger has been a big hit since his arrival from Brighton Albion with his willingness to run for the shirt and eye for the spectacular.
And after an injury-time winner at Huddersfield to give Wanderers their first away success of the campaign last time out he repeated the dose with another stoppage-time decider.
It was another stunning strike – curled into the top corner – from the 20-year-old to hand League One leaders Cardiff a first away defeat of the season.
Crucially, it also made it back-to-back league wins for the first time this season for Steven Schumacher’s men who proved they have nothing to fear in the division as they edged ever closer to the top six.
Wanderers were unchanged from their victory at Huddersfield as they looked to dent Cardiff’s unbeaten start on the road.
With the Whites undefeated on their own patch neither side was likely to give up their record lightly and in a cat-and-mouse first half they cancelled each other out accordingly.
Cardiff had more of the early possession and arguably the best chance when David Turnbull headed wide Joal Bagan’s cross from in front of goal.
But Wanderers did have a couple of sighters of their own for top scorer Mason Burstow who came closest when screwing an effort wide from Josh Dacres-Cogley’s low cross.
And it was the Whites who started to get on top just before the break with widemen Jordo Osei-Tuto and Cozier-Duberry making their presence felt and combining for a shooting opportunity for Osei-Tutu which required a block in front of the City goal.
That momentum wasn’t maintained after the break bar a couple of sporadic counter-attacks and potentially threatening runs from Cozier-Duberry and with Cardiff offering little in attack, both managers looked to their benches with 25 minutes to go.
The visitors made a double change to try and boost their creativity, while Wanderers sent on Sam Dalby to offer greater support to Burstow as the former Wrexham loanee looked to follow up his first league goal for the Whites which set up the thriller at Huddersfield.
Both sides had a go at winning it as the shackles came off in the closing quarter and the fresh legs provided some impetus. But of the two, Wanderers always looked the most likely as they belatedly stretched the City defence with Cozier-Duberry invariably looking like the one to make the difference.
And after forcing Nathan Trotter to make his first save of the match in stoppage time he just had long enough left to score another special winner.
He left it late at Huddersfield and once again there were only seconds of the four added minutes remaining when he picked up a lay-off from Dacres-Cogley after captain Eoin Toal had summed up the energy to dive his team on one last time.
And with almost everyone else dead on their feet, Cozier-Duberry ran forward and added another to the collection with s fifth goal of a season which took also took Wanderers on another major collective shift forward.
Wanderers: Sharman-Lowe; Dacres-Cogley, Toal, Johnston, Conway (Taylor 75); Simons (Morley 88), Sheehan; Cozier-Duberry, Forss (Dalby 65), Osei-Tutu; Burstow (Randall 75). Substitutes: Miller, Forino, Cissoko.
Booked: Osei-Tutu, Sheehan
Cardiff City: Trott; Ng, Fish, Lawlor, Bagan (Wintle 77); Turnbull, Robertson (Kpakio, 77); Kellyman (Nyakuhwa 65), R Colwill, Davies (Ashford 65); Salech (Robinson 83). Substitutes: Wintle, Chambers, J Colwill.
Booked: Ng
Referee: Ben Toner
Attendance: 22,587