Neil Warnock looked away when Joe Ralls took the second half penalty which won the game at Middlesbrough for Cardiff City.
Ralls fired home and manager Warnock said: “I didn’t see Joe take the penalty – I never look!
“I just looked at Boro’s fans because if they jumped up cheering I know he will have missed it. I just can’t stand looking at penalties.”
The Bluebirds won a hard fought match 1-0, goalkeeper Neil Etheridge kept a clean sheet and Warnock enjoyed another win against Middlesbrough.
They have won only four matches against Warnock teams in 37 years – and Boro have lost 10 of the last 15 fixtures against the Yorkshireman.
Cardiff were without injured players Aaron Gunnarsson and Kenneth Zohore, but they came through a difficult test at The Riverside stadium with flying honours.
“I thought we were super today,” said Warnock. “We looked like we knew what we were doing and created some good chances.
“All credit to Wardy (Danny Ward), I thought he did absolutely great for us.”
More than 400 City fans made long journey to the North East, while Warnock and his players flew up to cut down travelling time and were hugely competitive over the 90 minutes.
Cardiff had the better of things in the opening half, while Boro had the edge after the break. The visitors stayed strong, remained solid and when Nathaniel Mendez-Laing was fouled by Adam Traore after 85 minutes City took their chance.
Ralls fired home from the spot, leaving Gary Monk’s Middlesbrough team down and out.
Sol Bamba, cool, composed and strong in defence, was man of the match and almost scored with a close range shot. But his effort, just after the hour, was cleared off the line.
Cardiff stay second in the Championship table, just behind Wolves, while Boro are 11th. They have gone six games without keeping a clean sheet.
Ward was inches away from sliding the ball in from Joe Bennett’s early cross, while Britt Assombalonga shot wide from distance for the home team.
Former Cardiff defender Fabio provided attacking impetus for the hosts from deep positions, but his surging runs came to nothing.
City have still not lost two successive matches this season and their victory at Middlesbrough was the ideal way to bounce back after the 1-0 defeat at Birmingham City.
Next up for Warnock’s men is a home game against Wolves on Saturday.
Middlesbrough: Randolph, Christie, Ayala, Gibson, Fabio, Downing (Traoré 78), Howson, Braithwaite, Leadbitter, Assombalonga, Fletcher (Bamford 67). Subs not used: Konstantopoulos, Friend, Clayton, Fry, Johnson.
Cardiff City: Etheridge, Manga, Morrison, Bamba, Peltier, Bryson, Ralls, Bennett, Mendez-Laing (Paterson 89), Ward (Bogle 90), Hoilett. Subs not used: Tomlin, Feeney, Halford, Damour, Murphy.
Referee: Andy Madley
Attendance: 24,806
