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Cardiff City moved out of the Championship relegation zone following victory at 10-man Nottingham Forest.

The Bluebirds were 2-0 up at the break through Aron Gunnarsson's unmarked header from Peter Whittingham's corner and Joe Ralls' close-range finish.

The hosts' hopes of a comeback were thwarted by Thomas Lam's sending-off for pulling back Anthony Pilkington.

Henri Lansbury's late penalty, after the Forest skipper was bundled over by Gunnarsson, set up a nervy finale.

Cardiff have picked up seven points from a possible nine under new boss Neil Warnock and are now 20th in the table, behind Forest on goal difference.

Forest's display was characterised by defensive errors, with a string of saves from goalkeeper Vladimir Stojkovic and Cardiff's profligacy helping to keep the score down.

Left-back Armand Traore gave away possession for the second goal and Lam was dismissed - receiving Forest's fourth red card of the season - after he gifted the ball to Pilkington.

Forest have had to contend with off-field distractions recently, including an impending takeover of the club and late payments and unpaid bonuses for players.

Philippe Montanier's side lacked creativity and their only chances came from long-range efforts until Lansbury's spot-kick gave them hope of an equaliser in stoppage time.

Nottingham Forest head coach Philippe Montanier:

"It was a poor, poor result. It's always the same story. We had a repeat of individual mistakes.

"At 1-0 you can come back, but then we had another mistake. It's never the same player making the individual mistake. At 2-0, it is difficult to come back.

"We never gave up, even when we went down to 10 men, and we scored at the end, but we keep making individual mistakes."

Cardiff manager Neil Warnock:

"Nottingham Forest are a good side with some very good players. I was hoping for a clean sheet, but once again we've let ourselves down at the death.

"It was a game we should have won comfortably.

"I've been asked about promotion. But I just said: 'Let's get out the bottom three first'. We just get carried away, don't we?

"We're nowhere near the finished article, but we've got a good bunch of players and the fans get behind us."