Cardiff City's brief stay in the English Premier League has ended after they were beaten 3-2 by Crystal Palace at Cardiff City Stadium on Sunday (NZ time).
The Bluebirds needed a win to stand any chance of catching 17th-placed Brighton and Hove Albion, who are four points above them with one game remaining.
Goals from Cardiff's former loanee Wilfried Zaha, who was jeered on his return to Wales, Michy Batshuayi and Andros Townsend sealed the home side's fate after Martin Kelly's comical own-goal equaliser.
Bobby Reid hit back in stoppage time, but the goal came too late to make a difference.
An early injury did not help Cardiff's chances to influential Victor Camarasa, who limped off after just 11 minutes.
Zaha's opened the scoring on 28 minutes before Kelly sliced the ball past his own keeper three minutes later. But Batshuayi restored Palace's first-half lead after rounding off a smart move with Jordan Ayew.
Cardiff rallied after the break with Josh Murphy and Kenneth Zohore both going close, and Kelly clearing another Murphy effort off the line. However, Townsend burst from the halfway line to shoot in off the post after 70 minutes as Palace won for the fifth time in six away league games.
The result ensures there will be no Welsh teams in upcoming Premier League season.
Cardiff joins Huddersfield and Fulham going down to the Championship while Norwich City and Sheffield United are the two teams who have automatically qualified for the Premier League next season.
One more team will qualify for the 2019/20 Premier League season through a four-team Championship playoff.
Reuters
