Cardiff's home woes continued after a 1-0 defeat by Walsall.

Neil Emblen's 70th-minute strike, following good work from Zigor Aranalde and Simon Osborn, settled an encounter which the visitors rarely looked like winning.

Peter Thorne missed a clutch of chances for Cardiff, whose failure to convert opportunities into goals ultimately cost them in front of an expectant Boxing Day crowd.

While Colin Lee returned to Walsall celebrating the extension of their unbeaten run to three games, Cardiff boss Lennie Lawrence is left to reflect on the fact his side have not won at Ninian Park in five attempts, a sequence stretching back to November 8.

Cardiff's problems were reflected in the early stages as Walsall were quickest out of the traps.

Emblen, who had the tough task of replacing injured playmaker Paul Merson, jinked and weaved into the Bluebirds penalty area before unleashing a stinging drive from six yards after 10 minutes.

Emblen's strike would have found the bottom corner of the net had defender Tony Vidmar not thrown his body in the way to make an important interception.

The home side were finding it difficult to get a significant foothold in the game and were fortunate to still be on level terms when Wrack should have done much better with a close-range header that was well stopped by goalkeeper Martyn Margetson.

But the longer the game wore on, the more Cardiff began to exert some degree of authority on proceedings. Richard Langley found the head of Thorne, who was unlucky to see the ball drift just wide of the target.

Though Thorne was again in the thick of things shortly just before the break, he failed to test goalkeeper James Walker from six yards.

Gareth Whalley shot over the crossbar within seconds of the restart as Cardiff picked up where they left off before the interval, a feat repeated by Wrack just after the hour mark.

It was the Cardiff defence which was breached, however, Osborn heading Aranalde's cross into the path of Emblen, who made no mistake from close range.

Emblen, buoyed by his goal, sent a left-footed shot the wrong side of Margetson's post, Willie Boland having headed wide for Cardiff moments earlier.

Thorne completed a hat-trick of missed headers as the clock ticked down - Langley was again the provider - and the Cardiff striker knew it was not to be his day when his close-range shot was blocked by Paul Ritchie.

Robert Earnshaw, who had an unusually quiet afternoon up front for Cardiff, was denied by Jamie Lawrence, while Rhys Weston, Langley, Andy Campbell, Spencer Prior and Danny Gabbidon also went close in a frantic final few minutes.

Teams:

Cardiff Margetson, Weston, Prior, Gabbidon, Vidmar, Boland (Campbell 77), Kavanagh, Whalley, Langley, Earnshaw, Thorne.

Subs Not Used: Croft, Barker, Bonner, Alexander.

Walsall Walker, Bazeley, Roper, Ritchie, Emblen, Aranalde, Osborn, Wrack, Samways (Lawrence 84), Leitao, Birch.

Subs Not Used: Allaway, Hay, Wright, Oakes.

Booked: Aranalde.

Goals: Emblen 70.

Att: 17,531

Ref: P Crossley (Kent).