Teenage striker Ched Evans fired Norwich ever closer to a Coca-Cola Championship play-off place with a stunning late winner at Ninian Park.

The 19-year-old, on loan from Manchester City, strode forward unopposed from the halfway line in the 88th minute and unleashed a venomous shot that flew into the top corner.

Evans' 30-yard rocket saw Glenn Roeder's Norwich extend their unbeaten league run to 12 matches, while Cardiff have slipped to back-to-back defeats after going seven matches unbeaten themselves.

The visitors appeared to have taken an interval lead after Evans had applied a clinical finish to an impressive Canaries raid down the left in the 15th minute for his first.

But in the third minute of time added on at the end of the first half Gavin Rae equalised, finishing in similar fashion following Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink's pass inside the penalty area.

Roeder had steered Norwich from bottom place to within seven points of the top six ahead of this meeting and the visitors made much of the early running before Cardiff wrestled back control at the start of the second half.

Norwich set about chasing a fourth win in their last five in the Championship full of confidence and went close to taking an eighth-minute lead when Gary Doherty's header from Mark Fotheringham's corner whistled inches over.

The Canaries made the breakthrough on the quarter-hour mark with a well-worked goal from Evans, his fifth of the season.

Ryan Bertrand showed neat skill down the left to skip past one challenge and when he pulled the ball back from the byline, Dion Dublin dummied, allowing Evans to slide the ball into the bottom corner from the edge of the area.

Cardiff defender Roger Johnson saw his firm drive held by Norwich goalkeeper David Marshall and Paul Parry's effort was blocked by Doherty, but the visitors enjoyed the lion's share of possession.

Norwich threatened again when Jason Shackell's header from another Fotheringham cross was well saved by Michael Oakes, while at the other end Hasselbaink pulled his angled shot wide and Peter Whittingham fired over before Rae levelled with a right-footed finish from 12 yards.

Cardiff manager Dave Jones kept faith with the same starting line-up employed in last week's 2-1 defeat at Stoke, while Norwich boss Glenn Roeder handed a first start to on-loan Middlesbrough defender Matthew Bates in place of Jon Otsemobor.

Jones' side were visibly buoyed by their equaliser and had more purpose after the restart, but neither side created a goalscoring chance up to the hour-mark.

Norwich forced successive corners just after which came to nothing before Marshall held on to Joe Ledley's 20-yard shot.

Roeder sent on Darren Huckerby for Lee Croft with 20 minutes left and soon after Evans forced Oakes into a smart save with an angled shot from the edge of the area.

Whittingham fired another shot that was blocked, this time by Shackell, before Marshall pulled off a fine save to deny Parry's powerful header from Tony Capaldi's cross.

A draw appeared the likely outcome, but Darel Russell played a short ball for Evans, who carried it to within striking range before settling the match with a contender for goal of the season.

Teams:

Cardiff Oakes, McNaughton, Johnson, Loovens, Capaldi, Whittingham, Rae, McPhail, Ledley, Parry, Hasselbaink (Thompson 80).

Subs Not Used: Enckelman, Purse, Blake, Ramsey.

Goals: Rae 45.

Norwich Marshall, Bates, Shackell, Doherty, Camara, Croft (Huckerby 70), Russell, Fotheringham, Bertrand (Pattison 83), Dublin, Evans.

Subs Not Used: Gilks, Otsemobor, Pearce.

Booked: Bates, Evans.

Goals: Evans 15, 88.

Att: 11,937

Ref: Richard Beeby (Northamptonshire).