Marcus Tudgay's first-half strike was enough to sink Cardiff and secure Sheffield Wednesday their first win in five Coca-Cola Championship matches.

On-loan Derby midfielder Adam Bolder crossed to the far post and from Enoch Showunmi's knockdown Tudgay drove the ball under Cardiff goalkeeper Peter Enckelman from 10 yards five minutes before the break to boost the Owls' survival chances.

Three successive league defeats since the Steel City derby win over Sheffield United on January 19 had seen Brian Laws' side plummet into the bottom three.

Wednesday halted their losing run with a battling goalless draw with Charlton last time out and dealt a blow to Cardiff's play-off ambitions with only their third league win of the year.

The visitors, who hit the post through impressive teenager Aaron Ramsey in the first half, have now gone four games without a league win.

Despite reaching the last eight of the FA Cup for the first time in 81 years last week, they cannot continue to let points slip if they are to stay pace with the play-off pack.

Since beating Wednesday 1-0 at Ninian Park on January 12, Dave Jones' side have taken maximum points from a league match only once.

The Owls had ridden their luck to go in ahead at the break, with the Welsh side denied the lead in the 24th minute when home goalkeeper Lee Grant pushed Ramsey's arrowed shot onto the post.

The first save either goalkeeper had to make came in the 23rd minute when Graham Kavanagh's sweetly-struck half-volley flew straight into Enckleman's hands.

Moments later, Ramsey brought a brilliant one-handed save out of Grant, who diverted the youngster's low drive onto the upright.

Visiting striker Paul Parry fired a low angled shot across Grant's goal and soon after veteran Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink skipped clear of two defenders to curl a trademark right-footed shot towards the top corner, only for the Owls goalkeeper to tip the ball over his crossbar.

Wednesday responded in style. First Jermaine Johnson appeared to be clipped inside the box, but referee Darren Deadman was unimpressed by the home side's loud penalty appeals. Then Showunmi glanced a header inches wide following Wade Small's fine run and cross.

Owls manager Brian Laws made just one change from the side that held Charlton 11 days ago, with Peter Gilbert stepping in for the unwell Tommy Spurr.

Darren Purse returned for Cardiff - his first game since December - in place of the suspended Glenn Loovens.

There were no goalscoring chances after the restart up until the 68th minute when Kavanagh lashed a 30-yard shot wide.

Cardiff looked to raise the tempo with 20 minutes remaining and, from Tony Capaldi's cutback, Gavin Rae crashed a shot against a melee of defenders.

Laws sent on his new loan signing from Chelsea, Ben Sahar, in the 72nd minute, but Cardiff went close to equalising soon after when Purse headed over at the far post.

Purse headed goalwards again in the dying stages, but Grant comfortably caught the ball and Wednesday held on.

Teams:

Sheff Wed Grant, Bullen (Hinds 26), Gilbert, Beevers, Wood, Kavanagh, Johnson (Sahar 73), Small, Bolder, Showunmi (Burton 86), Tudgay.

Subs Not Used: O'Brien, Wallwork.

Booked: Johnson.

Goals: Tudgay 41.

Cardiff Enckelman, McNaughton, Capaldi, Purse, Johnson, Rae, Ramsey, McPhail (Thompson 74), Whittingham, Hasselbaink, Parry.

Subs Not Used: Oakes, Sinclair, Brown.

Booked: Purse.

Att: 18,539

Ref: Darren Deadman (Cambridgeshire).