A RAMPANT Cardiff City sent the Baggies packing out of the Carling Cup last night with a ruthless display of power, poise and lethal finishing.
The Bluebirds marched into the last 16 of the competition thanks to two goals from Robbie Fowler, one from the penalty spot, and a goal each for Jimmy-Floyd Hasselbaink and Trevor Sinclair.
Dave Jones� side blasted the game out of Albion�s reach with little more than half hour gone with two goals from West Brom striker Ishmael Miller putting little more than a gloss on the scoreline for the home side.
Baggies boss Tony Mowbray had rung the changes in his side � who stand third in the Championship and had not lost at the Hawthorns since April � and the Bluebirds more than capitalised on the situation.
While weathering a lot of pressure from Albion, City were always inventive, always looking to get the ball forward quickly leaving the home side just unable to cope with a Cardiff side in which every man played his part.
It was Hasselbaink and Fowler who, of course, caught the eye and with both now firmly on the goal trail an exciting season could well lie ahead for City.
Fowler now has four goals in two games and seems to be putting those who had doubted his capabilities firmly in their place.
Cardiff must now take this form into their league campaign although it was a measure of how seriously Jones is taking the Carling Cup when he went with arguably his strongest starting XI against Albion.
The good news was that centre-half Glenn Loovens had recovered from a foot injury to take his place in the heart of the City defence with Kevin McNaughton switched back to his favoured right-back position.
Albion boss Mowbray on the other hand made seven changes to the side which won at Scunthorpe on the weekend. It was, however, a decision the home manager would live to regret as Cardiff got off to a dream start.
It was that man Fowler again, fresh from his two-goal salvo against Preston, who found the net with less than three minutes on the clock.
A neat Cardiff move saw the ball come to Stephen McPhail on the corner of the penalty box. His low cross was helped on and found Fowler unmarked. The former England international did not need much more of an invitation and lashed the ball past Baggies captain Dean Kiely in the home goal.
As one expected before hand it was the home side who were exerting most of the early pressure and Cardiff goalkeeper Michael Oakes had to make a couple of smart saves. But Cardiff were holding up well, if finding it hard to clear their lines.
The ball had a nasty habit of finding its way upfield, but failing to stick with either Fowler or Hasselbaink.
But on 22 minutes the ball fell to Hasselbaink 20 yards out and the former Chelsea striker, with barely any back-lift at all, smashed one right into the top corner with Kiely as much of a spectator as if he�d been munching on one of the delicious local Balti pies in the grandstand.
Five minutes later the travelling Cardiff fans were rubbing their eyes in disbelief as Shelton Martis was adjudged to have tripped Joe Ledley in the box and the referee pointed to the spot.
With a cheeky, stuttering run up Fowler buried the spot-kick with aplomb.
If the home side were reeling, they were left shellshocked two minutes later.
Tony Capaldi crossed from the left and the Baggies defence dithered leaving Sinclair to shoot low and direct into the bottom corner.
Cardiff were in scintillating form, playing with a confidence and flair not seen since this time last year, when they were taking the Championship by storm.
Some home fans started heading towards the exits despite the fact only half an hour had gone.
It was a shame because by the time they got to the carpark they would have heard the almost ironic cheers that greeted Miller firing home low after following up a brilliant long-range effort from Chris Brunt which had hit the post.
For all Cardiff were playing well the West Brom defence was in shocking shape, every time the Bluebirds put a ball into the box, any kind of ball, rubbish or quality, they were panicking.
The Baggies back four looked liked they had just met, who knows, perhaps they had.
At the start of the second half Mowbray made a double substitution, bringing on Filipe Teixeira and Jonathan Greening in search of a foothold in the game.
Cardiff absorbed the predictable pressure, with Brunt coming closest on 56 minutes when his 25-yard free-kick rippled the side netting on its way past Oakes� post.
The Baggies came even closer four minutes later with a looping Jared Hodgkiss header needing to be hooked off the line by a tireless Sinclair.
Fowler was taken off on 71 minutes to be replaced by Parry. Jones went with five across the middle of the park to stifle the Baggies, who were causing a few jitters in the Bluebirds defence if never really creating anything clear cut much to the annoyance of the home crowd.
Albion really knew their luck was out when, with time running out, an Oakes fumble from a corner fell at the feet of Miller five yards out and the striker�s bullet-like shot hit Capaldi in the face and bounced out to safety.
But to be fair Cardiff were playing well defensively, they had learnt their lesson from recent games and were first to everything.
It took a late penalty from Miller to breach them after Sinclair was harshly adjudged to have shoved the striker in the box.
So Cardiff move on, they will be hoping for a big name in the next round and will be full of confidence whoever they may face after this display.
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