Cardiff in driving seat after first leg draw

CARDIFF shrugged off the loss of captain Craig Bellamy to gain the upper hand in their npower Championship play-off semi-final with Reading after a tense goalless draw last night.

The Bluebirds will arguably be the happier of the two sides heading into next week’s second leg in Wales but look set to be without Bellamy as they fight to win a place in the Barclays Premier League.

The on-loan Manchester City striker lasted just 17 minutes before going off injured but Dave Jones’ side recovered to limit the Royals in a poor game.

An all-Welsh final at Wembley now looks favourite after Swansea held Nottingham Forest to another stalemate on Thursday night.

Reading winger Hal Robson-Kanu saw an improvised back heel deflected wide as the hosts ended the first half with a spell of pressure but Stephen Bywater remained untroubled in the Cardiff goal.

Mills came close in the opening minutes of the second half when Shane Long headed an Ian Harte corner back across goal but the former Manchester City defender was unable to divert the ball on target.

Federici then flapped at a deep free-kick but escaped as Jay Emmanuel-Thomas’ flick-on evaded Bothroyd and try as they might neither side could fashion another opportunity as a disappointing evening came to a close.

READING: Federici, Griffin, Mills, Khizanishvili, Harte, McAnuff, Leigertwood, Karacan, Robson-Kanu (Manset 52), Long, Hunt (Howard 84).

CARDIFF: Bywater, Quinn (Naylor 85), Keinan, McNaughton, Blake, Burke, Olofinjana, Whittingham, Emmanuel-Thomas (Koumas 90), Bellamy (Chopra 17), Bothroyd.

Referee: Mark Halsey (Lancashire).