Burnley were undone at Ninian Park when a crazy five minute spell early in the second half saw them concede three goals to Cardiff City and surrender what looked to be a good chance to take something from the game.
The Clarets were every bit as good as their hosts throughout the game, but when City enjoyed a 10 minute spell of pressure and rode their luck somewhat, they found the goals to give a rather flattering scoreline.
It was a game with few chances, but the phrase 'goals win games' rang true for the Clarets and the Welshmen made the most of their opportunities with debutant striker Steve Thompson having a dream start to life in Championship by netting two goals after his midweek move from Glasgow Rangers before Jason Koumas headed a clincher, all with five minutes of each other.
Burnley forced the first real effort on goal after 19 minutes though, when Jon Harley tested Neil Alexander with a low strike following a free kick on the edge of the box after Neil Cox's foul on Ade Akinbiyi.
Prior to that, the game had been largely equal with both teams appearing rather tentative as they looked to break each other down.
Burnley were dealt a blow midway through the first half, when Akinbiyi received his fifth booking of the season for a foul on Darren Purse and that will see him miss the game with Preston North End at Turf Moor next week.
Cardiff never really troubled Brian Jensen in the opening stages and the closest they came was when Thompson turned to shoot in the area, only to see his attempt go wide of the target after 35 minutes.
That proved to be the final noteworthy action of the first half, before the crowd were treated to a scene for television show Dirty Sanchez. This saw four of the crazy stars from the MTV programme stand scantily clad on the goal line to face a series of balls shot at them from close range. Even Clarets star Gifton Noel Williams tried his luck during the half time warm up.
10 minutes into the second half and City had an unlikely opening when a clearance hit Koumas and allowed him a run on goal. He took the ball around Jensen, but Wayne Thomas was back quickly to make a well timed tackle in the area to prevent the Welsh international from surely opening the scoring.
This was the brightest spell of the game for the home side and they took the lead after 58 minutes to start a bad spell for Burnley. A high cross was pumped into the box by Neal Ardley, for which Jensen came to collect. He had to overcome the figure of Cameron Jerome first though and when the City striker stood his ground, Jensen lost control of the ball and Thompson made no mistake to turn the ball home into an open goal.
Moments later, City had a second goal when Thompson managed to turn well on the edge of the area and plant a fantastic shot past Jensen and into the top corner to leave Burnley with a lot to do to get anything out of the game.
The victory was sealed in the 53rd minute when Koumas started a move in midfield by spreading the ball wide to Ardley. He timed his delivery to perfection and Koumas made up ground to head home from inside the area to put the game out of Burnley's reach.
Burnley responded by introducing Graham Branch and Noel Williams to the game and changing to a 4- 4 -2 formation and trying to claw their way back into the match or at least improve the goal difference which could prove so crucial as the season goes along.
It wasn't to be though and with the points sealed by that stage, Cardiff completed their job of hanging on to a clean sheet and an important win for them.
Cardiff City: Alexander, Barker, Purse (Cooper, 83) Cox, Ardley, Koumas (Ndumbu Nsungu, 90) Thompson (Scimeca, 76) Jerome, Weston, Boland, Ledley. Subs not used: Mulryne, Margetson.
Burnley: Jensen, Thomas, McGreal, Sinclair, James O'Connor, Hyde, Akinbiyi, Elliott (Spicer, 88) Garreth O'Connor (Noel Williams, 54) McCann (Branch, 54) Harley. Subs not used: Grant, Duff.
Bookings: Ade Akinbiyi (26 minutes), Willie Boland (72 minutes), John McGreal (88 minutes)
Sending offs:
