PARTY-pooping Middlesbrough spoiled Cardiff's promotions plans with a spirited win in Wales.

The Bluebirds could have gone second in the npower Championship table had they won, and had prepared a lap of honour for their fans after the whistle.

But by the end it was Boro fans left singing as the few remaining dejected Cardiff fans melted away stunned, the lap of honour in a near-empty stadium.

Boro had ripped up the script with three first-half goals then dug in with a spirited second-half display as a scrappy game featured nine yellow cards.

Boro rocked Cardiff as they went ahead before the third minute was up after winning a throw on the right 20 yards from the byline. When Justin Hoyte found Tony McMahon he looked up and floated an inviting cross into a sparsely populated box where Leroy Lita climbed above McNaughton to send a slow-motion looping header dipping into the far top corner beyond keeper Tom Heaton.

But Boro had to clear a string of urgent balls into the box as Cardiff hit back.

On eight minutes there was a scare as Peter Whittingham sent Jay Bothroyd down the left to cut inside and square the ball for the arriving Craig Bellamy, but Stephen McManus diverted the danger.

Bothroyd then got behind the visiting defence to reach a Stephen McPhail chip and send a header over the advancing Jason Steele, but the ball landed on the roof of the net as the offside flag went up.

Boro, though, got a second out of the blue on 13 minutes as Lita wriggled down the right towards the corner flag then turned and rifled a low ball into a crowded box for Barry Robson to stretch out a foot and stab home from six yards.

The Cardiff fans were screaming for a penalty on 17 minutes when a 30-yard Bellamy free-kick was drilled into the wall and appeared to clip a defender’s arm.

A minute later, Boro’s Rhys Williams misjudged a header and the ball squirted down the flank leaving Bothroyd to drill a low cross to the near post, but Steele was down quickly to save at Bellamy’s feet. Boro then scored a well-engineered third and sparked an exodus of disgruntled home fans on 21 minutes.

Lita picked up a ball on the halfway line and found Marvin Emnes with a crossfield ball, who laid it off to Robson in the middle then nipped down the right of the box for the return.

The tricky frontman skipped over two challenges to get to the byline then pulled the ball back to the penalty spot where Dormanstown youngster Richie Smallwood had arrived unmarked to hammer home his first Boro goal.