NEIL AN EXPERT AT OPENING-DAY WINS

THEY left it late but Cardiff made the perfect start to the season thanks to one of their stars of the last campaign – striker Kenneth Zohore.

The big Dane fired a thunderous left-foot shot into the bottom corner with just three minutes left on the clock.

It meant Neil Warnock extended his impressive opening-day record to one defeat in 11 games and he was delighted with his goalscorer.

“That is what you get with Ken Zohore,” he said.

“It’s not just his goal that he scored today. He couldn’t have believed he would be working as hard as he did today 12 months ago when I came in.”

Neither side created many chances during a cagey first half but Cardiff thought they had grabbed an early advantage when Zohore swept home in the seventh minute. The celebrations were cut short, though, by the assistant’s flag, which had correctly ruled him offside

Burton, tipped by many to struggle this season after narrowly avoiding the drop three months ago, grew into the game but struggled to fashion clear openings to test debutant keeper Neil Etheridge.

Their best effort came when Jackson Irvine lifted an excellent chance over the crossbar just before the break.

Cardiff applied some serious pressure at the start of the second half and Sol Bamba was within inches of breaking the deadlock only for Burton keeper Stephen Bywater to deny him at point-blank range. The introduction of Nathaniel Mendez-Laing and Loic Damour made the away side look more dangerous and Zohore went close with a header that Bywater tipped over.

However, the Burton keeper had no answer with three minutes left as Zohore held off two defenders and curled home the winner.

Brewers’ boss Nigel Clough said: “There is not much you can do when someone rifles one in the bottom corner from 20-odd yards out.”