Jay Bothroyd's late strike saw Cardiff snatch a 2-1 win at Coventry and remain second in the Championship.
Cardiff striker backs up Jones' England claim with late winner
Jay Bothroyd's late strike saw Cardiff snatch a 2-1 win at Coventry and remain second in the Championship table.
Peter Whittingham gave the Bluebirds the lead with a fifth-minute penalty, only for Gary McSheffrey to draw the home side level a minute before the break.
But Bothroyd pounced three minutes from time to clinch the three points and back up manager Dave Jones' claim the ex-Coventry striker could be worth an England call-up.
Much of the pre-match talk centred around the return of Cardiff's on-loan Manchester City forward Craig Bellamy, who remains Coventry's record signing nine years after leaving for Newcastle having been unable to prevent the Sky Blues getting relegated from the Premier League.
But Bothroyd stole the spotlight to cut the gap to two points at the top of the Championship with his ninth goal of the season, just three days after Jones urged Fabio Capello to take a look at the 28-year-old.
Harsh on Coventry
The result was harsh on Coventry, who gave the high-flying Bluebirds a real run for their money having been unchanged from Saturday's win at Ipswich.
Bellamy, predictably, received a chorus of boos from the Ricoh Arena faithful from his first touch to his last.
But he and the visitors were celebrating early on as Ben Turner tugged back Michael Chopra from Bellamy's cross and Whittingham slotted home the penalty.
The game was 18 minutes old when full-back Martin Cranie tested Cardiff goalkeeper Tom Heaton with a low drive, while Keiren Westwood had to be at his best to turn away Gabor Gyepes' snap-shot at the other end.
Mark Hudson, partnering Gyepes in the centre of the Cardiff defence, headed narrowly wide from a Bellamy corner just after the half-hour mark.
That looked set to be the last chance of the first half until Hudson played a suicidal pass straight to Coventry's Aron Gunnarsson, who surged forward to feed McSheffrey on the left and he cut inside Kevin McNaughton before firing home.
Off the pace
Cardiff were off the pace as the first half closed out and that continued at the start of the second half against a Coventry side who grew in confidence.
Yet neither goalkeeper had been forced to make a real save in the second half as the game moved into the final 20 minutes.
That led to Marlon King and Jason Koumas being introduced by Aidy Boothroyd and Jones, respectively.
But with the game seemingly heading for a draw, Bothroyd produced a deft finish to convert Chris Burke's low centre.
