Leeds head coach Neil Redfearn is confident he will be given time to make his mark after watching his reign begin with a 3-1 defeat at Cardiff.

Redfearn's full-time appointment on an initial 12-month contract was confirmed a matter of hours before kick-off at Cardiff City Stadium.

He is already the third man to be tasked with leading the Yorkshire club this season by owner Massimo Cellino.

The 49-year-old did not get the start he wanted. Goals from Bruno Manga and Federico Macheda had put Cardiff in control after a quiet first half.

Alex Mowatt's well-taken effort got Leeds back into the game, only for a defensive mix-up between keeper Marco Silvestri and Guiseppe Bellusci to gift Kenwyne Jones Cardiff's third.

But Redfearn revealed he had sought assurances from Cellino, following the brief tenures of Dave Hockaday and Darko Milanic, that he is not a short-term appointment.

He said: "I spoke to Massimo and we talked about things going forward, which was a key point for me.

"I asked if he sees me as the future and he said he does, which is great for me.

"I have been here six years in total and have put in a lot of hard work. There is the caveat that I can go back to the academy if it does not work out, but I am very proud."

Of his side's performance, he added: "It was not a dazzling performance but for an hour it was a good away performance. We limited them and we countered well.

"But that period after half-time was where the damage was done. We gave ourselves a chance pulling one back, and I thought we might get something, but you cannot legislate for their third."

Cardiff's opener came just after the hour mark. Leeds were guilty of failing to clear a corner and, when Craig Noone whipped the ball back in, Sean Morrison headed down for Manga to guide his first Bluebirds' goal into the bottom corner.

Macheda doubled the lead six minutes later with his third goal in four games.

The former Manchester United forward turned away from his marker and drove forward to power a strike into the top corner with the aid of a deflection off Jason Pearce.

But Leeds battled back and raised hopes of salvaging a point when Mowatt fired across David Marshall from Souleymane Doukara's pass.

That hope proved short-lived as Silvestri and Bellusci dallied over a hopeful punt forward, and Jones snuck in for his sixth goal of the season.

Macheda has now scored in all three of Slade's wins in charge of Cardiff, after being a peripheral figure under Ole Gunnar Solskjaer.

Slade believes the Italian is starting to hit his best form.

He said: "Kiko is a confidence player, he needs a run of games to get the best out of him and we are offering him plenty of encouragement.

"We are encouraging him to be stronger when the ball is played in to him and we know with his ability he is going to cause a lot of problems, especially when he turns defenders and drives forward.

"People forget he is still only 23 and he is still getting better, he is taking things on board.

"His confidence was a bit low when I joined the club, he had not performed very often, but he has had a run and is enjoying it."