Cardiff City 0, Bardford City 2: They were two sublime goals that Thierry Henry would kill for.

But Paul Evans was raving about the defensive heroics behind City's impressive, if unexpected, triumph in South Wales.

If the locals were to be believed, the Bantams were only meant to turn up for a walk-on part in Cardiff's homecoming parade.

After all, this was Ninian Park's first match in the top two divisions since 1985 so the script had clearly been written. Not that Nicky Law's mob had bothered to read it.

Slated for the Carling Cup fiasco with Darlington, City had a huge point to prove. And what better occasion than somebody else's party to do it.

Even the hostile natives grudgingly had to admit that the walloping strikes by Andy Gray and Lewis Emanuel which settled it were worthy of any big day.

But there was much more to this victory than two contenders for goal of the season.

Evans, relishing a winning return to his native Wales, highlighted the bravery shown at the other end to defy Cardiff's increasingly desperate attacking raids.

He said: "Everyone can talk about the goals by Andy and Lewis and they were outstanding. But for me, the block that Jakes (Wayne Jacobs) put in on the line in the second half showed just how much we wanted it.

"And there were two or three others going for the ball as well. But that's what you've got to do if you want to win these sort of matches.

"We knew we'd be under pressure. Cardiff is going to be a hard place to come but I think we might have played them at just the right time.

"Thankfully Tuesday was gone and this was a great game to play in. With me being Welsh I was desperate to play and I enjoyed every minute of it.

"We got Darlington out of our system and showed how good we can be. But we now we've got to perform like that every week."

Cardiff's unbeaten start was not the only record to go for a burton. So too did the Three Lions CD that the hapless DJ played before the game.

Unsurprisingly the England anthem proved a red rag to a dragon for the Welsh hordes and provoked Cardiff chairman Sam Hammam to storm up from the dug-out and snap the offending disc in half. I'm not sure what happened to the DJ.

But City called the tune on the pitch as they dished out the rudest of awakenings for the Division One new boys.

Law's tactics in midweek had been called into question by chairman Gordon Gibb, who accused City of a Third Division approach.

But the manager, clearly riled by those comments, got the system absolutely spot on in South Wales.

Many thought Evans might be the Darlington fall guy but it was Tom Kearney who made way so that Simon Francis could be pushed into midfield. With Jacobs fit, Paul Heckingbottom was shunted to centre half to help David Wetherall on Alan Lee watch.

It worked a treat as the Bantams minimised the threat of Robert Earnshaw and Co. For all Cardiff's possession, they made only a handful of chances and most of them were sorted by Mark Paston.

The big Kiwi seems to be improving with each performance. Alan Combe may still be nursing a groin strain but Paston has earned the first-team jersey on merit and is going to take some shifting.

He's also had some problems with his groin and was only passed fit five hours before kick-off. The pain was troubling him towards the latter stages but with a week to recover to the next game with Gillingham, Paston has the time to mend properly.

Cardiff may be new to this division but battering ram Lee needed no introductions to the City backline. The £1m man from Rotherham was thrown straight into the fray by Lennie Lawrence - and Law was delighted.

The City boss said: "We were all pleased when we saw he was playing. Lee's a good player and puts himself about but you know what you're getting with him.

"David Wetherall will play out there until tomorrow morning and handle that. It suits him more than facing two little quick guys."

Wetherall emerged covered in bumps and bruises as medals of honour but he fought ferociously for every high ball. Alongside him, Heckingbottom was coolness personified in his third different position in a week.

Cardiff's balloon was popped inside six minutes when Gray broke his duck for the new campaign in spectacular fashion.

City's top-scorer last term is only on the stand-by list for Scotland's trip to Norway on Wednesday. Berti Vogts will be looking for injuries when he sees the tape of Gray's wonder strike.

Dean Windass, who laughed afterwards that he had both centre halves still tucked in his pocket, made the opening with his strength. Holding the ball up from Paston's deep free-kick, it fell to Gray who caught the volley in the sweet spot and watched it zip into the top corner.

The response was typically fierce but City were braced for that and showed no signs of cracking. Paston saved well at his far post from Tony Vidmar and Lee put a couple of flicks off course but Cardiff were banging their heads against a brick wall.

Only once did City look like cracking when John Robinson fired against the bar. Earnshaw seemed odds-on to pounce on the rebound but there was Evans throwing himself in to smother his follow-up.

Lewis Emanuel, the other player left out from Tuesday, replaced his replacement Ben Muirhead and within 15 minutes had notched his first senior goal with the second out-of-this-world effort of the game.

"Good coaching" laughed Law when asked the secret of Emanuel's exorcet effort which screamed past Neil Alexander's right hand from 30 yards. Nobody saw it coming, probably not even the teenage scorer.

Emanuel was dumbstruck as it hit the net and didn't seem to know how to celebrate. Clearly no elaborate dance routines had been practised as he settled for raising a solitary finger to the sky in the understated way Justin Fashanu used to mark his goals.

With 20 minutes left, City were still not counting chickens. Remember what had happened to Norwich.

Paston tipped away a Graham Kavanagh free-kick and then Jacobs defied Earnshaw in a free-for-all in the six-yard box after Lee's snap-shot had been parried.

It capped an away-day display right up there with last season's wins at Ipswich and Wolves. Carling Cup first-rounds are small beer in comparison.