Blackburn defender Shane Duffy scored two own goals in six first-half minutes before being sent off as the Sky Bet Championship's bottom club lost 2-1 at Cardiff.
Duffy also scored an own goal at Wigan on Saturday - meaning he had put the ball past Blackburn goalkeeper Jason Steele three times in under an hour's football - to become rather bizarrely the Championship's joint top scorer.
His misery was complete when he was sent off in the dying seconds, the frustrated Republic of Ireland defender received a second yellow card for kicking the ball away.
Danny Graham gave Blackburn hope 13 minutes from time when he held off Bruno Manga to find a gap at David Marshall's near post.
But Cardiff clung on to the win and, although no Bluebirds player has still to score this season after four games, it was a welcome result for new boss Paul Trollope.
Blackburn came into the game with their morale having taken a battering by heavy 4-1 and 3-0 defeats to Norwich and Wigan.
Those results have already put Owen Coyle under scrutiny at the start of his Blackburn tenure, but the Scot could not have predicted the nature of Rovers' downfall here.
Cardiff had not fashioned an opening before Peter Whittingham caught the Rovers defence napping after 14 minutes with a delightful ball which Declan John struck against the far post.
Duffy looked as if he had time to clear - but he stroked the rebound into an unguarded net.
Six minutes later it got worse for Blackburn - and Duffy - as Whittingham floated a free-kick into the Rovers penalty area.
The ball beat the head of Sean Morrison, but it did not escape Duffy who planted a firm header past the bemused Steele.
Duffy had deleted his own personal Twitter account after his Wigan gaffe because of the personal abuse he had received following that own goal.
Cardiff were in need of some help after failing to score in their opening league games against Birmingham and QPR as well as an EFL Cup tie at Bristol Rovers.
Failure to do so again would have stretched their drought to the opening three league games of a season for the first time since the 1958-59 campaign.
They should have had a third when Anthony Pilkington, released by Lex Immers, dragged his effort wide of an upright with only Steele to beat.
Pilkington sent another shot wide soon after the restart and Cardiff's threat level rose following the introduction of the pacy Kadeem Harris.
One Harris run left several Rovers players trailing in his wake with his final shot deflecting off Duffy and, much to the defender's relief, falling wide of the goal to avoid the most unusual of hat-tricks.
However, he did not have to wait for another blow - with the late dismissal compounding a grim night.
Cardiff: Marshall, Peltier (Harris 57), Morrison, Connolly, Manga, John, Whittingham, Ralls, Gunnarsson, Immers (Huws 88), Pilkington (Gounongbe 76). Subs not used: Moore, Ajayi, Noone, Zohore.
Booked: Harris.
Goals: Duffy OGs 14, 20.
Rovers: Steele, Lowe, Duffy, Greer, Hendrie, Marshall (Feeney 88), Byrne, Akpan (Lenihan 84), Conway, Graham, Stokes (Gallagher 63). Subs not used: Raya, Guthrie, Mahoney, Wharton.
Booked: Duffy, Akpan.
Sent off: Duffy 90.
Goal: Graham 77.
Referee: Andy Davies.
Attendance: 14,041.