Cardiff City returned to the top of League One with a comprehensive 3-0 home win over Mansfield Town.
Centre-back Will Fish headed in from a corner to put the Bluebirds in front during a first half they dominated.
Mansfield were more competitive after the break but were undone by a clinical counter-attack as Ronan Kpakio's sumptuous cross was headed in by Yousef Salech.
Cardiff missed numerous chances to extend their lead – Salech guilty of squandering the best of those – before Cian Ashford added a late third after his initial shot was saved.
A third successive league victory at Cardiff City Stadium takes Brian Barry-Murphy's side back to the summit of the table thanks to Stevenage's draw at Wigan Athletic.
As for Mansfield, a third successive defeat sees Nigel Clough's side drop to 15th.
A few quirks of the fixture list – namely cup games and international-related postponements - meant this was Cardiff's first home league match since 18 October.
They were clearly relieved to be back on familiar ground, not least because of their mixed results on the road. The Bluebirds had lost two away League Two games before beating Northampton Town last weekend to briefly reclaim their position at the top of the table.
Coming into this encounter one point behind leaders Stevenage, Cardiff started the game with a purpose and intensity that demonstrated how eager they were to keep pace with their rivals for promotion.
Salech missed a hat-trick of headed chances in the opening 20 minutes, while David Turnbull twice tested Mansfield goalkeeper Liam Roberts, once with a low free-kick and then with a thunderous swerving effort from 35 yards.
A Cardiff goal was clearly coming and it eventually arrived after 34 minutes, Joel Bagan curling in a left-footed corner from the right for Fish to glance in at the near post.
Mansfield improved after the interval, with Deji Oshilaja forcing a save from Nathan Trott and Will Evans firing wide.
But that brief revival was of no consequence as Cardiff regained control with a superb second goal.
Dylan Lawlor launched the attack with a searching long ball for substitute and fellow academy product Kpakio, who did not break stride before lofting a cross for Salech to head in.
The forward should have had a second moments later when he was gifted possession by Roberts and had the goal at his mercy, but saw his weak shot saved by the Mansfield keeper.
Lawlor and Salech were both thwarted by Roberts as Cardiff continued to apply pressure, and they duly scored a third goal when substitute Alex Robertson threaded a neat through ball to Ashford, who saw his initial shot saved before bundling in the rebound.
Cardiff City: Trott, Ng (Kpakio 62’), Fish, Lawlor, Bagan, Wintle, Turnbull (Robertson 80’), Robinson (Willock 62’), Ashford, Davies (J.Colwill 62’), Salech (Kellyman 90’). Subs Not Used: Osho, Chambers.
Mansfield Town: Roberts, Knoyle (Bowery 13’), Hewitt (Akins 67’), Oshilaja, Blake-Tracy, McLaughlin (Cargill 46’), Reed (Dwyer 75’), McDonnell, Lewis, Moriah-Welsh, Evans (McAdam 75’). Subs Not Used: Mason, Goodman.
