RADICAL Welsh stunt group Dirty Sanchez spent half-time having footballs thumped against their virtually bare backsides.

By the 63rd minute, Burnley manager Steve Cotterill knew exactly how they felt.

After seeing his side call the shots for most of the first half, he had witnessed their demise in just five second half minutes.

Talk about a kick in the pants.

Cotterill was at a complete loss when it came to an explanation. Words, in general, were hard enough to come by for a man who looked postively sick to the pit of his stomach. And he admitted as much.

Perhaps television pranksters Pritchard, Pancho and Co hadn't had it so tough after all.

Cardiff did maximum damage from a brief lapse in the Clarets' concentration. And new Bluebirds signing Steven Thompson made a massive impact on his debut with his double whammy, while Jason Koumas celebrated having his contract extended at Ninian Park by snatching the third.

But Cotterill felt it wasn't just the goals that were the difference between the two sides.

The referee came in for strong criticism after favouring the home camp in some key decisions.

But what concerns the Clarets boss more is the January transfer wheeling and dealing going on around him.

Cardiff boss Dave Jones had pulled at the purse strings of owner Sam Hammam to snap up Thompson from Glasgow Rangers for £200,000, while fellow new boys Riccy Scimeca and Guylain Ndumbu Nsungu were both handed a place on the bench.

The ability to strengthen a squad and create even more competition for places is something Cotterill does not have the luxury of because of his club's finances.

But the Burnley board will need to come up with something this month if Cotterill is going to have a fighting chance of getting his side in and among the play-off contenders.

Perhaps he would have felt better about the lack of potential in the transfer window had the game panned out as most people anticipated on the evidence of the first half.

The stage seemed set for a 0-0 draw. Burnley, with four across the middle and Micah Hyde dropping between midfield and defence, kept the majority of possession and had the edge on what few chances there were.

Jon Harley provided the first test for goalkeeper Neil Alexander after Neil Cox fouled Ade AKiniyi on the edge of the box.

The full back drilled a left-footed strike firmly at goal after receiving a short free kick, but Alexander matched it with a clean, low save.

Akinbiyi was harshly booked just before the half-hour for a foul on Darren Purse as they challenged for the ball midway inside the Cardiff half. But that failed to keep him out of the game.

Burnley were defending from the front, and the striker was as keen as anyone to keep the Cardiff back line on their toes, hunting down centre halves Purse and Cox, hoping the pressure would force them into mistakes.

He was a similar livewire in attack, but was cruelly denied the chance to make an impact three minutes before the break when he was dubiously flagged offside with a clear run on goal. He was level, at the very least.

After a half of little goalmouth action, few would have predicted what was to come after the break. But Wayne Thomas's first error signalled the onset of the Clarets losing their grip on this contest.

The defender, starting only his second game since recovering from a cruciate ligament injury, had kept a lid on Cameron Jerome - the Championship's joint top scorer with Akinbiyi.

But when an attemtped clearance 10 minutes into the second half rebounded off Koumas - forcing Jensen into desperate measures and prompting a speedy recovery from Thomas himself to make a vital challenge - the Clarets were put on the rack.

Ardley, the catalyst for quickfire Cardiff's second half improvement, fired a free kick from the right flank to the far post, where Cox forced Jensen into a save with his firm header.

The pressure told a minute later when Rhys Weston was given too much time to whip in a dangerous centre. Jensen must have misjudged the bend on the ball because, as he leaped out to claim it, the ball slipped through his grasp as he fell over Jerome, and Thompson gleefully lapped up the loose offering and rammed it straight into the back of the Clarets' goal.

Cardiff immediately came to life and Thompson added his second two minutes later following another break down the right.

This time Jerome was the supplier as he flicked the ball high towards the edge of the area and Thompson was allowed time and space to hammer the ball beyond Jensen.

The game was wrapped up within three minutes as Ardley whipped over a cross from the right and Koumas, totally unmarked, headed into the bottom corner.

Cotterill made a double substitution in response, but even though there were still 25 minutes left, there seemed no way back for Burnley.

Instead, they were lucky not to go further behind as Koumas and Jerome combined to carve out another chance, but Thomas and Frank Sinclair did enough to prevent a shot on target.

Jensen was put under further pressure by Thomas's short back pass but reacted quickly to prevent Jerome from adding to his season's tally.

Knowing the game was won, Jones gave a run out to new faces Scimeca and Ndumbu Nsungu, rubbing further salt into Cotterill's wounds.