Huddersfield Town signed off the SkyBet Championship league season with a whimper in a poor performance at home to Cardiff City.

In the grand scheme of things the defeat will matter little to everyone connected to the club after a simply sensational season which has witnessed David Wagner's men defy all the odds to secure a Play-Off place.

But many will be hoping this display of 'going through the motions' is merely a case of conserving energy for the much tougher test of a two-legged clash against Sheffield Wednesday in the knock-out competition.

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On the afternoon itself, Kenneth Zohore opened the scoring as early as the 7th minute before Danny Ward saw red for handling the ball outside the area with Joe Bennett adding a brace to seal a comprehensive win for the Bluebirds.

Wagner made nine changes to the line-up that caused so much controversy at Birmingham City last weekend with the starting XI a return to arguably the German’s strongest side, barring injuries.

Sean Scannell made his first home game appearance since the ankle injury picked up against Wigan Athletic in November with Izzy Brown starting in the 'number 10' position as he also stepped up his own recovery from injury.

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One surprise was the inclusion of Collin Quaner upfront instead of Nahki Wells with the Bermudian having to settle for a place on the bench.

If the German Head Coach was using the game as a dress rehearsal for the Play-Offs, the mood around a sunny John Smith's Stadium was more akin to a carnival than a white-hot atmosphere ahead of kick-off.

It's been an incredible league campaign and after the Pedal 4 Pounds heroes had been saluted for their efforts in cycling from Dortmund to West Yorkshire, it was time for Dean Hoyle to take centre-stage and express his thanks to the fans before describing the football 'as good as it has been for years and years.'

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Once the game finally commenced, it was a sloppy start from the hosts, with an early error in possession from keeper Ward setting the tone – only the linesman's flag for offside coming to his rescue as Junior Hoilett looked to profit..

The Bluebirds did break the deadlock minutes later though, former old-boy Anthony Pilkington playing in Kenneth Zohore who shows great composure to slot home past Ward in the 7th minute.

Town were not at the races and their misery was further compounded when Ward saw red for handling the ball outside the area as Hoilett ran through.

If Wagner needed any further justification for his wholesale changes last weekend to protect key players and give a run-out to others the incident reinforced his point and stance.

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Joel Coleman entered the fray with Scannell making way in a tactical change with the deputy keep soon picking the ball out of the net as the visitors doubled their advantage through full-back Joe Bennett.

The second-half started much like the first, with Cardiff once again looking the most threatening and showing the most hunger and desire.

Zohore, a constant thorn for Town's defence throughout the afternoon, finding Hoilett in space but the Canadian curled his effort over the bar.

And any thought of a Huddersfield Town fightback was eventually extinguished in the 71st minute as Bennett doubled his tally for the afternoon after a great counter-attack from an Aaron Mooy cleared free-kick.