The Bluebirds are now the Championship hunters and manager Neil Warnock says: “We must make the most of it.”

Cardiff City lost 1-0 at Aston Villa and slipped from second to third, behind leaders Wolves and Fulham.

“It’s nice to be the hunter not the hunted all the time,” said Warnock.

“Fulham are a good side but they don’t just have simple games and we have an opportunity.

“The lads are disappointed, but they put in a great shift.”

City produced a solid away performance and created the better chances, but Villa won thanks to a Jack Grealish volley from 20 yards which flew in off a post after 85 minutes.

“That bit of quality could win any game,” said Villa manager Steve Bruce. “It was a wonderful strike. It was our night.”

Goalkeeper Sam Johnstone produced some outstanding saves to deny Warnock’s team, who now travel to Norwich City on Saturday.

Cardiff are one point behind Fulham with a game in hand and are still chasing hard to secure automatic promotion.

Warnock made two team changes with Marko Grujić and Nathaniel Mendez-Laing back in the starting line-up.

More than 2,600 City fans made the trip to Villa Park and their almost opened the scoring when Kenneth Zohore fed Mendez-Laing and he burst through on goal before seeing his effort rebound off a post.

The Bluebirds were then twice unlucky not to take the lead on the stroke of half-time. Villa scrambled clear Sean Morrison’s effort before Callum Paterson’s fierce drive was parried away by Johnstone.

Villa stay in fourth place and are five points behind Fulham, who defeated Reading 1-0 at Craven Cottage.

Cardiff have dropped out of the top two for the first time since mid-February. They still have a game in hand over Fulham, but City have earned only one point from the last nine on offer.

The winner came when a deep free-kick was half cleared and fell for Grealish to go for goal. His first time shot swept past helpless goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.

Aston Villa: Johnstone, Elmohamady, Jedinak, Chester, Tuanzebe (Bree 26), Snodgrass, Whelan, Hourihane (Samba 88), Adomah (Kodjia 60), Grealish, Grabban. Subs not used: Bunn, Lansbury, Onomah, Hogan.

Cardiff City: Etheridge; Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett, Grujić, Gunnarsson, Paterson, Mendez-Laing (Pilkington 90), Hoilett (J Ward 88), Zohore (Madine, 68). Subs not used: Murphy, Traoré, Ecuele Manga, Bryson.

Remaining fixtures for the top four:

Wolves: Derby (H), Birmingham (H), Bolton (A), Sheffield Wednesday (H), Sunderland (A).

Cardiff City: Norwich (A), Nottingham Forest (H), Derby (A), Hull (A), Reading (H).

Fulham: Brentford (H), Millwall (A), Sunderland (H), Birmingham (A).

Aston Villa: Leeds (H), Ipswich (A), Derby (H), Millwall (A).

Championship 2017-18

Current table

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		P	W	D	L	F	A	W	D	L	F	A	GD	PTS
1	Wolves	41	14	4	2	43	18	13	4	4	31	18	+38	89
2	Fulham	42	12	7	2	37	15	11	5	5	35	26	+31	81
3	Cardiff	41	15	3	3	38	15	9	5	6	24	20	+27	80
4	Aston Villa	42	13	6	2	40	18	9	4	8	26	22	+26	76
5	Derby	40	10	5	5	33	18	8	9	3	27	20	+22	68
6	Millwall	42	11	7	3	32	18	7	7	7	22	21	+15	68
7	Middlesbro	42	12	3	6	29	16	7	6	8	30	25	+18	66
8	Bristol C	42	11	5	5	34	20	6	9	6	25	28	+11	65
9	Sheff Utd	42	12	4	5	32	18	7	4	10	25	31	+8	65
10	Brentford	42	8	10	3	34	22	9	3	9	24	25	+11	64
11	Preston	42	8	7	6	25	21	8	8	5	27	23	+8	63
12	Ipswich	42	9	5	7	27	21	7	3	11	23	31	-2	56
13	Norwich	42	7	8	6	23	22	7	6	8	23	30	-6	56
14	Leeds	42	8	6	7	28	26	7	3	11	26	34	-6	54
15	QPR	42	11	5	5	34	28	3	6	12	19	35	-10	53
16	Hull	42	7	8	6	41	29	4	6	11	23	32	+3	47
17	Sheff Wed	42	6	7	8	29	30	5	7	9	21	29	-9	47
18	Nottm Forest	41	8	2	10	20	26	5	5	11	23	33	-16	46
19	Reading	42	5	7	9	23	29	5	5	11	23	32	-15	42
20	Birmingham	42	8	3	10	16	22	3	4	14	16	39	-29	40
21	Bolton	42	8	4	9	22	27	1	8	12	12	37	-30	39
22	Barnsley	41	4	8	9	21	30	4	5	11	21	31	-19	37
23	Sunderland	42	2	7	12	19	37	4	8	9	26	37	-29	33
24	Burton	42	2	5	14	14	42	5	6	10	16	35	-47	32