Cardiff City produced an astonishing display to brush aside fellow play-off hopefuls Bristol City and move into fourth in the Championship table.

Peter Whittingham followed up a Dean Gerken save to slot home the first.

Ross McCormack made it 2-0 from close range and Michael Chopra drilled in the third from the edge of the area.

Liam Fontaine scored an own goal before Chopra and McCormack added fine finishes from outside the box to pile the misery on the Robins.

The defeat, which featured three goals in five first-half minutes and a plentiful supply of hapless defending, will heap pressure on City manager Gary Johnson.

The Robins have now won just twice in 12 league games and have slipped six points behind the play-off places.

It was the third meeting between these sides in the space of a fortnight, after Cardiff knocked the Robins out of the FA Cup in a fourth-round replay.

And the hosts were protecting a proud record of nine wins and five draws in their past 14 home matches against Cardiff.

606: DEBATE so proud of the management team and the players the last few weeks they have all come under a lot of stick - fantastic londonbluebirds

Although Johnson included new loan signing Patrick Agyemang, the striker could not have endured a more miserable debut as Cardiff ran riot.

Whittingham had already gone close before he opened the scoring after 19 minutes.

Joe Ledley's pass sent Chopra clear, and although Gerken pulled off a superb save, the ball fell for Whittingham to stroke home.

The Bluebirds doubled their advantage when Adam Matthews' long ball found Gavin Rae, whose scuffed shot beat Gerken, leaving McCormack with a tap-in.

Two became three less than a minute later when Ledley played the ball to Chopra, who drilled a low shot past the keeper.

The former Newcastle and Sunderland striker turned creator for the fourth, whipping in a low cross which Fontaine slammed into his own net.

In his half-time team talk, Johnson may have reminded his men of the fact that Cardiff let a four-goal lead slip against Peterborough on 28 December.

But any hope of a repeat was extinguished less than a minute after the restart when Chopra added a fifth goal.

Mark Kennedy slipped the ball through for Jay Bothroyd, and his touch sent Chopra clear to score his second of the game.

The final gloss was applied by McCormack who received the ball from a corner and smashed it home from distance.

Bristol City did manage to avoid further embarrassment in the final half-hour and briefly threatened a consolation goal.

Jamal Campbell-Ryce fired straight at David Marshall from six yards and Nicky Maynard had the keeper scrambling to keep out a 25-yard effort.

But the night belonged to the Welsh side, whose first win in five league games keeps them right in the hunt for the play-offs.

Bristol City manager Gary Johnson:

"It's the sort of night when it is best not to say much.

"Whatever reason I try to offer for that performance will be picked apart.

"We have a lot of soul searching to do over the next few days before our next game at Middlesbrough.

"It wasn't that we forgot how to defend, we just couldn't defend on the night."

Cardiff manager Dave Jones:

"Our running off the ball and passing were first class. Virtually everything we hit went in but we could even have had a couple more goals.

"I know I have players capable of scoring in every game.

"But we also defended strongly throughout and all departments of the team deserve credit."

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