BLUEBIRDS manager Dave Jones praised the determination of Scunthorpe's defending at the Cardiff City Stadium – but was always confident his side had the attacking quality to snatch a goal.

The Welsh side had to wait until the 85th minute to open the scoring, courtesy of Seyi Olofinjana's close range header, and once that had happened, it was always going to be tough for the visitors to find a way back on level terms.

"I can't fault Scunthorpe for coming here, getting everybody behind the ball and working their socks off," said Jones, the Championship's longest-serving boss.

"It was up to us to break them down and we had some good opportunities to do that, but they are fighting for their lives and they threw their bodies on the line and defended well.

"But it's a long, long time to go from the first minute to the 90th minute just defending, defending, defending.

"I don't think Scunthorpe sent enough men forward for us to worry about losing it. It was always going to be when, rather than if a goal was going to come."

Olofinjana's header was the fourth consecutive game in which Cardiff have scored inside the final 10 minutes of matches – an effort which has earned them seven points.

And though Jones described his side's performance as 'after the Lord Mayor's show' coming on the back of a derby win at Swansea six days earlier, the Bluebirds ended the day with what mattered most.

"Good teams keep going until the end," he added.

"That's what you have to do and you get that mentality that with the players you have, there's always somebody who can create something out of nothing.

"Just that little half a yard from Kouy (Jason Koumas), where he sucked the boy in, dropped his shoulder and a superb cross does the damage. It broke to us this time."