Cardiff City’s season of tears and tragedy has ended in relegation as former player Wilfried Zaha inspired away-day specialists Crystal Palace to another three points on the road.
Zaha, part of the last Cardiff team to drop out of the Premier League in 2014, scored and assisted in Palace’s first two goals before Andros Townsend delivered the final blow late on.
Despite slipping back into The Championship after only one season, defiant Bluebirds fans chanted the name of manager Neil Warnock, aware their club were pre-season favourites for relegation and had to deal with the death of record signing Emiliano Sala in a plane crash in January.
Cardiff City have suffered Premier League relegation after losing at home to Crystal Palace
Wilfried Zaha opened the scoring for Crystal Palace after half an hour at the Cardiff City Stadium
Cardiff were handed a lifeline when Crystal Palace full-back Martin Kelly diverted the ball into his own goal
Michy Batshuayi was on hand to fire home shortly after to restore the goal advantage for the Eagles
Andros Townsend produced a stunning run and shot to grab a third goal for Crystal Palace midway through the second half
Cardiff kept fighting and Bobby Decordova-Reid curled in an effort with just minutes remaining but it was in vain
CARDIFF: Etheridge, Peltier, Morrison, Ecuele Manga, Bennett, Mendez-Laing, Gunnarsson, Victor Camarasa (Bacuna 11), Josh Murphy (Hoilett 80), Reid, Ward (Zohore 60)
GOALS: Kelly og 31, Decordova-Reid 89
SUBS NOT USED: Richards, Cunningham, Brian Murphy, Healey.
CRYSTAL PALACE: Guaita, Wan Bissaka, Kelly, Dann, Ward, Townsend (Kouyate 84), McArthur, Milivojevic, Zaha, Batshuayi (Sako 73), Ayew (Meyer 74).
GOALS: Zaha 28, Batshuayi 39, Townsend 71
SUBS NOT USED: Van Aanholt, Hennessey, Wickham, Riedewald.
REFEREE: Michael Oliver
Wilfried Zaha started and finished the move for Crystal Palace's opening goal against Cardiff. CLICK HERE to see more from Sportsmail's MATCH ZONE.
For a game Cardiff had to win, Warnock picked the most attacking line-up any of their fans could remember with midfield anchorman Aron Gunnarsson and five forward-thinking players.
It nearly provided an instant result. In under 30 seconds, winger Josh Murphy broke forward to the edge of the box and fired a dipping shot that fooled Vicente Guaita but struck the foot of the post.
The high spirits among home fans dampened quickly however when midfielder Victor Camarasa limped off after 11 minutes, unable to recover from a heavy challenge despite ice applied to his knee.
Things went from bad to worse for the Welshmen when their former loanee Zaha fired Palace ahead after 28 minutes.
The Bluebirds suffered a blow early on when influential midfielder Victor Camarasa departed through injury
Ivory Coast winger Zaha slipped home a right-footed shot low into the net to register the opener for his side
Neil Etheridge produced a desperate close-range save to deny Belgian Batshuayi another goal late in the half
Cardiff City owner Vincent Tan was present at the Cardiff City Stadium to cheer his side on
