Cardiff were relegated from the Sky Bet Championship after drawing 0-0 with West Brom.
The Bluebirds’ return to the third tier of English football for the first time since 2003 was sealed on an anxious afternoon in the Welsh capital – six years after Cardiff had been playing in the Premier League.
Aaron Ramsey, the Wales captain and Cardiff midfielder currently out injured, was in interim charge for the second time but no blame can be attached to him for the Bluebirds’ fall from grace which, in truth, has been a long time coming.
Albion had sacked Tony Mowbray after Monday’s home defeat to Derby – their fifth in six games – and put James Morrison in command for the final two games with play-off ambitions all but over.
Those hopes were finally extinguished as Isaac Price came closest to scoring with a first-half effort that bounced back off a post.
Luton delivered a hammer blow to Cardiff before kick-off with their 90th-minute winner against Coventry effectively leaving the Bluebirds needing to win their two final games to have any chance of survival.
The importance of the occasion did not appear lost on Cardiff as Perry Ng flashed over inside 80 seconds and Calum Chambers was denied by a brilliant Price goal-line clearance.
The head of Kyle Bartley was also needed to divert Cardiff danger several times, but Albion gradually established control.
Price was involved at the other end as Cardiff players backed off him and the diving Ethan Horvath tipped his shot around a post.
Callum Styles and Tom Fellows were off target before Adam Armstrong stayed onside for Price to strike the woodwork.
Karlan Grant, on loan at Cardiff last season, dragged a shot wide and Furlong had Horvath scrambling across his line.
Cardiff had barely offered anything in attack since the early stages, but moments before the break Chambers had the ball in the net only for his header to be ruled out for offside.
Ousmane Diakite blasted over from the edge of the box as Albion probed at the start of the second half.
Cardiff urgently needed some positivity to give their supporters belief and Andy Rinomhota’s goalbound shot, blocked by the legs of Torbjorn Heggem, raised the decibel level.
Albion escaped in extraordinary fashion when goalkeeper Josh Griffiths’ outstretched leg prevented Alex Robertson from opening the scoring.
Yousef Salech drove the rebound onto the post with Griffiths back in action again to stop another follow-up effort from Chambers.
Armstrong scampered through unchecked and should have added to Cardiff’s misery, but it mattered not as the Bluebirds fell through the trapdoor into League One.
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