Cardiff City and Newport County led the way for Welsh teams at the weekend as both clubs moved within striking distance of their respective play-offs.

The Bluebirds had lost back-to-back games in the Championship, but got the show back on the road with a hard-earned 1-0 win at Watford.

It was a result that has moved Erol Bulut’s men to within five points of the play-off places.

Newport showed there was no hangover from their FA Cup defeat to Manchester United – in fact, their comeback in the tie may have inspired them to a 2-1 home win over Swindon Town.

The Exiles are now only four points adrift of the play-off places in League Two.

Will Evans scored his 20^th goal of the season for County and manager Graham Coughlan said: The fans were very good in the second half to us, fair play to them, we needed their energy because we were flat.

“It’s been a strong 8-10 games and the bench was a big part of our game today.”

For Cardiff, Josh Bowler was the hero but he has been told he needs to have more faith in his ability if he is to build on his stunning winner.

The advice was offered by Bluebirds manager Bulut after on-loan winger Bowler proved the difference with the best goal Cardiff have scored this season.

Bowler held off one Watford player, cut inside another and sent a delightful curler beyond the outstretched hand of goalkeeper Ben Hamer and into the far corner.

It was enough to end a run of three straight defeats for Cardiff and lifted them back up to 13^th place in the Championship.

“Josh has to believe in himself,” Bulut said of the Nottingham Forest player.

“We have spoken to him many times, my assistants, too. He has quality one against one, he has to use it.

“Like today, when he has to shoot, he has to shoot, when he has to pass, he has to pass.

“I speak with him a lot about everyone knowing that he is left-footed. Sometimes he has to go on his right.

“We train it every time, that he has to dribble on the outside, on his right foot, to maybe make the assist or score a goal.”

Cardiff’s Championship rivals, Swansea City, are in a rut as they lost for the fourth time in a row – this time, a 1-0 home defeat to Plymouth Argyle.

The result stung even more as the goal was scored by Morgan Whittaker, the striker never really considered good enough when he was at the Swans before they moved him on last year.

Whittaker has shown that assessment was flawed as he is currently the leading scorer in the Championship with 17 goals.

Swans boss Luke Williams was left frustrated as Jerry Yates and Jamie Paterson both missed great chances to level – both set up by impressive Brazilian new boy, Ronald.

The defeat means Williams is still looking for his first league win since taking charge.

“I am frustrated that we didn’t turn really good actions into goals,” said Williams.

“When you create 19 chances and at least four of them are in the six-yard box, there’s not an excuse to not win the game.

“What is it that’s wrong with those chances? For me, nothing. It’s just concentration, finish the action correctly and we’ll win the game of football.”

Wrexham also stumbled to defeat as they crashed to a 3-1 loss at Salford City.

It was a result that meant back-to-back league defeats and dropped Wrexham out of the automatic promotion places to fourth in League Two.

Manager Phil Parkinson said: “We’ve given two goals away from corners which is ridiculous, really. We gave ourselves a mountain to climb against a team on a good run.

“We got one back, but the third one, we’re not strong enough in our box again, so very disappointing.

“We have to find a way on our travels – when the pitch isn’t great or teams play in a certain way – to come through these games with points because we’ve come out second best today in important areas of the game.”