Cardiff City returned to action with a 2-0 loss against Mike Dodds' Sunderland.
Josh Bowler started brightly for The Bluebirds, as he cut in from the right and had a strike at goal, however his effort went wide.
Sunderland were awarded a penalty, one that only Jeremy Simpson could explain, Aouchiche made no mistake and gave the visitors the lead after twelve minutes.
Horvath made key saves to deny Trai Hume and Chris Rigg. The American couldn't deny Bellingham who doubled The Black Cats' lead in the twenty-seventh minute.
A penalty shout was waved away as Josh Bowler was brought down in the box on the hour mark.
The Bluebirds hit the woodwork with ten minutes left, as Goutas met an Aaron Ramsey corner but his effort bounced off the crossbar.
Horvath made some key saves late on, however they amounted to nothing as Cardiff were easily beaten on Good Friday.
Player Ratings:
Ethan Horvath (7.5) MOTM - Horvath may have conceded two, but without the American it could have been five or six. Some big saves in one-on-one's. Distribution was decent.
Perry Ng (5) - Gave Ba far too much room in behind to do what he wanted with the ball. Ghosted by Bellingham for the second. Some decent challenges here and there, but on a whole struggled.
Nat Phillips (4) - A really messy and hectic performance. Beaten too many times and the ball showed a lack of urgency and awareness, too often wanting to do the glory pass, instead of simply passing down the line.
Dimitrios Goutas (4) - Struggled alongside Phillips with the Sunderland onslaught. On the ball was slightly better than Phillips. Giving away a penalty didn't help his cause.
Josh Wilson-Esbrand (4) - Aouchiche found a lot of joy down the left. JWE was wasteful on the ball and struggled to find any rhythm. Subbed at the interval.
Ryan Wintle (5) - Mopped up fairly well in the middle, and a couple of nice passes here and there. However, bypassed far too easily and often found himself outnumbered, so not necessarily a great deal Wintle could do.
Joe Ralls (5) - Hardly noticed Ralls, if I'm honest. Failed to make his usual impact on the game. When he got the ball, tried to make things happen, but nothing of note came off for Rallsy.
Rubin Colwill (5) - Seemed to be everywhere without doing a lot. Also a few people visibly (Wintle, Ralls and Bulut) upset with the areas Colwill was picking up, perhaps suggesting he wasn't occupying the areas he was asked too. Also replaced at the interval.
Josh Bowler (6) - A bright first twenty or so minutes, and did look keen to attack. Ran into traffic a bit too often to do anything of note.
Callum O'Dowda (5.5) - Better defensively than he was going forward. When he moved to left-back, some nice powerful drives up the pitch, unfortunately it didn't result to anything. Linked up well with Grant.
Karlan Grant (5) - Being a lone striker nullified what Grant is good at. Failed to get involved in the first half. In the second Grant was more involved, but had nothing to show for it, as he failed to create any real chance.
Subs:
Aaron Ramsey (6) - Grew into the game. Some nice deliveries from set pieces.
Famara Diedhiou (4) - Really slow to things. Failed to make an impact.
Callum Robinson (6) - Picked up some good areas. Worked well with Grant and O'Dowda down the left. One or two poor touches, as you'd expect from someone out for so long, however an encouraging return, I felt.
Yakou Meite (N/A) - Didn't do anything of note.
Summary:
A really uncomfortable watch. A lack of anything from Cardiff, no player to take the game by the scruff of the neck, instead a team that rolled over and allowed Sunderland the freedom to express themselves, something they didn't waste.
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