"The Duke of Cambridge was at Villa Park to witness the club's own crown prince, Jack Grealish, spark Steve Bruce's promotion bid back into life with an outrageous winning goal. Sitting next to former striker John Carew, Villa fan Prince William will have been out of his seat after Grealish's brilliant volley five minutes from time settled this encounter between the Championship manager promotion experts. Grealish's strike earned Villa only their second victory in six games, maintaining their slim hopes of automatic promotion, while Cardiff's own aspirations of scrambling into the top two were damaged after Fulham's win over Reading. Cardiff are now third, with a game in hand over Fulham, and were frustrated after an outstanding performance from Sam Johnstone, the goalkeeper on loan from Manchester United. Johnstone's brilliance prevented Villa from a chastening defeat in front of His Royal Highness, with at least three excellent saves, before Grealish struck from outside the box with a breathtaking goal. Jack Grealish scored with a screamer of a volley Credit: Marc Atkins/Offside/Getty Images Warnock admitted there were many ""broken hearts' after the stormy defeat by Wolves on Friday, when Cardiff's Gary Madine and Junior Hoilett both failed to score stoppage-time penalties. This will have felt even worse. It is currently Warnock 7 Bruce 4 in the promotion stakes but the Villa manager's hopes of adding another to his collection were under serious threat. The Villa wobble has come at the worst possible time. Bruce witnessed one of the club's most dismal performances of the season at Norwich last weekend and the ramifications for missing out on promotion do not bear thinking about. Neil Warnock has suffered back-to-back defeats which have allowed Fulham to sneak ahead in the race for automatic promotion Credit: Marc Atkins/Offside/Getty Images He has already conceded that his own future could be in doubt if Villa face another season in the Championship, while contract talks with senior players are on hold. Parachute payments will also be significantly lower if Villa have to stomach a third successive season in the second tier. With captain John Terry absent due to an ankle problem, the pressure was on the home team and they could have fallen behind in the 16th minute. Axel Tuanzebe was robbed of the ball on the halfway line and Kenneth Zohore released Nathaniel Mendez-Lang into the area. The Cardiff winger had only Sam Johnstone to beat but his angled shot came back off the post. It felt like a huge moment. Warnock had lost all six of his previous Football League meetings away against Bruce - with Bury, Sheffield United, Leeds United, Crystal Palace, Rotherham and finally Cardiff. The Duke of Cambridge watched his team alongside John Carew Credit: Paul Harding/PA But his team here were comfortable for long periods in the first-half, with Icelandic midfielder Aron Gunnarsson sticking to Grealish like a barnacle on a boat. Villa were slow and ponderous and the only threatening moment came 11 minutes before the break when Albert Adomah hooked a shot wide. And Cardiff should have taken the lead in first-half injury time, only for Villa to escape again. Ahmed Elmohamady first cleared Sean Morrison's shot off the line and then Johnstone produced an outstanding double save, preventing Glenn Whelan from deflecting a shot into his own net before denying Callum Paterson. Villa required Johnstone again in the 57th minute, the goalkeeper stretching out a leg to block Zohore's shot from finding the corner. Bruce introduced striker Jonathan Kodjia on the hour in a bid to wrestle control of the game and the £15m signing created a chance out of nothing, evading Morrison before shooting straight at Neil Etheridge. Johnstone was still proving the central figure, producing a fine save from Mendez-Laing as Cardiff cranked up the pressure. But Grealish grabbed the headlines in the 85th minute, crashing in a volley which whistled in off the post. Match details Villa (4-1-4-1) Johnstone, Elmohamady, Chester, Jedinak, Tuanzebe (Bree 26) ; Whelan; Snodgrass, Hourihane (Samba, 88), Grealish, Adomah (Kodjia, 60); Grabban. Substitutes Bunn (g), Lansbury, Onomah, Hogan. Booked Hourihane, Snodgrass, Johnstone, Kodjia. Cardiff (4-3-3) Etheridge; Peltier, Morrison, Bamba, Bennett; Gunnarsson, Grujic, Paterson; Mendez-Laing (Pilkington, 90), Zohore (Madine, 68), Hoilett (Ward, 88). Substitutes Murphy (g), Ecuele Manga, Bryson, Traore. Booked Paterson, Peltier, Bennett, Gunnarsson, Ward. Referee Jeremy Simpson (Lancashire)"
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