After Jay Bothroyd had opened the scoring in the first half, Eastwood put the ball in the net but it was wiped out after referee Roger East consulted his assistant, who had flagged for a Coventry handball earlier in the move.

A penalty by Ross McCormack five minutes from time doubled Cardiff's lead, although there was still time for Scott Dann to grab a goal for the visitors.

Kean said: "We think that if the assistant believed it was a deliberate handball by our player then he shouldn't have lowered his flag.

"We spoke to the referee after the game and he told us why he had disallowed our goal.

"Apparently, he thought the assistant was flagging for offside and it was only when he spoke to him as the players were going back to the centre circle, that he realised it was for handball."

Cardiff should have been two or three goals ahead by then but could only count Bothroyd's debut goal in the 31st minute.

Roger Johnson won a defensive header to set Peter Whittingham away. He drove a superb pass into the path of Bothroyd and the former Coventry striker slotted the ball beyond Sky Blues keeper Kieron Westwood.

Joe Ledley and Bothroyd missed chances to put the game beyond the visitors and then in the 56th minute came the Eastwood strike that was cancelled out.

The Bluebirds took the game to Coventry and Westwood was in the thick of the action but it was not until the 85th minute they increased their lead.

Bothroyd put McCormack through on goal and he was upended in the area. The striker then stepped up to rifle home his seventh goal of the season.

There was still time for Dann to pull one back with a close-range header but the Bluebirds held out for a deserved victory.

"It shouldn't have gone to the wire and we made it difficult for ourselves in the last five minutes," said relieved Cardiff boss Dave Jones.

"Jay Bothroyd deserved his goal but he should have had a couple more, although confidence-wise it should do him good.

"We played a difficult side and it was very important to get maximum points today, although we played better on Saturday and lost.

"It was a big decision by the referee but it was the right one," he added, referring to the Eastwood 'goal'.