A Michael Chopra brace gave Cardiff a 2-1 victory over Sunderland in an entertaining Coac-Cola Championship clash at the Stadium of Light.
Newcastle fan Chopra inflicted a nightmare start on the hosts at Halloween, finding the net after only four minutes.
The Black Cats equalised soon after thanks to a Chris Brown header - but the impressive Chopra restored the Bluebirds' advantage midway through the first-half with his tenth goal of the season.
The visitors defended strongly in the second half to make sure of all three points, preserving their lead at the top of the table.
Sunderland manager Roy Keane made just two changes to the starting XI which picked up a dramatic late win against Hull last weekend.
Cardiff, meanwhile, named an unchanged line-up to the one denied all three points by an injury-time equaliser versus Derby.
Chopra went close after only 90 seconds - and only two minutes later Cardiff's deadliest marksman did get his name on the scoresheet.
Paul Parry received the ball on the right before floating an inch-perfect cross over a static Sunderland defence to leave Chopra all alone to beat goalkeeper Darren Ward from six yards.
The goal only seemed to ignite the home side, and they equalised in the tenth minute - Tobias Hysen delivered a great cross for Brown to head past the despairing Neil Alexander in goal.
Both sides had numerous chances to score again, before Chopra did take his, latching onto another Parry cross to knock the ball home from close range.
Chopra thought he had notched a memorable hat-trick against his childhood rivals immediately after the restart - but his finish was flagged for offside.
The hosts had a good appeal for a penalty turned down just before the hour-mark - Cardiff goalkeeper Alexander colliding with Dwight Yorke in the air when the Black Cats captain had been headed clean through.
And the visiting keeper was again called into action shortly after to superbly tip over a goalbound Hysen half-volley from an outswinging corner.
With 20 minutes to go Sunderland were forcing all of the pressure, with the league leaders still looking extremely dangerous on the counter-attack.
And the hosts had another penalty shout waved away when Danny Collins was seemingly brought down in the Cardiff penalty area.
Collins could then only watch in despair as Alexander made another fantastic save to keep out his header with less than 10 minutes remaining - and end the Black Cats' unbeaten home record under Keane.
