on 18 august 2009, capaldi was sent off for a second bookable offence away to his old club plymouth argyle. cardiff won the match 3–1 with michael chopra scoring a hat-trick. capaldi returned to the side in a 3–2 loss to south wales rivals swansea city, playing on the left of midfield in place of the injured peter whittingham. however, due to a lack of appearances, capaldi stated that he might need to look elsewhere for first-team football.