liverpool had the first attack of the half when they were awarded a free-kick for foul on josé enrique. the subsequent free-kick was cleared by whittingham only as far as henderson whose shot was wide of the cardiff goal. two minutes later cardiff had a chance to extend their lead; whittingham went past agger and passed to don cowie, who back heeled the ball to miller, his subsequent shot went wide of the liverpool goal. henderson received the first yellow card of the match after his tackle on mason was deemed to be too high. cardiff had another chance in the 56th minute; a gunnarsson long throw was punched away by reina, but the clearance fell to hudson, who headed the ball into the liverpool penalty area to gestede, his subsequent header was blocked by the liverpool goalkeeper. liverpool made the first substitution of the match a minute later when henderson was replaced by craig bellamy. two minutes after the substitution, liverpool equalised. downing took a corner kick, which was headed on by carroll to suárez, whose header hit the post, it rebounded to škrtel; his shot went into the cardiff goal to level the match at 1–1. cardiff had the first chance after liverpool's goal, but mason's shot was saved by reina.