cardiff entered the 2011–12 football league cup in the first round where they faced oxford united. the match played at the kassam stadium saw cardiff take the lead in the 10th minute when craig conway scored. oxford equalised 20 minutes later courtesy of a simon clist goal. neither side was able to score a winning goal during the remainder of the match, which went into extra-time at 1–1. two goals from peter whittingham and nathaniel jarvis secured a 3–1 victory for cardiff. their opponents in the second round were huddersfield town. two goals in the first 16 minutes courtesy of gabor gyepes and jon parkin gave cardiff an early 2–0 lead, which they held until the 55th minute when huddersfield reduced the deficit to 2–1 courtesy of a jordan rhodes goal. daniel ward equalised for huddersfield in the 69th minute before rhodes scored his second goal of the match to give huddersfield a 3–2 lead in the 87th minute. cardiff equalised two minutes into stoppage time when don cowie headed the ball in from close range. with the score at 3–3 after 90 minutes the match went to extra-time. a goal each from conway and cowie gave cardiff a 5–3 victory and progression to the third round.