Moooorrrrrning all! League football is back after that pesky international break and the first game of the day in England takes place in the Welsh capital as struggling Cardiff City take on high-flying Nottingham Forest. We've got plenty to get through before kickoff in half an hour, so let's get straight to it...

CARDIFF XI: Marshall; Brayford, S Morrison, Manga, Fabio; Whittingham, Noone, Gunnarsson, Pilkington; Le Fondre, Macheda
Subs: De Vries, Harding, Lascelles, Veldwijk, Blackstock, Osborn, Vaughan

FOREST XI: Darlow; Hunt, Mancienne, Wilson, Lichaj; Lansbury, Tesche; Burke, Antonio; Assombalonga, Fryatt
Subs: De Vries, Harding, Lascelles, Veldwijk, Blackstock, Osborn, Vaughan

As mentioned above, this is Slade's first game in charge after a protracted move from Leyton Orient - the clubs struggled to agree the right compensation fee for his services. Slade makes three changes to the Cardiff side that afforded Blackpool their first win of the season a little over two weeks ago. Out come Joe Ralls, Ravel Morrison and Kenwyne Jones, with Craig Noone, Adam Le Fondre and Federico Macheda getting the start.

It looks like that might be a change of formation from Slade then, with Le Fondre and Macheda a two-man frontline as opposed to Jones up there on his own.

As for Forest, they go with the same XI that started against Ipswich Town on Sunday, October 5. It looked as if Forest were going to lose their unbeaten record to in-form Ipswich until the 94th minute when Michail Antonio volleyed home a corner to rescue a point.

REFEREE WATCH! The referee today is Mike Jones, who is taking charge of his first game since April.

© Getty Images

Click here to see how the Championship table looks 11 games into the season. As you can see, Forest are level on points with Norwich City at the top of the tree, but they have been stuttering of late with four draws in a row.

Cardiff, meanwhile, are down in 16th place and have won just one of their last eight games in the league.

PREDICTION TIME! With 10 minutes until kickoff at the Cardiff City Stadium, it's time for my prediction on the match ahead. Even with the boost of having a new manager, I think Cardiff might just lose out here. Forest are so hard to beat and I think they might just nab it 2-1. Check out my video discussion on the match below:

When these two sides last met, Cardiff cruised to a 3-0 win in April last year. That was on their way to promotion to the Premier League, but they're now back and struggling in the ever-difficult Championship.

Slade tells Sky Sports News that he's looking forward to the challenge of managing Cardiff but accepts that it is a tough assignment.

One change to the Cardiff lineup that I posted earlier. Fabio has been ruled out with illness so Ralls comes in at left-back.

The two teams are out and we're ready for kickoff now. Cardiff in their all-red home kit, while Forest don their all-white away strip.

KICKOFF! And we're off in the Welsh capital.

A positive start from the home side and they have an early corner that Pilkington will whip over...

Terrible by the former Norwich man, who couldn't even beat the first white shirt with his delivery.

Assombalonga almost goes free on goal, but the ball hits his back and unfortunately doesn't bobble kindly into his path. The big summer signing from Peterborough got off to a flying start as a Forest player but hasn't scored in the last four games. Still, he remains the league's top scorer with eight goals.

SAVE! We have our first shot of the game and it's not a bad effort from Pilkington, who cleverly spun 360 degrees on the edge of the box before trying to curl home. Darlow was down quickly and beat it away.

SAVE! This is even better from Cardiff keeper Marshall down the other end. Forest work the ball neatly near the edge of the box and Fryatt's firm low strike looks destined for the far corner until Scottish number one Marshall fingertips it wide. Very similar to a save he made against Poland in midweek for his country.

Assombalonga turns Morrison far too easily in the box but can't pick out strike partner Fryatt in the middle as Manga hacks the ball away.

Brayford ends a spell of Forest pressure with a burst upfield from right-back. It opens up for him near the area and he goes for goal, but drags his effort well wide of the target.

A really entertaining opening 10 minutes there and a pretty even one. Both teams have had two shots and one on target.

Lovely footwork on the right from Pilkington and he almost draws a foul in the box. He stays on his feet though and feeds Whittingham about 25 yards out. The midfielder loves a shot and tries to work the ball onto his strong left peg, but sees his effort blocked.

Excellent run down the right from Burke, but he can't pick out a fellow white shirt in the middle when crossing from the byline.

Fryatt has far too much room between the Cardiff defence and midfield and looks like he's going to unleash a shot but instead spreads it out to Burke on the right. His first-time cross is a really dangerous one that Manga swipes at and just about deals with.

OFF THE LINE! That is absolutely brilliant defending from Noone! Burke gets into the box and beats Marshall with an outside-of-the-boot shot. You're waiting for the net to ripple, but Noone gets across to somehow keep it out.

It had been all Forest in the last five minutes, but out of nowhere Cardiff take the lead. It's a lovely, cool finish from Macheda, who used the run of Le Fondre on the outside to drag the defender away before slotting into the far corner with his left foot.

That goal is as much about Noone as it is Macheda. His goal-line clearance less than a minute before Macheda stroked home was so, so important.

Two goals in five minutes for the home side! Again it's slack at the back from the visitors and it's Antonio that cheaply concedes possession on the left wing. Moments later Whittingham has the ball 25 yards out and this time there is space for a shot and his low strike to the near post has too much venom for Darlow.

Next to have a go for the home side, who are really bouncing at the moment, is Gunnarsson. He skips past one defender but then his low shot is blocked by Mancienne. Ten minutes ago it was Forest who were all over Cardiff, but the home side are now two goals to the good.

I don't know if Cardiff have been told by Slade to shoot on sight, but they're firing at goal whenever possible. The latest two to have a pop are Brayford and Whittingham, who see their efforts blocked and whizz over the top respectively.

Forest need to get on the ball and calm down the tempo of the game to where it was before Cardiff hit their quickfire double. They looked absolutely fine but are now in danger of seeing this game slip away before half time.

Le Fondre curves his run to stay onside and is picked out well by a ball over the top. He could shoot from a tight angle but tries to cut back for Macheda in the box. Mancienne is alert to the danger and nicks the ball away.

BOOKING! Forest centre-back Wilson is shown the first yellow card of the game for sliding in rashly in the middle of the park.

Burke's deep cross looks good for Assombalonga, but he can't get over the ball with his header. After Jones points for a goal kick, the Forest striker fumes as he thought it was a corner. Tough to tell, even from the replays.

Two minutes have been added on at the end of the first period and what a great half it's been for Cardiff so far. It's crucial for them that they don't do anything silly in these final seconds before the break.

Two pinpoint left-foot strikes are the difference at the Cardiff City Stadium then.

First, Macheda rolled into the corner at the midway point of the half before, five minutes later, Whittingham whacked home from 25 yards.

If you're only just joining us and want a quick recap on the opening 45 minutes, our half-time report can be found here.

BOOKING! By the way, Noone became the first Cardiff player to be booked just before half time when he brought down Tesche.

Here's Whittingham being mobbed by his teammates after doubling the Bluebirds' lead:

Match Action: Whitts is mobbed after making it 2-0 to #CardiffCity v #NFFC pic.twitter.com/GbYUPfB4oC — Cardiff City FC (@CardiffCityFC) October 18, 2014

This match isn't the only lunchtime kickoff in England today and if you fancy keeping up with Man City-Spurs in the Premier League as well then open this link in a new tab. It's currently 2-1 to City, with Sergio Aguero netting either side of Christian Eriksen's equaliser in a frantic opening 20 minutes at the Etihad.

Click here to see how the table stands with Cardiff leading. They are set to climb to 11th, with Forest dropping a place to third.

KICKOFF! The second half is underway at the Cardiff City Stadium and the visitors have made a half-time change - Lichaj off, Dan Harding on. It's a straight swap at left-back and Harding should offer a little more going forward.

A loose ball falls for Antonio and he tries a spectacular first-time shot that is pulled well wide of the target. Forest had plenty of men forward there and it might have been better for Antonio to take a touch and look for a teammate.

Wilson barges over Le Fondre on the right wing and isn't happy that he is blown up for a foul. He talks back to Jones and must be careful as he's already been booked and is now walking a tight rope.

"He's one of our own, he's one of our own!" chant the Forest fans about opposition manager Slade. He spent a lot of his life in the Nottingham area and was a fan of Forest back in the day. Not today though!

BOOKING! Lansbury is cautioned and that's his fifth of the season so he'll miss the next game against fellow high-flyers Watford.

From the resulting free kick, Whittingham's whipped delivery is flicked goalwards by Gunnarsson. Either side of Darlow and that's a goal, but it was straight at the Forest stopper.

SAVE! It should be 3-0 to Cardiff. Another Whittingham free kick is floated over and this time it gets to the back post as Wilson completely misses his clearance. Morrison is arriving and just has to head past Darlow but he can't beat the young keeper from close range.

FOREST SUB: Pearce makes his second change, taking off the booked Lansbury for David Vaughan.

Brayford can count himself lucky that he's not booked after blocking off Antonio's run down the left wing. The Forest man is simply much quicker and easily had the beating of him had he not been obstructed.

CARDIFF SUB: A first change from the home side as the man who opened the scoring, Macheda, is replaced by Kenwyne Jones.

DISALLOWED! Assombalonga thinks he's ended his four-game drought as he tucks the ball home after Antonio's shot was brilliantly kept out by Marshall. However, the linesman's flag is up and replays show that he was just offside. Great call.

If Forest can score soon, they'll definitely fancy themselves to pull off a comeback, but they need to find the net sooner rather than later.

CARDIFF SUB: Another change for the hosts, with Gunnarsson making way for Tom Adeyemi.

Fryatt does superbly in the far corner before his cross reaches Hunt at the back post. The right-back's shot is well-hit but instantly blocked.

CARDIFF SUB: Terrible luck for Adeyemi as he tweaks what appeared to be his hamstring within three minutes of coming on. He looks distraught as he trudges off down the tunnel, with Mats Moller Daehli on in his place.

Manga receives a lengthy lecture from referee Jones after slamming into the back of Antonio. A nasty challenge in the air from the Cardiff centre-back and you feel that he should have been booked there.

Frustration starting to show in the Forest ranks as Tesche's ball to the right for Hunt is well overhit. The right-back screams back in anger at his teammate. It looks like Forest will be losing their unbeaten run, leaving Charlton Athletic as the only team left in the division who are yet to suffer defeat.

FOREST SUB: Pearce has to go for broke and he takes off right-back Hunt for summer signing Lars Veldwijk, who is a striker. That's now three up top for the visitors, and with the threat of Burke and Antonio they should create a chance or two. Cardiff will hope to hit them on the break.

How Antonio's corner has just flashed across the face of goal without getting a significant touch, I'll never know. Forest starting to pile on the pressure now.

Forest are now up to 57% possession in the game, but they've managed just three shots on target. All three of those could have easily been goals, but two brilliant Marshall saves and a goal-line clearance means that Forest are about to fail to score for the fourth time in five games.

Forest have one back and now they have a minute plus stoppage time to salvage a point. It's sublime from Antonio down the right as he skips past two men before crossing low for Assombalonga to sweep home from close range. His four-game drought is over and that's now nine for the season.

SAVE! Not long after FOUR minutes of added time are signalled, Antonio's shot on the turn from 20 yards is well-held by Marshall. Cardiff are going to have to weather a late storm here.

Forest haven't created another chance since then and time is just about up in the Welsh capital.

Forest's unbeaten start to the season ends in the 12th game as Cardiff earn their second win in nine game in Russell Slade's first game in charge.

We'll have live text coverage of another Championship game - Reading vs. Derby County - on site at 2.30pm, so do join us for that shortly. There's also live commentary of every Premier League game this afternoon now on site. Plenty for you to enjoy!