MALKY Mackay bemoaned individual errors as Cardiff City were sunk at Ashton Gate.

The Bluebirds had kept clean sheets in their previous two league games but they could not keep Bristol City at bay in this lunchtime Severnside derby.

“We gave really poor goals away,” said Mackay.

“I’m not taking anything away from Bristol City’s performance but we gave away bad balls in poor areas and that’s certainly not like us.

“If you give the ball away in poor areas you are going to be punished by good teams.

“I’ve told the players we have to stop making basic errors and it’s not something that’s been regular from my team defensively.

“But it’s not a defensive thing, it’s individual errors that lead to goals.

“We’ll go through that on Tuesday and see where the goals have come from and learn from it. “They’re not trying to do it on purpose but we’ve got to learn in situations like that.

“When players are below par you can carry one or two, but when you have three or four in the same team you’re up against it, especially in this league.”

Mackay’s disappointment was the more marked given the fact that Cardiff also looked dangerous in the second half, substitute Joe Mason and Heidar Helguson breathing new hope into the Bluebirds after being 2-0 and 3-1 down.

“I always felt when we went forward we were going to create problems,” he said.

“We hit the bar at 1-0 down with a header from a corner and lost the goal on half-time.

“I felt we started sprightly in the second half and got the goal back.

“We looked to go and get the equaliser and, then at 3-1, we got another one and had another great couple of chances around their box.

“But ultimately we’ve got to make sure we take them at one end and stop them going in at the other.”

Both Matthew Connolly and Tommy Smith made debuts and Mackay was delighted with their performances.

“They both did well considering their lack of game time,” he said.

“It’s exactly why I bought them. Tommy got into a couple of great positions in the first half and if he catches a couple of those shots better, which I’ve seen him do, they both go in.”