Nigel Pearson hailed his Leicester side after they beat high-flying Cardiff to claim a home Championship win for the first time since November.

Goals in either half from Paul Gallagher, one a penalty and the other a free-kick, put the Foxes in the driving seat before the Bluebirds hit back with a Peter Whittingham spot-kick to set up a tense finish.

"I'm not sure 2-1 is ever comfortable, but from our perspective we deserved to win," Pearson said.

"We were dominant and a little unlucky to concede a penalty because there was a foul on Kasper (Schmeichel) leading up to the incident.

"I think we played with confidence and created some good chances as well."

Pearson praised his side for holding firm after Cardiff had pulled a goal back.

"There have been suggestions we look jittery when we concede a goal but I thought we coped with that well and stayed the dominant side to win well," he said.

Pearson reserved special praise for two-goal hero Gallagher who was recalled after he was left out of the side beaten at Brighton last week.

"We know what Gally can do. He was left out of the side and was back in today and responded with two goals," he said.

"His work rate was very good as well."

Cardiff manager Malky Mackay berated his players for their slow start to the game.

"I'm disappointed because in the first half we didn't get out of the blocks," he said.

"But it didn't help when one our our main players, Aron Gunnarsson, went off early on.

"We were playing a good team who we didn't get close enough to in the first half and allowed them to play too much.

"We competed better in the second half and after our penalty we caused them a few problems with our forwards Kenny Miller and Rudy Gestede.

"It was always going to be tough coming here. They have a good manager and a fantastic squad and you always have to be ready to match them and I don't think we did that until the second half."

The Foxes took a 41st-minute lead when they were awarded a penalty after Richie Wellens had been felled inside the box by on-loan Haris Vuckic, with Gallagher crashing home the spot-kick to the keeper's left.

It was just reward for the dominant Foxes who had seen Jermaine Beckford and Gallagher miss good chances.

Wellens also extracted a full stretch save from Cardiff keeper David Marshall, Matt Mills flashed a header just wide and Paul Konchesky had a 20-yard drive tipped over the bar by Marshall.

Subdued Cardiff posed little threat before the break with their only talking point a Miller strike flagged offside.

Marshall saved well to deny David Nugent soon after the restart with the keeper then reacting quickly to beat away Beckford's near-post shot.

Gallagher scored his second after 70 minutes with a beautifully flighted free-kick from 25 yards after Lloyd Dyer had been fouled by Don Cowie.

Whittingham pulled a goal back for Cardiff when he slotted home a 76th-minute penalty after substitute Rudy Gestede had been pushed inside the box by Lee Peltier.