Cardiff City kept their hopes of avoiding relegation from the Premier League alive but drew West Bromwich Albion deeper into the dogfight at the foot of the table with a thrilling 3-3 draw at The Hawthorns on Saturday.

After finding themselves 2-0 down after just nine minutes to goals from Morgan Amalfitano and Graham Dorrans, the Bluebirds hit back through the in-form pair of Jordan Mutch and Steven Caulker.

But three minutes into injury time, Thievy seemd to have sealed the points for the home side only for Mats Daehil to snatch a late point for Cardiff with an extra five minutes on the clock.

Having found themselves drawn into the relegation battle in recent weeks, largely due to having drawn five and lost one of their last seven home games, the Baggies wasted no time in taking a grip on the match.

West Brom raced into a 2-0 lead insde the first nine minutes, with Morgan Amalfitano rounding off a rapid breakaway with a long-range low right-footed shot into the bottom left corner with less than two minutes on the clock.

Amalfitano had a similar chance to double the score on six minutes but missed the target before Graham Dorrans made it 2-0 on eight-and-a-half minutes when he drove home from Matej Vydra's pass.

Mutch dragged the Bluebirds back into it on the half-hour with a powerful shot from outside the area after being set up by Aron Gunnarsson.

Then, with the game seeming to be heading for a low-key West Brom victory, Cardiff found an equaliser when Caulker headed home a well-flighted ball from Gary Medel with 18 minutes left.

But all the thrills were to come deep in injury time, Thievy's low left-foot shot again putting West Brom in the driving seat, only for Daehil to pop up and lash home Ben Turner's pass for an invaluable point.

In Pepe Mel's 10th game in charge since taking over from the sacked Steve Clarke, West Brom failed to add to their soliatary win and have only run up eight points under the new regime.

For Cardiff, though, it was an important lifeline as it leaves them still in the bottom three, three points behind Albion and five from safety.

Yet even their loyal fans must be wondering if time is not running out and their first season back in the top flight for 51 years might still end in a rapid return to the second tier Championship.