Celtic League: Ulster 30 Cardiff Blues 14: A win is a win, as they say. And even though the match was forgettable, Ulster coach Mark McCall will hope it will prove a turning point in what has so far been a wretched season for his side.
Incredibly, given that before the season started Ulster had not lost at Ravenhill for 21 competitive matches, this was their first home win in the Celtic League.
Injuries and Ireland call-ups meant Ulster were short 12 frontline players, with Matt McCullough forced to switch from lock to blindside flanker.
Ulster started hesitantly but two penalties conceded by the visitors at the breakdown brought them into range, with Adam Larkin slotting the second in the sixth minute.
Lee Thomas and Larkin swapped penalties before Ulster began to find some momentum and a period of pressure culminated in two more penalties for Larkin.
Yet despite playing most of the half in Cardiff territory, Ulster never really threatened the line, with livewire wingers Scott Young and Andrew Maxwell restricted to chasing high balls.
Thomas was able to briefly cut the deficit with his second penalty, against the run-of-play in the 33rd minute. But Ulster finished the half on top and Cardiff suffered a double blow when Deiniol Jones was sent to the sin-bin for collapsing a maul and Larkin banged over his fifth penalty just before the interval.
The kicking duel resumed when Thomas slotted his third penalty in the 49th minute when Ulster were guilty of crossing.
The decisive blow came on the hour when Maxwell's energy was repaid as he latched onto a neat chip ahead by Paul Steinmetz to outpace Cardiff full back Matthew Nuttall to the line.
And appropriately it was left to Ulster's stand-in captain Campbell Feather to take the game completely beyond Cardiff, the number eight squeezing into the corner following a chinking break by Kieran Campbell.
The visitors, who used their entire bench in the final quarter, managed a late touchdown by Thomas, but a McCullough try completed the Ulster victory.
Scoring sequence: 6 mins: A Larkin pen, 3-0; 10: L Thomas pen, 3-3; 13: Larkin pen, 6-3; 18: Larkin pen, 9-3; 22: Larkin pen, 12-3; 33: Thomas pen, 12-6; 38: Larkin pen, 15-6; 49: Thomas pen, 15-9; 60: A Maxwell try, 20-9; 73: C Feather try, 25-9; 77: Thomas try, 25-14; 79: M McCullough try, 30-14.
ULSTER: B Cunningham; S Young, J Bell, P Steinmetz, A Maxwell; A Larkin, K Campbell; R McCormack, P Shields, R Moore, G Longwell, R Frost, M McCullough, N Best (G Pfister 79), C Feather.
CARDIFF: M Nuttall; N Walne, S James, L Thomas, C Morgan; N MacLeod (T Davies 63), R Powell (R Smith 68); J Yapp (A Lewis 63), G Williams, B Evans (M Jones 75), D Jones, R Sidoli, N Budgett (J Malpas 68), N Thomas, R Sowden-Taylor (M Lewis 75). Sin bin: D Jones 38-48
Referee: I Ramagh (SRU)
