Cardiff City produced one of the most extraordinary comebacks in their recent history as they came from 4-1 down to beat Burnley 5-4 in a scarcely believable nine-goal thriller at Cardiff City Stadium.

In scenes of absolute pandemonium, Alex Robertson completed the most remarkable of redemption stories, scoring a stunning winner four minutes into stoppage time having earlier put through his own net.

It was the sort of afternoon that defied explanation. A game that appeared hopelessly lost somehow became one of the most memorable victories this stadium has witnessed.

With 62 minutes played, Brian Barry-Murphy's side were three goals behind and staring down the barrel of a humiliating defeat against one of the Championship's struggling sides.

But Yousef Salech emerged from the bench to score twice, Jack Moylan converted a penalty and Robertson delivered the final, glorious twist to send the home supporters into delirium.

And to think, just three days earlier, Cardiff had surrendered a three-goal lead of their own against West Ham United. Football, eh?

The Bluebirds had been hoping to build on their impressive home record, but the afternoon began disastrously.

Andreas Hountondji fired Burnley ahead after 15 minutes, converting from Lucas Pires' delivery, before Marcus Edwards doubled the visitors' advantage just 10 minutes later.

Cardiff were all at sea defensively, with Fabio Celestini's struggling Clarets looking anything but a side who had won just once all season.

Ollie Tanner offered a lifeline five minutes before the break, latching onto Rubin Colwill's assist to halve the deficit and give the home crowd something to cling to.

But any hopes of an immediate second-half revival were seemingly extinguished when Largie Ramazani restored Burnley's two-goal advantage with a clinical counter-attacking finish ten minutes after the restart.

Worse was to follow.

Robertson inadvertently turned the ball into his own net in the 62nd minute, making it 4-1 and leaving Cardiff staring at a miserable conclusion to the afternoon.

Few inside the ground could possibly have imagined what was about to unfold.

Barry-Murphy introduced Salech in place of Tanner and the Danish striker made an almost instantaneous impact, finishing from Cian Ashford's assist just two minutes after coming on.

Still, at 4-2, the task looked enormous.

Then came the penalty. Moylan, fresh from his stunning first-half hat-trick against West Ham in midweek, stepped up and converted in the 75th minute to make it 4-3.

Suddenly, the atmosphere changed. The Cardiff City Stadium sensed something special.

Seven minutes later, it erupted.

Salech struck again, this time from Rubin Colwill's assist, to complete his brace and drag Cardiff level at 4-4. A three-goal deficit had been wiped out in just 20 extraordinary minutes.

Most would have settled for that. Cardiff had other ideas.

Four minutes into added time, Robertson, the man whose own goal had seemingly condemned Cardiff to defeat, unleashed a wonderful long-range effort to complete an astonishing turnaround.

The stadium exploded. Players raced away in celebration. Supporters could scarcely believe what they were witnessing.

There was still time for more drama as the referee played deep into stoppage time, but Cardiff held firm to secure three points that had looked utterly impossible half an hour earlier.

For Barry-Murphy, it was a victory that embodied the resilience and attacking quality he has been desperate to instil in his young side, even if the defensive frailties remain glaring.

After the agony of Wednesday night's collapse against West Ham, Cardiff had somehow turned the tables in the most spectacular fashion.

Nine goals. A three-goal comeback. A stoppage-time winner from a player who had earlier scored an own goal.

Some afternoons are destined to live long in the memory. This was unquestionably one of them.

Cardiff City XI: Trott; Ng, Bielik (Scanlon 71), Fish, Bagan; Robertson, R. Colwill, Ashford; Tanner (Salech 63), Moylan (J. Colwill 90), Willock (Kpakio 90).

Subs: Tyrer, Turnbull, Tankiewicz, Holt, Perrett.

Burnley XI: Coudert, Walker, Ekdal, Igor, Pires (Roberts 65), Laurent, Hatate (Cullen 59), Edwards (Ramsey 59); Ramazani, Banel (Sonne 65), Hountondji (Amdouni 80).

Subs: Weiss, Alleyne, Raghouber, Vardy.