Three points thanks to Andre Schurrle and Fernando Torres ensued that Chelsea ended their season with a win at already relegated Cardiff City
The Blues second half performance was in complete contrast to their anaemic first which allowed an already relegated Cardiff City the luxury of taking a first half lead through Craig Bellamy
The equaliser, when it came was from substitute Andre Schurrle.
Jose Mourinho, perhaps with a nod to the future, brought on youngster John Swift for his debut. The two minutes he got will be a lasting memory for the kid, but for the thousands of Chelsea fans watching their side finish the league, they will be thinking what if? What if they had not squandered three points away from Stamford Bridge at the likes of Everton, Newcastle and Stoke City, when while dominating the matches, they failed to kill off the opposition.
The what if will continue into the summer over the likes of the the futures of John Terry, Frank Lampard and Ashley Cole.
Cole was the only one on duty in South Wales this afternoon, and on this showing alone deserves a new deal.
Despite a poor first 45 minutes the Blues had a good shout for a penalty within two minutes when he turned the aptly-named Ben Turner in the Cardiff area and appeared to be bundled over by the centre-back.
But Michael Oliver decided to wave play on.
Cardiff, once they, got to grips with the bracing wind decided to play some football, with Mats Daehli showed skipper Cole a clean pair of heels on 10 minutes. Thankfully Nemanja Matic Was quick enough to dispossess the lively midfielder before he got his byline cross in.
Jose Mourinho was forced into several team selection changes, bringing in Tomas Kalas for injured John Terry and dropping Gary Cahill.
The Bluebirds took the lead against the run of play when veteran striker Craig Bellamy tried a speculative 25-yard left-footer on 14 minutes. It took a wicked deflection of right-back Cesar Azpilicueta, and zipped past prone Mark Schwarzer and the bottom left-hand corner of his net.
Aron Gunnarsson almost doubled the lead on 17 minutes but his header from a Bellamy free-kick just inched over Schwarzer's crossbar.
Next up was Frazer Campbell who managed to get a shot on goal, as the Blues,so totally in control one minute looking as if they would concede at every incursion on their goal.
However on 25 minutes, Oscar had a glorious chance when he received a long ball from Matic in the Cardiff penalty area.
The Brazil midfielder, expected to be a star of the upcoming World Cup failed to get a clean shot away, instead hesitated and allowedSteven Caulker to get a goal-saving last-ditch tackle in and deflected the ball away for a corner.
Campbell produced a fine piece of trickery but his final effort as he zigzagged his way through the static Chelsea rearguard belied the skill in crafting the effort and the ball sailed high and wide of Schwarzer's goal.
Right on the stroke of half-time, Blues though they had another penalty after Salah was bundled over by Caulker - again Oliver waved play on.
Jose Mourinho decided against making any changes, relying on the existing players to get his side out of a performance slump.
One of those plays desperate to improve and impress is Salah and the Egypt wide man was first into action for the Blues on 47 minutes and his daisy-cutter, on target was deflected away for a corner at the last moment.
Another fine block by Caulker thwarted Fernando Torres, who had raced onto a Salah through ball three minutes later as the visitors went in search of the equaliser. Seconds after Salah smashed the Cardiff side-netting, 18 minutes into the second half, Mourinho made his first change of the dull afternoon, replacing Mikel for attack-minded Andre Schurrle.
And it took just seven minutes for the German to strike the equaliser but not before Azpilicueta had two bites of the cherry denied, firstly David Marshall made a brilliant save from a point-black header from the right-back, then the Spain defender rattled the crossbar with his followup shot.
Schurrle was alert to the ball and stabbed it into the ground where it bounced up and into the back of Marshall's net.
It was no more than Chelsea deserved and a minute later they went ahead and the goal came from the boot of Torres who ticked home smartly from close range under Marshall's body after an excellent touch on from the head of Schurrle. Sadly Torres did not celebrate what was his fifth league goal of the season, perhaps he thought he once played for Cardiff in the same way he refused to celebrate scoring against his former side Atletico Madrid.
Eden Hazard should have sealed all three points but skied a left -footer over the crossbar after excellent play by Oscar.
With two minutes to go Mpurinho brought on John Swift -a Frank Lampard type player for his Chelsea debut, Hazard making way for the youngster.
Schurrle then had a trademark right-footed curler magnificently tipped over the carols bar by Marshall as Chelsea ended their domestic season on a relatively high.
Teams: Chelsea, Schwarzer, Ivanovic, Cole (captain) Torres, Oscar, Mikel, Salah, Hazard, Matic, Azpilicueta, Kalas
Subs,Hilario, Luiz, Schurrle, Ba,Cahill, Ake, Swift
Cardiff City, Marshall, Caulker, Turner, Whittingham, Campbell, Gunnarsson, Mutch, Daehli, Fabio, Bellamy, John
Subs, Lewis,Eikram, Cowie, McNaughton, Berget, James, Healey
Referee, Michael Olivier