Cardiff Blues were beaten 23-14 in their Guinness PRO14 clash with Ulster on Friday night despite a spirited second-half comeback.
The defeat means the Blues have lost three out of their four league matches so far this campaign.
The visitors found themselves 17-0 down at half-time, with two converted tries from Luke Marshall and Brian Burns - plus a penalty from John Cooney - putting the hosts in a commanding position against John Mulvihill's side.
Marshall was yellow-carded before the break but the visitors could not take advantage of the situation and went in at the turnaround pointless.
An improved performance in the second period will have provided the coach with some positivity, with a try from Aled Summerhill before Will Boyde ran in for a second as Cardiff trailed 20-14 with time still on the clock.
But Cooney crowned a man-of-the-match display with another penalty to put the contest out of the Blues' reach and take his haul to 13 points.
Ulster: Addison; Gilroy, Marshall, Hume, Ludik; Burns (capt), Cooney; McGrath, Andrew, O'Toole, O'Connor, Treadwell, Matthew Rea, Reidy, Coetzee
Replacements: McBurney, O'Sullivan, Kane, Carter, Timoney, Shanahan, Johnston, Faddes.
Cardiff Blues: Morgan; Harries, Smith, Halaholo, Summerhill; Evans, L Williams; Thyer, Belcher, Andrews, Turnbull, Thornton, Boyde, Robinson, N Williams (capt).
Replacements: Dacey, Domachowski, Assiratti, Davies, Lewis-Hughes, Jones, Tovey, Millard.
Referee: Mike Adamson (SRU)
Assistants: Sean Gallagher (IRFU); Dave Sutherland (SRU)
TMO: Neil Paterson (SRU)
