Cardiff kept alive their hopes of playing in the European Champions Cup next season with an excellent 25-20 victory over the third-placed Cheetahs in PRO14 Conference A.

Blues recovered from being 10 points down to pick up the win, which took them back up to fourth in the table -- one point ahead of Connacht.

Rey Lee-Lo, Nick Williams and Ellis Jenkins scored tries for the hosts, with Jarrod Evans converting two and kicking two penalties.

Ox Nche and Uzair Cassiem scored Cheetahs' tries, with Fred Zeilinga adding two conversions and two penalties.

Cheetahs began strongly and took a fourth-minute lead when Nche finished off a succession of driving mauls. Zeilinga converted and kicked a penalty after Evans had missed a long-range penalty for the hosts.

Blues got on the scoreboard in the 18th minute when some neat passing saw Rhun Williams send Aled Summerhill away down the right flank. When the wing was hauled down, Lee-Lo was up in support to score, with Evans adding the conversion for his side to trail 10-7 at the end of the first quarter.

Summerhill continued to cause problems to the visitors' defence and his strong run brushed aside tackles from Oupa Mohoje and Sibahle Maxwane. Cheetahs were penalised, with lock Rynier Bernardo yellow-carded, and, from the resulting line-out, Jenkins crashed over.

Bernardo returned from the sin-bin but immediately the South African side were penalised at a scrum for Evans to knock over the penalty.

Blues led 15-10 at the interval as their opponents continued to make simple handling errors in the difficult conditions, but Cheetahs reduced the arrears when Zeilinga fired over his second penalty.

A brilliant 60-metre run out of defence from full-back Rhun Williams threatened the Cheetahs' line, but the visitors just about held firm.

However, the relief was only temporary as, from the resulting scrum, number eight Nick Williams was able to force his way over for Blues' third try.

Within minutes, Cheetahs had responded with their second try, scored by number eight Cassiem and converted by Zeilinga to leave the visitors trailing 22-20 heading into the final quarter.

A second penalty from Evans gave Blues some breathing space, however, and they just survived a nail-biting finish to record a crucial triumph.