Maupay skipped around Neil Etheridge and only needed to slot the ball into an empty net – but somehow he fluffed his lines and skewed his shot wide of the post.
Speaking after the game, manager Dean Smith sympathised with his striker.
“He knows he should have scored and 999 times he does," Smith told Get West London. He's had one of those moments.
"He got into goalscoring positions really well. I felt it was one of those days for him.
“I don't think unlucky comes to mind. It's one of those things. He'll be thinking about it and he knows what he was thinking at that moment."
Cardiff went on to win the game 2-0, and manager Neil Warnock pulled no punches in taking an unsympathetic view towards Maupay's horror moment.
He said: "I can't blame anybody but lad himself for that miss. I have no sympathy at all, he's tried to be clever and give someone the eye rather than put it in.
"That's for him to look at, and it gave us respite. An equaliser at that stage, and the way they were playing, you think they could start to dominate."
