Next Game – Cardiff City (away)

Last updated : 15 April 2004 By Tony Scholes

Richard Langley
After winning promotion last season through the play offs they have had a reasonably good season and look all set to end it somewhere in mid-table. They are currently in 11th place but are unlikely to move up any higher.

They were somewhat fortunate to get a point at the Turf earlier in the season but a late mistake by Graham Branch gave Robert Earnshaw his only opportunity of the afternoon and he made no mistake.

Earnshaw just couldn’t stop scoring at the time but his goals have dried up somewhat and although he remains just one behind Marlon Harewood and Andy Johnson in the scorers charts he has only hit five league goals since the end of November.

The Bluebirds were expected to splash the cash during this season but to their fans dismay that hasn’t happened. The signings of Alan Lee and Richard Langley in August cost them over a million but the only new signing since has been Paul Parry from Hereford and he cost just £75,000.

The 23-year-old midfielder has slotted in well and has become a regular in the side since his move from Hereford in January.

They have signed York’s Lee Bullock on loan with a view to a permanent move. He arrived in March and although he made just one start alongside six substitute appearances he has scored two goals.

His second, four minutes from the end at Gillingham, proved to be the winner in a 2-1 victory and is Cardiff’s last goal. They have failed to score in their last three fixtures with a 0-0 draw at Millwall followed by a pointless Easter with a home defeat to Crystal Palace and a defeat at Wigan.

It was the striker pair of Jason Roberts and Nathan Ellington who did the damage on Tuesday night. Roberts scored twice and with one from Ellington Wigan run out easy 3-0 winners.

Manager Lennie Lawrence admitted that it was a hammering. "Wigan are all about pace and power and we struggled to cope with that. We never looked like beating them.

"I thought 3-0 was harsh but there is no point denying it we took a bit of a hammering. We played some decent stuff at the end but by then it is too late."

Cardiff’s team was:

Martyn Margetson, Gary Croft, James Collins, Danny Gabbidon, Tony Vidmar, John Robinson, Richard Langley (Lee Bullock 84), Gareth Whalley, Paul Parry (Andy Campbell 45), Alan Lee, Robert Earnshaw. Subs not used: Neil Alexander, Chris Barker, Gavin Gordon.

The Clarets will be hoping for a result similar to our last visit when goals from Steve Davis and Andy Payton gave us a 2-1 win towards the end of the 1999/2000 promotion season.

Click HERE to see all Cardiff's results this season.

Past Results in the last 20 years

Season

Div

Ven

Result

Att

Scorers

a

1986/87

4

h

1-3

1,717

Hoskin

a

0-1

2,003

1987/88

4

a

1-2

3,401

SP Davis

h

1-2

8,421

Oghani

1990/91

4

h

2-0

6,348

Deary Francis

a

0-3

3,591

1991/92

4

a

2-0

16,030

Randall Conroy

h

3-1

12,408

Painter Farrell Conroy

1993/94

2

h

2-0

11,276

Philliskirk Francis

a

1-2

5,469

SM Davis

1999/2000

2

h

2-1

9,753

Armstrong Johnrose

a

2-1

6,487

Davis Payton

2003/04

1

h

1-1

10,886

Chaplow

Click HERE to see more results against Cardiff back to our first meeting in 1922.