No longer a clash between the top two

The whole season deteriorated for us, and even for Cardiff they have been unable to sustain the early season form and have dropped to ninth place, although they are still just three points behind Southampton who occupy the last play off place.

Cardiff's slip from that top spot followed immediately after that November clash. They failed to win any of their next eleven league games, and when they next won again in late January at Wolves they were already fighting to get back into the top six.

During that barren run their leading scorer Michael Chopra, a player who will be very disappointed if I don't tell you he once played for Newcastle, scored just one goal. Having scored in the win against Wolves he then hit the net in six consecutive games which resulted in five wins and one draw.

Dave Jones brought in four new players during the January transfer window, although three of them were unknowns, two from the Republic of Ireland and one from Newport County. The fourth signing is a player well known to Burnley fans, he paid Aston Villa £350,000 for Pete Whittingham who had been on loan with the Clarets two years earlier.

There were two more players came in during January in loan deals. Iwan Redan was signed from Willem II whilst Simon Walton made the move from the Premiership and Charlton Athletic. It's not been the best of seasons for Walton. He was sent off in November whilst on loan at Ipswich and on Saturday received his second red card during his time at Cardiff. Jones added one more player in March, adding Warren Feeney who made the temporary move from Luton.

Again Cardiff are trying to get back into the play off positions, lost again after their recent results which have seen them win just one point in four games from a 2-2 draw at Southampton. Since that draw they have lost three games.

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

It's always difficult to get any sort of team news during holiday periods, particularly when a game comes so quickly after the previous one. There's little information as to who might have picked up knocks and who might be struggling to be fit.

We do know that Cardiff will have to make one change from the side beaten at home by Sheffield Wednesday, with Dave Jones having to find a replacement for the suspended Simon Walton who presumably is now facing a five game ban.

Glenn Loovens and Riccardo Scimeca, who scored the goal against us at Ninian Park. Loovens has been out since mid-March with a foot injury and has an outside chance of playing, but Scimeca suffered a groin injury a week last Saturday that is expected to keep him out again today.

Willo Flood is the player expected to come in and replace Walton and Cardiff could line up: David Forde, Ken McNaughton, Darren Purse, Roger Johnson, Joe Ledley, Pete Whittingham, Stephen McPhail, Willo Flood, Paul Parry, Michael Chopra, Warren Feeney. Subs: Neil Alexander, Chris Gunter, Darcy Blake, Matt Green, Steven Thompson.

Click HERE to see the full Cardiff squad.

Eric Djemba-Djemba came through the full ninety minutes on Saturday, Paul McVeigh's substitution was just a tactical one, and we no longer have any suspension fears hanging over James O'Connor and Jon Harley.

That should make Steve Cotterill's team selection a little less complicated and I'm sure that if possible he'll be pinning up the same team sheet as he did at Birmingham on Saturday and last Tuesday.

If so our team will be: Brian Jensen, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Steven Caldwell, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, Eric Djemba-Djemba, James O'Connor, Steve Jones, Paul McVeigh, Andy Gray. Subs: Danny Coyne, Graham Coughlan, Chris McCann, John Spicer, Ade Akinbiyi.

There were goals galore the last time we met Cardiff including Burnley goals in the first and last minutes. Wade Elliott gave us the lead in the first minute, but the lead lasted only seven minutes when Cameron Jerome netted an equaliser for Cardiff.

It was Elliott again midway through the half, these his first goals for Burnley, but right on half time Glenn Loovens brought the visitors level again.

A Darren Purse penalty in the second half looked to have won it for Cardiff until James O'Connor grabbed a late equaliser, heading in a cross from John Spicer who was making his Turf Moor debut for the Clarets.

The teams were;

Burnley: Danny Coyne, Michael Duff, Frank Sinclair (Keith Lowe 89), John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (Karl Bermingham 80), Micah Hyde, James O'Connor, Graham Branch (John Spicer 72), Gifton Noel-Williams, Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Brian Jensen, Chris McCann.

Cardiff: Neil Alexander, Rhys Weston, Darren Purse, Glenn Loovens, Chris Barker, Kevin Cooper (Paul Parry 83), Jason Koumas, Jeff Whitley, Joe Ledley, Cameron Jerome, Michael Ricketts (Alan Lee 86). Subs not used: Martyn Margetson, Neil Cox, Neal Ardley.

Previous 20 Seasons
Season	Div	Ven	Result	Att	Scorers
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	2-1	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	1	h	2-0	11,276	Philliskirk Francis
.	.	a	1-2	5,469	Davis
1999/2000	2	h	2-1	9,753	Armstrong Johnrose
.	.	a	2-1	6,487	SM Davis Payton
2003/04	1	h	1-1	10,866	Chaplow
.	.	a	0-2	13,525	.
2004/05	C	h	1-0	11,200	Chaplow
.	.	a	0-2	11,562	.
2005/06	C	h	3-3	10,431	Elliott(2) J O'Connor
.	.	a	0-3	10,872	.
2006/07	C	a	0-1	15,744	.

Click HERE to see all our results against Cardiff since we drew 1-1 with them in our first meeting back in 1922.