Ready for top of the table clash

A defeat at Norwich recently brought to an end a run of five successive wins for Cardiff that had seen them go six points clear at the top. The lead was enough to ensure they still remain at the top despite only having one once in the last four games.

I think we all remember Cardiff as the club that were scrounging money from the PFA to pay the wages towards the end of the 2004/05 season, but things have changed dramatically, so much so that manager Dave Jones was able to bring in no fewer than twelve new players during the close season, with just one of them signed on loan. That loan player is Arsenal's Kerrea Gilbert who is currently out injured, and in October they also signed Watford defender James Chambers on loan.

The first of the summer signings was Glenn Loovens from Feyenoord. The Dutch defender was with the Welsh club last season on loan and scored in the 3-3 draw in September last year. Arsenal goalkeeper Mark Howard was next, although he is yet to feature in the first team, and he was followed by Kevin McNaughton who was signed from Dunfermline.

The next two were probably the key signings, Stephen McPhail from Barnsley and striker Michael Chopra who I'm sure will be upset if we don't point out that he previously played for Newcastle United. Chopra, like Loovens, has scored at Turf Moor, four times in fact in that ridiculous 7-4 throw one in against Watford in 2003. He's also the top scorer this season, not only for Cardiff, but in the entire league with eleven league goals to date.

Just when it looked as though Dave Jones had got his squad together, in came Roger Johnson from Wycombe, Nick McKoy and Malvin Kamara who had both been with Franchise, forward Luigi Glombard a former French youth international from Nantes, experienced striker Kevin Campbell who had been at West Brom and finally Manchester City's Willo Flood.

There could well have been another signing with Jones trying to persuade Manchester United's Alan Smith to join Cardiff on loan. The move got the go ahead from Sir Alex Ferguson but Smith is believed to be considering it, particularly since his former club Leeds showed an interest in taking him in a similar deal. He could still though agree to join Cardiff tomorrow and line up against us.

It all leaves Dave Jones with a squad that is considerably bigger than ours, and they will be looking to retain their unbeaten home record, the last team to beat them at Ninian Park were Norwich towards the end of last season.

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

One player definitely ruled out for Cardiff is Kerrea Gilbert who dislocated his shoulder in training, and Steven Thompson, who scored twice on his debut last season against us, will miss out with an achilles injury.

The good news for Cardiff is that Stephen McPhail will be available. He was sent off at Colchester last week by referee Jonathan Moss but incredibly the decision has been overturned by the Welsh FA. There's no doubt that had this been referred to our Football Association then McPhail would not have been able to play tomorrow.

Cardiff are expected to line up: Neil Alexander, James Chambers, Darren Purse, Glenn Loovens, Kevin McNaughton, Paul Parry, Riccardo Scimeca, Joe Ledley, Stephen McPhail, Kevin Campbell, Michael Chopra. Subs: Mark Howard, Roger Johnson, Willo Flood, Malvin Kamara, Luigi Glombard.

Click HERE to see Cardiff's full squad.

Burnley will certainly be forced into making one change with Micah Hyde ruled out with suspension. It looks very unfair that Micah sits this one out whilst McPhail can play, but as long as we have this nonsense with two different associations dealing with disciplinary matters then we are going to have this sort of situation.

It would be no surprise to see his place taken by Chris McCann who started the season in the centre of midfield with James O'Connor. He played at the back last week in an emergency but this week we have Stephen Foster back from suspension whilst captain Wayne Thomas is expected to be available again after injury.

Thomas will almost certainly come back in to partner Michael Duff at the back, and if McCann plays then our team will be: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Michael Duff, Wayne Thomas, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott, James O'Connor, Chris McCann, Steve Jones, Gifton Noel-Williams, Andy Gray. Subs from: Danny Coyne, Stephen Foster, John Spicer, Garreth O'Connor, Alan Mahon, Graham Branch, Kyle Lafferty.

It was, as it had been in the previous two seasons, a forgettable experience for Burnley fans at Ninian Park last season. It wasn't much better for Cardiff either, apart from a mad five minutes that decided the game.

The first half was something of a non-event, and had the score been anything other than 0-0 at half time then it would have taken some believing. The only thing of note was the ridiculous booking of Ade Akinbiyi by inept referee Darren Drysdale. This ruled Ade out of the game against Preston a week later and therefore this proved to be his last game for the club.

We started the second half a bit brighter and took the game to Cardiff, but then just before the hour disaster struck for goalkeeper Brian Jensen, and not for the first time at Cardiff. Three awful mistakes in five minutes, and two of them cost us goals. In between he was left with no chance from a shot from Thompson, and from 0-0 it was suddenly 0-3.

From then on the game reverted to the awful stuff we'd seen for most of the first hour and there was never any real chance of us pulling a goal back. Oh for a Frank Casper, a Micky Conroy or an Andy Payton – and winning days at Ninian Park.

The teams were;

Cardiff: Neil Alexander, Rhys Weston, Darren Purse (Kevin Cooper 84), Neil Cox, Chris Barker, Neal Ardley, Willie Boland, Joe Ledley, Jason Koumas (Guylain Ndumbu-Nsungu 89), Steve Thompson (Riccardo Scimeca 77), Cameron Jerome. Subs not used: Martin Margetson, Phil Mulryne.

Burnley: Brian Jensen, Frank Sinclair, Wayne Thomas, John McGreal, Jon Harley, Wade Elliott (John Spicer 89), James O'Connor, Micah Hyde, Chris McCann (Graham Branch 65), Garreth O'Connor (Gifton Noel-Williams 65), Ade Akinbiyi. Subs not used: Lee Grant, Michael Duff.

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	.

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