Team News
Reds boss Simon Davey may be loath to change a winning team for the trip to bogey side Cardiff, but Darren Moore could replace Dennis Souza after the big centre-half returns from suspension. Moore and Foster kept two clean sheets in their two previous outings together. Top scorer Jamal Campbell-Ryce may have to settle for a place on the bench, after the excellent performances from all four midfielders on Saturday. Martin Devaney misses out after his wife had a emergency caesarean.
Likely Line-Up:
Heinz Muller
Rob Kozluk
Dennis Souza/Darren Moore
Stephen Foster
Bobby Hassell
Adam Hammill
Hugo Colace
Andranik Teymourian.
Anderson De Silva
Daniel Bogdanovic
Michael Mifsud
Head to Head
Cardiff City and in particular Ninian Park is far from a happy hunting ground for the Reds. The Reds have returned from South Wales with all the points just four times in 18 trips, the last of which being a 3-0 success back in October 1983. In fact Barnsley haven't beaten Cardiff home or away in their last seven meetings. The only time they have won in Cardiff during that time was when they defeated the Bluebirds arch rivals Swansea at the Millenium Stadium in 2006. One of the Reds defeats to Dave Jones' side (and they have lost the last three) came rather infamously at Wembley Stadium in the FA Cup Semi-Finals back in April. Joe Ledley's effort after nine minutes was enough to send Cardiff through to a Final meeting with Portsmouth. The game will be forever remembered by Barnsley fans for the horror miss by Kayode Odejayi, in which he shot wide when clean through in the 67th minute.
This was followed up with another meeting a month later, on the final day of 2007-2008, when a young Reds side including Jacob Butterfield, Dwayne Mattis, and Jamil Adam were resoundly beaten 3-0.
In the corresponding league fixture this season, The Reds put in one of their worst performances in living memory, as they lost 1-0 to a Peter Whittingham goal. Barnsley never threatened the whole game.
The Reds have only scored twice against the Bluebirds in their last six meetings, and the now departed Brian Howard got both goals.
Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff Match Report 16/9/08
Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff Match Report 6/4/08
Barnsley 1-1 Cardiff Match Report 29/9/07
Barnsley 1-2 Cardiff Match Report 5/8/06
Last six Cardiff v Barnsley Results:
16/9/08 Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff (Championship)
4/5/08 Cardiff 3-0 Barnsley (Championship)
6/4/08 Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff (FA Cup Semi-Final, Wembley Stadium)
29/9/07 Barnsley 1-1 Cardiff (Championship)
2/2/07 Cardiff 2-0 Barnsley (Championship)
5/8/06 Barnsley 1-2 Cardiff (Championship)
Overall Record:
Cardiff Wins: 18
Barnsley Wins: 11
Draws: 9
Cardiff Goals: 56
Barnsley Goals: 41
At Ninian Park:
Cardiff Wins: 11
Barnsley Wins: 4
Draws: 3
Cardiff Goals: 32
Barnsley Goals: 13
On Neutral Ground:
Barnsley Wins: 0
Cardiff Wins: 1
Draws: 0
Barnsley Goals: 0
Cardiff Goals: 1
This Season
Cardiff are the hardest side to beat in the Championship this season, having lost the least in the division- five games- but a succession of draws have stopped them from mounting a serious automatic promotion challenge, as of yet. The Bluebirds shock 1-0 defeat at relegation-threatened Southampton on Saturday was only their second reverse in 17 matches, and their first in 14 league matches, as the other defeat was a 4-0 stuffing at Premier League Arsenal in the FA Cup. The downside of that run was that eight of those games finished in draws. Dave Jones' side have had 10 stalemates on the road- the most in the league, and indeed have only won two matches more than Barnsley in 18th position. The defeat to Southampton also knocked them out of the play-off positions and they haven't won since January.
Cardiff are very strong at home however, winning nine of their 15 games at Ninian Park- only the top four sides in the division have won more home games, and they have lost just twice at home- the last of which was against league leaders Wolves on the 1st November. The other home defeat was to second place Birmingham, which shows how much of a fortress Ninian Park is. It won't be for much longer however, as Cardiff are set to move to a new 26,500 seater stadium in May. Ninian Park currently only holds 22,000 but that including standing.
Barnsley will hope to extend their unbeaten run to four games, which would be their joint best run of the season. If they somehow win, it will equal their run earlier in the season when they won three and drew one against Sheffield Wednesday, Bristol City, Doncaster and Charlton.
Last Six Results:
Cardiff:
28/2/09 Southampton 1-0 Cardiff (Championship)
25/2/09 Cardiff 0-0 QPR (Championship)
22/2/09 Wolves 2-2 Cardiff (Championship)
16/2/09 Arsenal 4-0 Cardiff (FA Cup)
31/1/09 Cardiff 2-0 Nottingham Forest (Championship)
28/2/09 Coventry 0-2 Cardiff (Championship)
W: 2 D: 2 L: 2 F: 6 A: 7 GD: -1 Points: 8
Barnsley:
28/2/09 Barnsley 2-1 QPR (Championship)
21/2/09 Barnsley 0-0 Charlton (Championship)
17/2/09 Sheffield Wednesday 0-1 Barnsley (Championship)
30/1/09 Bristol City 2-0 Barnsley (Championship)
27/1/09 Barnsley 1-2 Ipswich (Championship)
17/1/09 Norwich 4-0 Barnsley (Championship)
W:2 D:1 L:3 F:4 A:9 GD: -5 Points: 7
Cardiff lie 7th in the Coca-Cola Championship with 53 points from 32 games.
Barnsley lie 18th in the Coca-Cola Championship with 39 points from 33 games.
Cardiff could go as high as 4th with victory whilst Barnsley could go as high as 16th.
Mad Sites:
www.barnsley-mad.co.uk
Official Sites:
Other Fixtures:
Tuesday 3rd March 2009
Crystal Palace v Wolverhampton, 20:00
Ipswich v Southampton, 19:45
Nottm Forest v Preston, 19:45
Wednesday, 4 March 2009
Birmingham v Bristol City, 19:45