Coca-Cola Championship Matchday Thirty Two: Cardiff City v Barnsley

The Reds are without three defenders for this tough 200 mile trip to the Welsh capital. Ryan Shotton serves the final match of his four game suspension whilst Rob Kozluk and loanee Kieran Trippier are injured. Bobby Hassell suffered a broken nose on his return from seven matches out with a knee problem on Tuesday but will be fit for the Reds first ever trip to the Cardiff City Stadium. Emil Hallfredsson should also be fit after missing the Scunthorpe defeat but Iain Hume remains sidelined. Reds boss Mark Robins must decide whether to go with a 4-4-1-1 formation or a 4-4-2. He could side with the 4-4-2 as the former hasn’t worked since its inception in the 4-1 win at Preston.

Likely Lineup:

Luke Steele

Carl Dickinson

Darren Moore

Stephen Foster

Bobby Hassell

Felipe Teixeira

Adam Hammill

Nathan Doyle

Hugo Colace

Daniel Bogdanovic

Andy Gray

Head To Head

This is Barnsley’s first visit to Cardiff’s new Cardiff City Stadium which was opened in August 2009, and they will be glad to have seen the back of the Bluebirds former ground, Ninian Park, seeing as the Reds won just four times in 19 trips there and none of the final five. The Reds have not returned from South Wales with three points since a 3-0 win there in 1983 and they have lost the last three with Cardiff scoring three times on two occasions. In 2006-2007, they won 2-0, 2007-2008 3-0 and 2008-2009 3-1 with ex red Michael Chopra notching in two of those games. Cardiff also got the better of The Reds in the famous FA Cup Semi-Final in April 2008. Joe Ledley’s early effort sending Cardiff to a Final meeting with Portsmouth.

The Reds got some revenge for their Wembley heartache at Oakwell in November when a 93^rd minute free-kick by Carl Dickinson, ironically deflecting off Chopra sealed The Reds first win home or away against the Bluebirds since November 2002. Thankfully there was no repeat of the town riots that accompanied that 3-2 win eight years ago. Two goals from Chris Morgan and an effort from Rory Fallon won the game and irate Cardiff fans trashed the town centre afterwards.

Barnsley 1-0 Cardiff 21/11/09 Match Report

Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff 16/9/08 Match Report

Barnsley 0-1 Cardiff 6/4/08 Match Report

Barnsley 1-1 Cardiff 29/9/07 Match Report

Barnsley 1-2 Cardiff 5/8/06 Match Report

Last Six Cardiff v Barnsley results:

21/11/09 Barnsley 1-0 Cardiff (Championship)

3/3/09 Cardiff 3-1 Barnsley (Championship)

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) - Played at Wembley

29/9/07 Barnsley 1-1 Cardiff (Championship)

Overall Record:

Cardiff Wins: 19

Barnsley Wins: 12

Draws: 9

Cardiff Goals: 59

Barnsley Goals: 43

At Ninian Park (this is Barnsley’s first visit to the Cardiff City Stadium):

Cardiff Wins: 12

Barnsley Wins: 4

Draws: 3

Cardiff Goals: 35

Barnsley Goals: 14

This Season

Cardiff have had a topsy-turvy season but will be quite content sitting fifth in the Championship, considering last season they missed out on the play-offs by a single goal after a late season collapse saw them fail to win any of their last four games. It was all the more galling that the one goal deficit saw them pipped to sixth by Preston who had beaten them 6-0 in April. Cardiff’s season to date has been all about goals- scoring and conceding them. The Bluebirds have hit an impressive 56 goals this season and have the league’s two top scorers – 19 goal Peter Whittingham and 14 goal Michael Chopra. Only West Brom have scored more this season. Unfortunately for the Welsh side, they have also seen 36 hit the back of their own net, which is the most in the top six. Cardiff have proved the quality within their squad by beating Scunthorpe and Watford 4-0, hammering Derby 6-1 and destroying Bristol City 6-0… at Bristol City! But they have also shown their fragility by suffering a 5-1 thumping at Newcastle- their only defeat in 2010 and in the extraordinary game at London Road in December when they led bottom side Peterborough 4-0 at half-time but collapsed after the break, drawing 4-4! They do have quality within their ranks however with two players Barnsley supporters know all about. Striker Michael Chopra hit 17 goals for The Reds in League One in 2004-2005- no Barnsley player has got above 14 in a season since. Chopra also has a pretty good scoring record against The Reds having notched two goals in three Bluebirds appearances against them. Another worrying statistic is that this has been a week for old boys coming back to haunt Barnsley with Rory Fallon scoring last weekend and Paul Hayes doing the same on Tuesday…. Also in the Cardiff ranks is Stephen McPhail, who played a pivotal role in getting Barnsley promotion to the Championship in 2005-2006 before leaving for Cardiff on a free transfer. The man who notched four goals in 79 appearances for The Reds is a doubt for tomorrow as he battles to overcome a rib injury. Of more pressing concern is that “Macca” has managed only 12 appearances for Cardiff this season, due mainly to being struck down with lymph cancer which forced him out of action for three months and a total of 15 games. Thankfully the former Republic of Ireland international has now fully recovered from this.

Barnsley are currently experiencing their worst run under Mark Robins with Tuesday’s 2-1 defeat at Scunthorpe being a third successive league defeat- something that hasn’t happened since The Reds lost five in a row under Simon Davey in August which ended the Welshman’s reign as manager. These results have seen The Reds slip from ninth in the Championship, three points off the play-offs to 13^th, six points off the relegation zone. If they do manage to gain their first win in Cardiff in 27 years it will be the club’s first home and away double of the season and the first time they have achieved this over Cardiff since 1958-1959 when they won 3-2 at home and 1-0 away.

Record for 20^th February:

Cardiff have a pretty poor record on the 20^th February, losing eight and winning just four of the 14 matches they have played on this date. They have won just one of their last nine matches on this date and have lost three of the last four. That one success came against Halifax in Division Three in 2001 when they won 2-1- Paul Brayson getting both Cardiff goals. The Bluebirds were promoted at the end of that season. Cardiff suffered a heavy 8-1 defeat at Southend on this date in 1937 but their most recent game was a 1-0 loss at West Brom in 2007.

Barnsley have an average record on the 20^th February winning six and losing seven of their 18 matches on this date but they are unbeaten in their last five matches on this date stretching back to a 1-0 defeat at Sheffield United in 1988. The Reds have won their last two matches on the 20^th February, 1-0 at home to Crystal Palace in 2001 with Neil Shipperley getting the goal and a vital relegation six-pointer 3-0 win over Hull in 2007 when the Hungarian pair of Istvan Ferenczi and Peter Rajczi stole the show, Ferenczi grabbing a brace and Rajczi also on target.

Cardiff and Barnsley have met once before on the 20^th February, a 0-0 draw at Ninian Park in 1982. That season Barnsley finished sixth in the Second Division- but only the top three sides won promotion, whilst Cardiff were relegated in 20^th out of 22.

Overall playing record for 20^th February:

Cardiff: Played 14, Won 4, Drawn 2, Lost 8, Scored 17, Conceded 27.

Barnsley: Played 18, Won 6, Drawn 5, Lost 7, Scored 24, Conceded 20.

Last six 2009-2010 Results

Cardiff:

16/2/10 Cardiff 1-1 West Brom (Championship)

13/2/10 Chelsea 4-1 Cardiff (FA Cup)

9/2/10 Cardiff 2-0 Peterborough (Championship)

5/2/10 Newcastle 5-1 Cardiff (Championship)

30/1/10 Cardiff 2-1 Doncaster (Championship)

26/1/10 Bristol City 0-6 Cardiff (Championship)

W: 3 D: 1 L: 2 F: 13 A: 11 GD: 2 Points: 10