October Newsfile

Newsfile Archive

Cardiff will start as favourites being the home team. Bury are no mugs though and so far this season they have beaten us by 3 goals to 2 in the league and drawn 0 - 0 in the cup.

City will be without Tony Vaughan and Richie Humphreys who are both cup tied and without Jorn Schwinkendorf and Josh Low who were both registered too late for this round of the competition. Should we reach round 3 then both Jorn and Josh would come into contention.

Kevin Nugent is definately out with a hairline fracture of his knee. Chris Roberts and Jason Bowen are set to start. The midfield are all well and ready but things may get tight in defence. Jeff Eckhardt and Russell Perrett will play but Mike Ford and Scott Young are trying to recover from knocks. Its possible that Jason Fowler could be drafted into defence if Mike Ford is not fit. - Latest @1400 hrs. Mike Ford is fit and will play.

City expected then to make two changes to the XI that started on Saturday. Ford in for Vaughan and Roberts in for Humphreys. Subs from Kelly, Fowler, Middleton, Hughes, Boland, Hill.

The following Stats have been kindly produced by John Heyda from Ohio.

City has advanced from the 1st to the 2nd round of the FA Cup 21 times. If the club can beat Bury Tuesday night, it will mark  the 18th time they've managed to advance again to the 3rd round. That'd be a 2nd round success rate of almost 86%!

Here are some additional facts and figures on City's 2nd round FA Cup history:

* A win against Bury Tuesday night would give the club 2nd round triumphs in three straight seasons for the first time since the three-year stretch from 1936-37 to 1938-39. (To the best of my knowledge, City did not appear in 1st or 2nd round action   following World War II until 1975-76, then only once again before 1985-86.)

* City's all-time record in 2nd round play stands at an estimable 17 wins, 5 draws, and 3 losses. Since World War II, their mark  stands at 7 wins, 2 draws, and 3 losses.

* City's all-time record in the first two rounds of the FA Cup stands at 38 wins, 15 draws, and 14 losses. Postwar, City's record in the first two rounds shows 17 wins, 6 draws, and 9 losses.

* City did not lose its first 2nd round match until the 1982-83 season! That year, City lost 3-2 at home to Weymouth, a non- league side. The loss snapped an unbeaten run in 2nd round matches extending all the way back to a 1919-20 2nd round 2-1 win over  Wolves and covering 14 matches (11 wins, 3 draws).

* Incredibly, a Bristol Rovers 4-1 win over City in a 2nd round  replay in the 1932-33 competition was City's first defeat in the
1st or 2nd round since a 1914 first-round loss to Bristol City.  This nearly 20-year-long run covered 22 matches (14 wins, 8 draws).  City won the first two of these 22 matches as a non-league side during the 1919-20 competition, then proceeded to go unbeaten in its first 20 as a league side! City was a top division club during much of this period, but then so were many of their first and second round opponents. Byes to the third round for top division clubs did not kick in until the 1925-26 competition.

* City's biggest 2nd round win came in the 1931-32 competition,  when the club blasted Leyton Orient 4-0.

* City's worst 2nd round losses came in back-to-back seasons, a 2-0 loss at Swindon in 1995-96 and a 2-0 loss at home vs. Gillingham in 1996-97.

* City has scored 40 goals in its 25 2nd round matches prior to  Tuesday night's replay. City opponents have netted 17. Only one club has scored as many as three goals against City in a 2nd round match. That club? Weymouth!

Preview from Total Wales.
CARDIFF CITY’S FA Cup opponents, Bury, come to Ninian Park tonight (7.45pm) planning to mark what could be Neil Warnock’s last game in charge by booking a third-round trip to Bolton Wanderers.

Warnock has emerged as a front-runner for the vacancy at Sheffield United - and news of his possible departure has caused few tears among the Gigg Lane faithful.

But his understanding players are determined to give Warnock the perfect send-off should he succeed Adrian Heath at Bramall Lane.

Andy Preece, the former Wrexham striker, said, “We all want the gaffer to stay but we will understand if he does quit for Sheffield.

“The club has always been his first love. But if he does leave us we hope to have sent him on his way with an FA Cup victory.”

Bury have fitness doubts over Darren Bullock (leg) - sent off in the 3-1 home defeat to Preston on Saturday - Paul Reid (hamstring) and Adrian Littlejohn (hip) for the Ninian Park return.

The two sides fought out a goalless draw 10 days ago and Cardiff assistant manager Billy Ayre is expecting another uncompromising contest.

“You know what you’re going to get against Bury,” said Ayre. “Tight competitive games, they’re always closely-run affairs.

“The difficult thing is that people expect us to win after playing well and drawing up there.

“But it doesn’t work like that. Football is not an exact science and we know we have to work hard and play well to win the game.”

Captain Mike Ford - if he shakes off a minor knock - and Christian Roberts are poised to replace loan pair Tony Vaughan and Richie Humphreys, who are both ineligible.

Andy Legg should pass a late fit-ness test to keep his place in a side beaten 2-1 by Gillingham on Saturday.

“It was a terrible start giving a goal away so early,” said Ayre.

“But we were pleased with how hard the lads worked. We need to do that again against Bury because they will be keen to play their neighbours

“But it’s also a real incentive for us as Bolton are a good First Division side who have been pushing for the Premiership over the last couple of seasons.

“They’ve got a good set-up there and it would be tremendous to play them.

“People talk about the cup being a distraction but you want to be playing games.

“As far as we’re concerned it’s an attraction to us.”

Cardiff City (probable): Hallworth; Faerber, Legg, Perrett, Eckhardt, Ford, Bonner, Carpenter, Brazier, Bowen, Roberts

Bury (from): Kenny; Woodward, C Swailes, Redmond, Billy, Williams, Daws, Bullock, Barrick, Littlejohn, Lawson, Barnes, D Swailes, James, Preece, Reid, Bhutia, Avdiu.