MONTHLY NEWSFILE
OCTOBER 1998

Saturday 31st October 1998

Cardiff have been drawn at home to Chester City in the 1st round of the FA Cup. Ties to be played on the weekend of November 14th.

Full First Round Draw

Basingstoke or Dover v Bournemouth
St Albans Kingstonian v Burton
Aldershot or Woking v Scunthorpe
Brentford v Camberley Town
Wycombe Wanderers v Chesterfield
Southend Utd v Doncaster Rovers
Man City v Halifax
Tamworth v Exeter City
Swansea City v Millwall
Emley or Gateshead v Rotherham
Wigan v Blackpool
Mansfield Town v Havant & W or Hayes
Hednesford v Barenet
Darlington v Burnley
Enfield v York City
Northampton v Leek or Lancaster
Leyton Orient v Brighton
Farnborough or Yeovil v West Auckland
Walsall v Frickley or Gresley
Oldham v Gillingham
Preston v Ford Utd
Hartlepool v Carlisle
Worcester or Langney Sports v Torquay
Fulham v Leigh RMI
Wrexham v Peterborough
Hendon or Bath v Notts County
Boreham Wood v Luton Town
Bristol Rovers v Welling or Whyteleafe
Cardiff v Chester
Bedlington v Colchester
Leatherhead or Rushden & D v Shrewsbury
Cheltenham or Taunton v Lincoln City
Telford v Cambridge
Reading v Stoke
Runcorn v Dagenham & Red or Stevenage

CARDIFF CITY 1 - 0 EXETER CITY. Match report.

Friday 30th October 1998

Sullivan to meet Kumar plus other Directors.
Next Monday's secret meeting between David Sullivan and several City Directors will now include Samesh Kumar. Sullivan has already made an offer for 3 million shares at 50p each, therefore putting £1.5m into Cardiff City. To have that ammount of shares would see Sullivan in control at Ninian Park with just over 50% of the total shares. Kumar has rejected the bid but is still open to offers. He thinks the first bid from Sullivan was just to test the water. He did not beleive it was right for Sullivan to only pay 50p a share when the other investors into Cardiff City (Phil Jardine, Mike Price etc) paid £1.04 per share. Kumar has though said he would be prepared to lose control of the club at the right price. Sullivan has stated that he would also give money for squad strengthening on top of the £1.5m. Sullivan has not offered to buy out Kumar, Samesh will still hold the same amount of shares he has at the moment. Should the board agree to a bid from Sullivan it would have to be approved by an extra ordinary meeting of the shareholders. The problem of Sullivans interest in two football clubs (he is a 50% owner of Birmingham City) would be resolved by the appointment of his girlfriend and mother to his son, David jnr, Eve Vorley. Vorley will head any move into Cardiff City.

Sullivan is a man of his word. He showed interest in cardiff City six months ago. Then he said I'll be back with an offer in October and here he is. Penarth born Sullivan says he has always had a soft spot for Cardiff City and he now wants to spend part of his £370m fortune on them. We await the results on Mondays meeting with baited breath.

Exeter City preview.
Before we get too carried away with millions of pounds dropping into Ninian Park we have an important home game tomorrow. Exeter are the visitors to Ninian. The Grecians come to Cardiff without an away win in over a year. They last won on the road on Oct 18th 97 against Brighton. Their record in Cardiff is equally appalling. They have only won once at Ninian Park in the last 50 years.
Skipper Mike Ford is missing tomorrow after his Cambridge sending off. His place will be take by Jeff Eckhardt who is returning from injury. Mark Delaney is also back in the team and new loan signing Chris Allen will his home league debut. Allen featured well in the 4 - 1 win at Bangor last Monday. Mark Bonner who missed out against Bangor will probably make way again. City will probably line up as follows:- Hallworth, Delaney, Young, Mitchell, Ford, O'Sullivan, Carpenter, Fowler, Allen, Nugent, Thomas. Dai Thomas and Kevin Nugent will be hoping for the service Allen gave them at Bangor to come at Ninian tomorrow. Allen crossed for Thomas to open City's account at Farrah Rd and an Allen shot came off the bar for Nugent to score the second goal.

Exeter come to Ninian with several former Cardiff players. Lee Baddeley, Steve Flack, Jimmy Gardner and Chris Fry all travel with the Exeter squad tomorrow. They also have four other Welshmen in the squad, Darren Rowbotham, Jason Rees, Chris Holloway and Gavin Chesterfield.

Cardiff will be looking to put behind them the last two home games where we lost 0 - 1 to Cambridge and drew 0 - 0 with Orient. With only three points separating the top seven (City are seventh) a win could see us back into the top 5.

Lee Jarman / Gareth Stoker updates.
Lee Jarman is hoping to play a part in a reserve team fixture against Exeter at St James Park next Tuesday. Stoker is a bit behind that but is hoping to see some action in November. Jarman damaged his knee against Merthyr in an FAW game earlier this month and Stoker has been out since last season with knee ligament damage.

Thursday 29th October 1998

Sullivan to make new bid.
Teletext reports this afternoon that David Sullivan will meet City Directors next Monday to table a new bid for the Clubs shares. Samesh Kumar was not interested in Sullivan's first offer of just 50p a share.

FA Youth Cup
Kidderminster youth 1 - 5 Cardiff City youth
Rob Earnshaw helped himself to four goals as the youth team eased into the second round of the FA Youth Cup. Warren Givens scored the other. City have been drawn away to Peterborough in the second round.

Wednesday 28th October 1998

Kumar rejects £1.5m bid from David Sullivan.
Todays teletext claims that Samesh Kumar has rejected a £1.5 m bid from Birmingham City chairman David Sullivan. The deal would see Sullivan buying up 3m 50p shares, thus giving him over 50% control of the club.
Kumar confirmed he had received an offer but it was not remotely interesting.

FAW to charge City
Cardiff will be charged for the crowd trouble that erupted at the home game with Cambridge. One fan was banned for life after getting within feet of the match referee. The days events also included bottle and coin throwing from the Canton Stand.

Monday 26th October 1998

BANGOR CITY 1 - 4 CARDIFF CITY. Match report.

Cardiff fielded a full strength team to complete a comfortable victory over Bangor. A shot count of 28 - 12 in Cardiff's favour show just how dominant Cardiff were. The only drawback was that Cardiff only scored four times. They did considerably step off the gas in the second half to allow Bangor a late consolation goal. Goals from Dai Thomas, Kevin Nugent 2 and Craig Middleton saw the Bluebirds home.

Keegan recalls Brazier.
Matt Brazier has returned to Fulham. Kevin Keegan recalled the youngster after being hit with injuries. A statement from Samesh Kumar said that we could not afford to buy the player anyway. Burrows and Keegan had agreed a sale price but the wages etc were just too expensive for Cardiff.

Saturday 24th October 1998

Carlisle game postponed.
Cardiff's match at Carlisle today was postponed just hours before kick off time.

Thursday 22nd October 1998

Keegan agrees to sell Brazier.
Fulham have agreed a deal with Cardiff to sell Matt Brazier. It's now down to 1, the player and 2, Cardiff being able to afford him.
The resounding message from the fans is "Sign him Frank".

City sign new loan player.
Cardiff have signed Nottingham Forest attacking midfielder / left winger Chris Allen on loan. The 26 year old turned down a move to Ninian earlier in the year but he is set to go straight into the squad for Saturday's trip to Carlisle.

Andy Legg in talks with Frank Burrows.
32 year old Andy Legg, currently on loan with Peterborough, is looking at a possible move to Cardiff. Former Swansea player Legg is available on a free transfer from Reading. The loan agreement with Peterborough allows him to leave the Posh if a permanent deal is available. Legg is also a target for Lincoln, Northampton and Peterborough but is attracted by a move to his native S.Wales. Legg still has things to sort out at Reading but he is close to agreeing terms with Cardiff. Jason Bowen is also being looked at. He is also available on a free transfer from Reading.

Swansea ticket details.
Tickets for the away game at Swansea on November 22nd go on sale at Ninian Park on Monday 2nd November. All access to the Vetch is by coach direct from Ninian Park. The price is £16.00 per ticket (coach travel and matchday ticket included). There will be no concessions. Again Ninian Park is the only pick up and drop off point. Tickets for the game will only be handed out when the coach has left Cardiff.

Tuesday 20th October 1998

CARDIFF CITY 0 - 0 LEYTON ORIENT. Match report.

City failed to convert possession into goals at Ninian for the second time in four days. Cardiff were again the dominant team and at times played the most attractive football. Richard Carpenter played well and it was a joy to watch. Chances were created and in fairness the O's keeper made a few good saves. City had several shots at goal from around the edge of the box and were unlucky that one of them did not go into the net. Orient were a class below City but they defended well and broke quickly. Hallworth was only called into action a few times and he dealt each situation. Last night will be seen as two points dropped rather than one gained. Brentford are now clear top of the table on 27 pts. City are 6th with 24 pts. But after Brentford the next 10 clubs are separated by only 5 pts. Now onto the long trip to Carlisle we need to get a result to stay in the top 6. Better to be up there than chasing all season.

Video footage now available.
I am now able to provide video footage on the website. I cannot guarentee what footage I can get as it's down to when the pictures are available but I will endeavour to cover as many goals / incidents as possible. I have uploaded a new page http://ds.dial.pipex.com/m4morris/video.htm. From this page you can download video images from matches. The first ones on the site are from last Saturday's game v Cambridge. You will need a Realplayer. It can be downloaded from this site http://www.real.com.

You will also notice in the LATEST NEWS box a link to TELETEXT. If you click on that link it will show you what the local teletext pages are saying about Cardiff City. You will know if it has been updated by the date on the left hand side.

Orient preview.
After the disappointment of last Saturday a quick game is just what we need to get the bad taste from our mouths. Orient come to Ninian and Cardiff will be expecting to bounce back with a win. It's likely that City will field the same side that played against Cambridge. Mike Ford's 3 match suspension for being sent off against Cambridge does not come into affect yet.

Mark Delaney and Jeff Eckhradt are both fit again after their hamstring problems. It might be too soon to see them play tonight but are both named in the squad.

Monday 19th October 1998

Club react to kamikazee fans.
Cardiff City took swift action today after a fan got within a few feet of last Saturdays referee Barry Knight. The fan outraged by Mr Knight took things too far when he invaded the pitch and stormed after the official. The individual concerned has been banned for life from Ninian Park. As a result of bottles and coins being thrown onto the pitch from the Canton stand and because a section of the Canton thought it funny to hold the ball instead of getting back to the Cardiff players the Club has decided not to allow 1/2 price consessions in the Canton Stand. Everyone who attends that part of the ground will have to pay the full £8.00. Cardiff have tried to encourage the younger supporter to come to the games but after last Saturdays showing they will not tolerate such behaviour. CCTV and Video footage is being used to identify as many of the missile throwers as possible.

Cardiff City youth 3 - 1 Cheltenham youth
The youngsters coninued their fine form with a comfortable victory over Cheltenham. It was their eighth straight victory in a run which has seen them score 22 goals with only 4 being conceeded. Warren Givens, Steve George and Daryl Phillips hit the target for the Bluebirds.

Saturday 17th October 1998

CARDIFF CITY 0 - 1 CAMBRIDGE UTD. Match report.

Cardiff were beaten by an injury time winner from John Taylor in a very highly charged match. Cardiff were apalled by the descisions of the referee Barry Knight who seemed to be playing with a Cambridge shirt on. He turned down two good penalty appeals, sent off City's Mike Ford and then played only 30 seconds of the 3 minutes of injury time the 4th official had indicated. Utd's winning goal turned out to be virtually the last kick of the game as the crowd watched in disbelief when he blew his whistle as soon as Cardiff restarted the game. The referee's first action when he blew the whistle was to run for cover of the stewards who guided him off the pitch to the loudest chorus of boo's I had every heard at a game. One City fan managed to get onto the pitch but was apprehended before he got to the official. That fan has received a life ban from Ninian Park. I hope the referee gets one as well.

On the field Cardiff again produced quality football but struggled in front of goal. Jon Hallworth was named man of the match after making several fines saves and saving a penalty which was awarded when Mike Ford fouled Cambridge's eventual match winner Taylor. Ford received his red card for foul and abusive language to the referee after the penalty was awarded.

No time to dwell on the events of yesterday, City are in action again on Tuesday at Ninian Park. This time Leyton Orient provide the opposition. Cardiff will be looking to get back to winning ways again. The top of the table is still very tight. Yesterdays results kept the top 5 within one point of each other. City are currently 5th with 23 pts and Rotherham are 4th on 23 pts as well but with a better goal record than Cardiff. Top top 3 all have 24 pts with Brentford in 1st spot followed by Scunthorpe and Darlington.

Autowindscreen draw.
Cardiff have been drawn away to Millwall in this seasons Autowindscreen Trophy. It is a one off cup game (no second legs). Ties to be played week commencing 7th December. Full draw:-

Friday 16th October 1998

Cambridge preview.
Cardiff go into tomorrows game at home to Cambridge with top spot in Division 3 in their sights. City, on the back of a seven match unbeaten run, can go top if others results go in our favour. Cardiff will field the same XI that played at Hull last week. The subsitutes are likely to be Craig Middleton, Lee Phillips and John Williams but Nathan Cadette has been called into the squad. City will be without Lee Jarman who is several weeks away from playing and without Mark Delaney and Jeff Eckhardt although both are responding well to treatment of their hamstring problems and could be in contention for a return next Tuesday when City entertain Leyton Orient at Ninian Park (7:30pm).
Cambridge have a fair away record so far this season with four away league wins and a giantkilling 1 - 0 victory at Hillsborough over Sheff Wed.
Last season the two teams drew at Ninian Park 0 - 0 but the game at The Abbey Stadium will be remembered for Jeff Eckhardt's 101st minute equaliser for Cardiff in a match which finished 2 - 2.

Player speculation.
Todays press carry reports that Frank Burrows is looking at two or three players that he would like to sign. Jason Bowen and Andy Legg of Reading have both been mentioned with Frank confirming his interest. Legg though has signed a loan deal at Peterborough. Frank would love to sign Matt Brazier but does not know yet if that would be possible. Brazier's loan period ends next Saturday after the trip to Carlisle. Frank can then try to extend the period for a final month, buy the player or let him return to Fulham. Option no.2 would be favourite with all City fans.
Andy Saville finishes his loan spell at Hull tomorrow. Doncaster are also showing interest in him and Frank Burrows is happy to let him go. Burrow's is not pleased that Saville has to commute from Doncaster when he is involved with Cardiff.
Finally a word about Gareth Stoker. Gareth is still making good progress after his cruciate ligament injury and is now training with the rest of the squad. He is still several weeks away from playing but the Christmas target of a return to football is looking more and more likely each week.

Wednesday 14th October 1998

Swansea res 1 - 3 Cardiff res
City reserves completed a comfortable away win at Swansea earlier today. Two goals from Christian Roberts and one from Rob Earnshaw gave Cardiff a comfortable lead before Davies pulled one back late on for Swansea.

p.s. Well done to Wales who beat Belarus 3 - 2 at Ninian Park tonight. Scott Young was on the bench but did not actually play as Bobby Gould did not use any substitutes.

Tuesday 13th October 1998

Scott Young gets the call from Bobby.
Bobby Gould has called upon Scott Young to join the full Wales squad in preparation for tomorrow nights game at Ninian Park against Belarus. Scott has played for the U21 team before but this is his highest accolade yet.
Scott was pulled out of Cardiff City training this morning and whisked away to join the rest of the Welsh team at their S.Wales base. We wish Scott all the best and we hope he can play some part in the match. Well done.

City reserves.
Cardiff reserves take on Swansea reserves tomorrow (Wed) at The Vetch. Kick off at 2:00pm. It's the latest match in the South West Trophy league.

Monday 12th October 1998

A week is a long time in football.
After the excitement of Friday night and the thrill of being top of the league (albeit for 24 hours) it now seems like ages before we play again. After all the weekends results came in Cardiff are now in third place, one point behind Darlington who are top and behind Scunthorpe, we are level on points with the Iron, but they have scored more goals.

There will be action at Ninian this week when Wales play Belarus on Wednesday night, they will be hoping to build upon the victory in Copenhagen last Saturday against Denmark.

Brazier
I do not know any City fan who does not appreciate Matt Brazier, think that he
adds to the side and is a significant factor in our unbeaten run.
The Echo says he believes City have a genuine chance of winning the
championship!
He also says, "I have throughly enjoyed myself and if I do leave after my
second month loan, it will be a wrench"
However the Echo adds that it is "likely" he will return to Fulham later this
month after the next three Nationwide league games.
At a time when Frankie is calling to strengthen his squad, does anybody know
why City does seem to be making any attempt to buy the player? As someone
said before, he is our best loan signing for years (since Eddie Newton), if we
have genuine ambition, we should at least explore the possibility of making
him permanent.

Cambridge
Eckhardt, Jarman and Delaney are all likely to remain unavailable for the
tricky home game to Cambridge on Saturday. Cambridge have won 4 of their 6
away at Torquay, Chester, Southend and Hull and lost at Totherham (2-0) plus
Scunthorpe (3-2).
They have a goalkeeper problem as 1st choice, Arjan Van Heusden, a 6' 4"
Dutchman, fractured a bone in his hand in their 3-2 home defeat to Brighton
last weekend. 2nd choice, Scott Marshall, has a broken finger. 3rd choice is
20 yr old Shane Marshall who has played 3 league games previously. They are
looking for a loan keeper before Saturday.

Chester
Chester City are set to call in administrators and they need to pay £500,000
to creditors immediately and cannot afford it.

Saturday 10th October 1998

Back to reality.
This afternoon's football has seen City drop to third place courtesy of a win for Darlington who go top and a draw for Scunthorpe who go second. City, are though, only a point off top spot and are now well and truly in the battle for the top of the league.

Friday 9th October 1998

HULL CITY  1 - 2 CARDIFF CITY. Match report.

Cardiff sit proudly on top of Division 3 after a hard earned 2 - 1 victory over lowly Hull City tonight. Two goals from Dai Thomas have put City on top of the tree (for 24 hours at least). Thomas now becomes City's highest scorer so far this season. His first goal came on 10 mins and Cardiff held on until the 42nd minute when Brown equalised. City came back early in the second half and the goal that turned out to be the winner was scored by Thomas on 52 mins. City held out for the last half an hour under severe pressure from Hull City, Mark Hately the doomed Hull manager missing the best chance for the home side in the last 5 mins. Kevin Nugent had the chance to seal it for the Bluebirds but his shot failed to hit the target. Make the most of it boys and girls, this is as good as it gets..........

Hull City preview.
Well, todays the day we could go back to the top of the league. First time since winning the division 5 years ago. Too early to count any chickens as Hull City have a point to prove. They are determined to show the footballing world they have a future. It does seem though that tonights game could be the last for Mark Hately, the Hull manager is earning one of the highest salaries in the Nationwide League and he will be a casualty if Don Robinson takes over from David Lloyd. Cardiff go into the game on the back of 5 wins in the last 6 matches, the other game being a draw. There is some disruption the City team with the injuries to Mark Delaney and Lee Jarman. Welcome back Mike Ford who gets a chance at full first team action just a week after successfully playing in a training game and just four days after a 90 minute run out against Merthyr. Tonights match kicks off at 7:30pm. There will updates on this site and on the mailing list as the game progresses. My guess is that City will field the following team.
Hallworth, Ford, Mitchell, Young, Middleton, Brazier, O'Sullivan, Bonner, Carpenter, Nugent and Thomas. Subs Williams, Fowler, and one from Cadette / Roberts / Earnshaw.
It is possible that Fowler will play from the start. If he does I can see O'Sullivan dropping to right wing back and Middleton replacing Fowler on the bench. If Fowler is on the bench I think Middleton will be the wing back with O'Sullivan in midfield. We'll see. Good luck to the Bluebirds tonight.

Lee Jarman news.
Lee has ruptured a tendon in his knee and will be out for several weeks. Mark Delaney has pulled his hamstring, there is no news on how long he will be out.

Wednesday 7th October 1998

Peterborough enquire into Nugent.
Barry Fry has contacted Cardiff regarding in form striker and Mailing List sponsored Kevin Nugent. Thankfully Frankie has seen sense and refused to listen.

Hull City v Cardiff City is set to be played as planned.
The match on Friday should be OK to go ahead after the threat from Hull City owner David Lloyd to close the club down. It looks as if ex chairman Don Robinson will save the Tigers from extinction. Hull are the 92nd placed team in the football league at the moment and are going through turmoil with the fans losing faith in the chairman and the manager. While we wish Hull City all the best for the future we do not want to see them starting to rebuild too srongly until after Fridays game where victory for Cardiff would take us to the top of the table.

City go into Fridays match with team changes. Lee Jarman and Jeff Eckhardt are definately out, Mark Delaney is probably out but Jason Fowler has a good chance of taking part. City will probably play the following.
Hallworth in goal, a back three of Ford, Young and Mitchell, Brazier will play left wing back with either O'Sullivan or Middleton playing on the right. The other will play in the middle with Bonner and Carpenter, Leaving Fowler on the bench along with Williams and probably Lee Phillips. Nugent and Thomas will continue up front. If Fowler is played from the start then O'Sullivan will drop back and Middleton will keep the bench warm

CITY res 1 - 2 PLYMOUTH res
City lost their South West Trophy match at Ninian Park last night. City fielded a team of teenagers for last nights game. The only exception was keeper Seamus Kelly. Cardiff took a first half lead when Shane Small headed in a rebound after a Rob Earnshaw shot came back off the post. Plymouth came back though and won the games with goals from Dwight Marshall and Matthew Parsons.

Tuesday 6th October 1998

City rocked by last nights injuries.
Lee Jarman is out of the Wales U21 squad that flew to Denmark today. Jarman was not due to play against Hull on Friday anyway but his injury is causing concern. Mark Delaney's hamstring problem from last night will cause him to miss Friday's game. Jason Fowler must now also be doubtful. City are already without Jeff Eckhardt after his hamstring problem and Richard Carpenter is also carrying a knock. The loss of two points in the FAW could be insignificant compared to the break up through injury of a winning team.

Monday 5th October 1998

CARDIFF CITY 2 - 2 MERTHYR TYDFIL. Match report.

Cardiff earned their first FAW point tonight in a 2 - 2 draw with Merthyr.
More worrying is that City have picked up 3 significant injuries.
Mark Delaney - hamstring, Jason Fowler - ankle and more worrying Lee Jarman - knee. Jarman has gone to hospital for X rays and Scans after he fell awkwardly.
Frank Burrows was very disappointed with the squad players he brought into the game giving them chance to prove themselves.
The only bright news is that Mike Ford came through the 90 mins with no problems.
Merthyr took the lead on six minutes with a 25 yard strike from Chiverton. Cardiff came back in the second half with an equaliser from John Williams and then took the lead with a goal from Matt Brazier. Cohen Griffith had the last laugh with an equaliser against his old club.

Merthyr preview.
Cardiff will be looking for a first win in the FAW Premier Cup as Merthyr visit Ninian Park tonight (7:15pm). League form counts for nothing as City found out against Bangor a few weeks ago. Cardiff are clear favourites, they are obviously a full time team playing part timers but confidence is also very high. Merthyr were knocked out of the FA Cup on Saturday so they will not want another bad cup result. Mike Ford is fit and available and will probably play some part tonight. I would imagine there to be several changes to the league side with the likes of Craig Middleton, John Williams, Jason Fowler (all on the bench last Saturday) probably playing from the start and the likes of Nathan Cadette, Rob Earnshaw, Lee Phillips and Christian Roberts being involved. Frank Burrows has told the full squad to report to Ninian Park for tonights game. Jeff Eckhardt is definately out and Richard Carpenter and Matt Brazier are nursing minor injuries that were picked up on the weekend.

BASHLEY yth 1 - 2 CARDIFF CITY yth
City's youngsters maintained their 100% record this season with victory at Bashley / Hampshire on Saturday. City took a 2 - 0 lead with goals from Matthew Higginson and Andrew Dick before Bashley pulled one back. Their next match is at home next Saturday against Cambrian Sky Blues. It is a Welsh Cup game and will be played at the University of Glamorgam playing fields in Treforest. Kick off 11:00am.

Saturday 3rd October 1998

CARDIFF CITY 2 - 0 BRIGHTON. Match report.

Kevin Nugent capped a fine performance with the opening goal against struggling Brighton. John Williams fired in a second as the Bluebirds dominated the Seagulls. Nugent led the line like a hero today and netted his second of the season after 8 mins. Wayne O'Sullivan's free kick was headed on by Scott Young and Nugent was on hand to tap in. Kevin could do little wrong as he competed for and won nearly every ball played to him. It was his lay off that enabled John Williams to convert his second goal of the season on 74 mins. Williams had only been on for about 2 minutes when he struck gold. Nugent had set up earlier efforts for Dai Thomas but City failed to score from them. Cardiff easily outclassed Brighton but the killer instinct was still lacking. At 1 - 0 you always felt that Brighton might just nick a point, the second goal was a long time in coming and it certainly calmed everybody's nerves. An excelent result today for a crowd of over 6,100 City's best so far this season. Other reults in the league went City's way today and we are now in 5th position only two points behind the leaders, Scunthorpe (who were beaten at home 0 - 4 by Halifax). Cardiff play their next match on Friday night away at bottom team Hull. Victory would put the Bluebirds top of the table, for 24 hours at least.

Aston Villa answer Jardine's call.
Doug Ellis has replied already to Cardiff and agreed to send a Villa team to Ninian Park next year. Villa were City's first ever opponents at Ninian Park in 1910. Villa won the game 2 -1. This is a positive response to many letters sent out by the Club to involve top teams in Cardiff's Centenery celebrations.

Friday 2nd October 1998

Simon "Bambi" Haworth has signed for Wigan.
The ex City striker who left Ninian for Coventry for £500,000 has signed a new deal with the Lancashire club for £600,000. I assume now that Cardiff will get the £25,000 sell on fee that was in the contract when Simon left them.

Fowler and Eckhardt miss out.
Jason Fowler suffered a recurrence of the ankle injury that forced him to miss last Saturdays 2-2 draw at Chester. Joing Fowler in the treatment room is Jeff Eckhardt, Eckhardt left the field last week with hamstring problems and is still ruled out.

Brighton Preview / team news.
City are looking to extend the current 5 match unbeaten run. Four wins and a draw have boosted the Bluebirds up the table from 21st to 8th. Two wins, one tomorrow and away at Hull next Friday could see City top the table depending on other results tomorrow. Brighton are struggling at the moment and City will be expected to win.
The absence of Jeff Eckhardt tomorrow gives Lee Jarman a start. Jarman came on for Eckhardt last week and will want to play well before flying to Denmark to play for the Wales U21 team next week. Next Friday's game at Hull will probably see Lee Phillips come in to join Mitchell and Young in the back three while Eckhardt and Jarman are absent. The remainder of the team will stay the same. Hallworth in goal, Delaney and Brazier the wing backs, Carpenter, Bonner and O'Sullivan in the midfield and Kevin Nugent and Dai Thomas upfront. The two strikers will desperate to score. In the last 5 unbeaten matches Thomas has been the only striker to score a goal, the winner away at Halifax. the other seven goals have come from an own goal, and the City midfield / defence.

Quick mention on Mike Ford. He played for 60 mins in a training game against Barry on Wednesday. He is hoping to play 90 mins against Merthyr next Monday. City lost 1 - 4 against the Dragons, Lee Phillips put Cardiff ahead but four goals were conceeded against a Barry team who included four Romanian trilalists.

FAW ticket prices
Ticket costs have been reduced for the visit of Merthyr to Ninian Park on Monday 5th October (7:15pm). Season ticket holders will be admitted free with adults paying £4.00 and children £1.00. Grandstand centre blocks are £7.00 and £3.00.

Centenery Club
The new Centenery Club is launced tomorrow. Fans will be given an application form at the game. Those who complete the forms and hand them back in tomorrow will be placed into a draw for the match shirt of the sponsors Man Of The Match. The Club is free to join. It appears the draw for a shirt will continue to take place but in future tickets will cost £1.00.