By Chris O'Brien
August 10 2004

Cardiff City continue their Football League Championship campaign on Tuesday evening as Coventry City visit South Wales. Lennie Lawrence looks set to name an unchanged team, with the biggest surprise the one that the Bluebirds could take to the Ninian Park field in red!

Cardiff City continue their Football League Championship campaign on Tuesday evening as Coventry City visit Ninian Park. The game is the Bluebirds' first competitive home match since relegated Wimbledon drew 1-1 in South Wales last May.

Last season the Bluebirds served up one of their most woeful displays for years when the Sky Blues rolled into town. The visitors were down to 10-men only seconds into the game, but City were poor and lost 1-0 with Martyn Margetson sent off for bringing down Julian Joachim, and the Coventry striker scoring from the resulting penalty.

Of course City will be hoping for much better this time around, but will be expecting a tough game against the Midlands outfit. Under the leadership of Peter Reid, Coventry supporters will be hoping for a push for Premiership football this season. They topped the table after the first round of matches after a convincing 2-0 home victory over Sunderland, and look a force to be reckoned with.

The last two seasons have seen the two teams meet on four occasions. Coventry took three points away from the Welsh capital last campaign, but at Highfield Road the Bluebirds came from behind to win 3-1 with Gavin Gordon amongst the scorers. The season before that saw City score two goals in the final minute to draw an F.A Cup tie at Ninian Park 2-2, but the trip to Coventry saw the Bluebirds eliminated with a 3-0 scoreline in front of the live Sky television cameras.

Rumour has it Cardiff could take to the field in red this evening! The club wish to unveil their new away colours, and could play in red with a green trim on the shirts and socks. Ridiculous if you ask me - our home colours are blue - and not even the Premiership marketing boys have tried this one in competitive fixtures. I just hope this isn't Mr. Hammam's latest attempt to change the club from the inside!

Tonight's game is the first of two home games in four days for City, with Plymouth Argyle visiting Ninian Park this Friday. Home form was an issue last season, and is an area Lennie Lawrence will be hoping his side can improve on if they are to beat last season's First Division finish of 13th. Two victories this week would put Cardiff top of the league on Friday night for a few hours at least!

Lennie Lawrence is expected to make no changes from the side that drew 2-2 at Gresty Road last Saturday. Willie Boland and Peter Thorne are still struggling with fitness so are unlikely to be in contention. This means Alan Lee will get another chance to impress following his wonder goal in Cheshire, whilst new signing Lee Bullock should continue in the centre of midfield. Paul Parry will have to settle for a place on the bench, whilst fans will be left frustrated by the exclusion of James Collins once again.

As for Coventry, former Spurs midfielder and England international Tim Sherwood could get his first ever start for the Sky Blues this evening after coming on as a substitute on Saturday evening against the Black Cats. Eric Deloumeux is missing for the visitors, but they are boosted by the welcome return of Craig Pead after a calf worry saw him miss the opening day fixture last weekend.

Enjoy the game...