Cardiff City folk hero Sol Bamba is set to start his first match for nine months against Preston on Saturday.
The central defender – who has not begun a game since March when he suffered a serious knee injury that required surgery – is likely to be restored to the Bluebirds defence as manager Neil Harris is without the injured Aidan Flint and suspended Sean Morrison.
Bamba has played just five minutes as a substitute against Birmingham City at the start of November, but could now be paired with Curtis Nelson against opponents who are third in the Championship.
“Sol is ready to go,’ said Harris. “He wants to play and he’s getting fitter. Where’s his levels at? We’ll see. But he’s eager to play.
“Sometimes when players get to a certain age they’re the best judge on whether they’re ready or not,” Players know their body better than anybody and you as a player have to learn to listen to your body. It doesn’t happen in your teens or 20s.
“He’s got a huge understanding of himself and experience of the game. He knows he hasn’t been ready for the intensity I’ve wanted to work at. But he’s had four weeks of that now. You always want players to have more.
“Someone’s misfortune is another one’s gain. Curtis (Nelson) was outstanding when he came on at the weekend as he has been since I came in.
“We’ve got young Ciaron Brown, who’s played international football, so we’ve got strength in depth in that position.”
Ivorian Bamba has played a handful of games for the club’s U23 side and now Harris is ready to restore the defender, who will turn 35 next month.
“If Sol starts on Saturday, would I be relaxed? Yes, I would be. He’s a personality, a leader and let’s not forget, he’s a very good centre-half. If his opportunity comes on Saturday, it’s up to him to grab that opportunity.”
But Harris has lashed out at the Football League disciplinary chiefs who upheld skipper Morrison’s three match ban for his red card at table-topping Leeds last weekend.
Harris decided to appeal against the ban after watching numerous re-runs of the incident and thought the three-man disciplinary panel would at least reduce the penalty.
Morrison was sent off for a challenge on Leeds’on-loan Arsenal striker Eddie Nketiah in the 3-3 draw at Elland Road.
“I thought it was sensible to appeal and I was majorly disappointed that three people sitting in a room didn’t overhaul it,” said Harris.
“The craziest thing of all was that they didn’t reduce the ban from three games. They left it at three games and I can’t understand that at all.
“These people who are in charge of running our game, I don’t see any commonsense in that at all. The player was just too quick for Mozza, but the more I watched it the more I was convinced it wasn’t a red card.
“There was a genuine attempt by him to get the ball. You could see from the reaction of the players on the pitch, nobody could believe it was a red card.
“You have to wait 30 minutes after the game has finished before approaching the ref, so I went in between 35-40 minutes and he had already left the stadium. He obviously wasn’t too keen to see me.”
If Cardiff win their lunchtime kick-off then they will hoist themselves up to 35 points – the same tally as Fulham, who occupy the final play-off place, although their rivals play Leeds United later the same day.
Harris added: “Preston are third in the table and it is going to be one of the toughest games of the season for us.
“They have a settled group and a settled manager and they can play English style Championship football.”
