Neil Warnock’s Bluebirds are ready to welcome Bristol City to Cardiff City Stadium for a Severnside derby this Sunday (Noon kick-off).
Manager Warnock and his team are unbeaten in seven Championship fixtures, winning five and drawing two, in their chase for promotion to the Premier League.
Goalkeeper Neil Etheridge has kept three successive clean sheets and tweeted: “What a fantastic 3 points away from home! Another clean sheet, 15 for the season now! Thank you to all the travelling supporters! #CityAsOne.”
Cardiff will be out to put the record straight at home on Sunday, having suffered a heartbreaking defeat against the Robins at Ashton Gate.
Omar Bogle fired a Bluebirds equaliser and the visitors were the better team, but the striker was sent off for a late challenge before Bristol City netted their winner.
Cardiff players and management flew to Suffolk and back for their 1-0 midweek Championship win against Ipswich Town with Kenneth Zohore firing the winner.
“It was fabulous to come here and get three points,” said Warnock at Portman Road. “We’ve had a nightmare 48 hours with injuries because we lost Adam Traoré, Joe Bennett, Callum Paterson and Lee Peltier – and then Sean Morrison came off.
“We had players playing out of position and some that haven’t played in a long time, so all credit to the lads. They’ve been fantastic!
“It’s another clean sheet, and we always said that 16 would get us into the play-offs. Now, if we keep just one more, we’re there.
“Gary Madine was not quite fit although he had to come on at half-time. I couldn’t see us getting anything without him, and he changed the game.
“Zohore was never going to score through a nice, sweet strike with his left-foot. It had to be an awkward, horrible bouncy one and I love to see those go in – especially with our fans down at that end.”
Midfield player Loic Damour completed 90 minutes at Ipswich, while Craig Bryson went on near the end to underline he has recovered from injury.
The loss of Morrison after 40 minutes was a blow, but Warnock said: “We didn’t want to risk him with the big hame on Sunday (v Bristol City).
“Lee Peltier is out for a month, but we have Craig back and Loic has 90 minutes under his belt.
“Joe Bennett missed out with an upset stomach, but hopefully we’ll have players like Aron Gunnarsson back in contention soon. He will be extremely important for us towards the end of the season.
“We have to to keep going and take each game as it comes now. No extra motivation is needed for Bristol City – it’s going to be a cracking atmosphere, and a cracking game.”
Click on the link below for tickets to Cardiff City matches, including Sunday’s clash with Bristol City when the game will kick-off at midday.
[tickets here]
SkyBet Championship table
| | HOME | | AWAY | |||||||||||||
| P | W | D | L | F | A | W | D | L | F | A | GD | PTS | ||
| 1 | Wolves | 33 | 12 | 3 | 2 | 35 | 15 | 10 | 4 | 2 | 24 | 11 | +33 | 73 |
| 2 | Cardiff | 33 | 11 | 3 | 2 | 29 | 10 | 8 | 4 | 5 | 20 | 17 | +22 | 64 |
| 3 | Aston Villa | 33 | 10 | 6 | 1 | 31 | 14 | 7 | 3 | 6 | 18 | 16 | +19 | 60 |
| 4 | Derby | 33 | 9 | 5 | 3 | 28 | 12 | 7 | 6 | 3 | 22 | 16 | +22 | 59 |
| 5 | Fulham | 33 | 8 | 6 | 2 | 27 | 13 | 7 | 5 | 5 | 28 | 24 | +18 | 56 |
| 6 | Bristol C | 33 | 8 | 5 | 4 | 26 | 18 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 22 | 21 | +9 | 54 |
| 7 | Sheff Utd | 32 | 10 | 2 | 5 | 27 | 16 | 6 | 2 | 7 | 19 | 22 | +8 | 52 |
| 8 | Middlesbro | 33 | 9 | 3 | 5 | 20 | 13 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 23 | 18 | +12 | 51 |
| 9 | Preston | 33 | 6 | 7 | 3 | 19 | 15 | 6 | 8 | 3 | 21 | 17 | +8 | 51 |
| 10 | Brentford | 33 | 7 | 8 | 2 | 30 | 17 | 6 | 3 | 7 | 20 | 23 | +10 | 50 |
| 11 | Leeds | 33 | 6 | 5 | 5 | 23 | 19 | 7 | 2 | 8 | 23 | 24 | +3 | 46 |
| 12 | Norwich | 33 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 17 | 17 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 17 | 20 | -3 | 46 |
| 13 | Millwall | 33 | 8 | 6 | 3 | 26 | 17 | 3 | 6 | 7 | 13 | 18 | +4 | 45 |
| 14 | Ipswich | 33 | 8 | 3 | 6 | 24 | 16 | 5 | 3 | 8 | 20 | 27 | +1 | 45 |
| 15 | QPR | 33 | 8 | 4 | 4 | 22 | 19 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 14 | 27 | -10 | 39 |
| 16 | Sheff Wed | 33 | 5 | 6 | 5 | 21 | 21 | 3 | 7 | 7 | 14 | 19 | -5 | 37 |
| 17 | Nottm Forest | 33 | 7 | 1 | 9 | 18 | 24 | 4 | 3 | 9 | 18 | 27 | -15 | 37 |
| 18 | Reading | 32 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 14 | 20 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 21 | 22 | -7 | 33 |
| 19 | Bolton | 33 | 7 | 4 | 6 | 20 | 21 | 1 | 5 | 10 | 9 | 30 | -22 | 33 |
| 20 | Birmingham | 33 | 6 | 2 | 8 | 11 | 18 | 2 | 4 | 11 | 11 | 31 | -27 | 30 |
| 21 | Hull | 32 | 4 | 6 | 5 | 30 | 23 | 2 | 5 | 10 | 13 | 27 | -7 | 29 |
| 22 | Burton | 33 | 2 | 3 | 11 | 13 | 33 | 5 | 5 | 7 | 13 | 26 | -33 | 29 |
| 23 | Barnsley | 32 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 15 | 23 | 3 | 4 | 8 | 16 | 24 | -16 | 28 |
| 24 | Sunderland | 33 | 2 | 5 | 9 | 14 | 25 | 3 | 6 | 8 | 20 | 33 | -24 | 26 |
