Neil Warnock 47, Bodmin Town 1
Captain Sean Morrison and his Cardiff City team-mates will be under intense pressure at Bodmin Town on Wednesday (7pm).
It will be the ninth time Neil Warnock has sent out a team to take on the South West Peninsular League club at Priory Park – and his boys have won the lot.
Warnock’s winners have scored 47 goals in the eight fixtures so far – and conceded one!
Now the Bluebirds aim to follow their 7-2 win at AFC Tavistock on Monday with another comfortable victory.
Warnock, though, won’t be happy if Cardiff concede the type of sloppy goals they did against Tavvy.
City have looked sharp and lively in attack, but he will want a clean sheet at Bodmin.
Pre-season tours have taken City to the USA, Canada, Spain, Portugal, Sweden, Denmark, Ireland and more in previous years, but Warnock prefers staying close to home.
Remarkably close, in fact, because he lives a walking distance from St Mellion International Resort where his team are staying for the week.
Jack Nicklaus, one of the greatest golfers of all time, designed the Signature Course at the resort.
Yorkshireman Warnock, though, loves to take his teams back near his adopted home at Stoke Climsland. Cardiff follow Sheffield United, Crystal Palace, QPR and Leeds United to Bodmin.
Warnock has said: “I don’t believe in going to Sweden or Finland for pre-season – give me Cornwall anytime.
“It’s a beautiful area and the hospitality is always second to none. I love it. The clubs play the right type of football. They are not going to kick you to death.”
In 2011, Warnock said: “I think I do a great job for the Cornish tourist board every year. It is always nice to go to Bodmin’s Priory Park in pre-season.
“The facilities are good and the playing surface is excellent, so I am happy to take a team of mine to play there.”
Warnock teams who have played at Bodmin Town:
2000 Bodmin 0, Sheffield United 8
Marcus Bent (2), Curtis Woodhouse (2), Paul Devlin, Robert Ford, Michael Brown and David Kelly were the scorers.
2001 Bodmin 0, Sheffield United 9
Goals from England international Phil Jagielka (2), Paul Devlin (2), Patrick Suffo (2), Paul Peschisolido, Carl Asaba and Nick Montgomery.
2002 Bodmin Town 0, Sheffield United 8
Midfield player Michael Tonge scored four goals, two in each half. Jagielka, Carl Asaba, Iffy Onuora and Peter Ndlovu were the other scorers.
2004 Bodmin 0, Sheffield United 1
Striker Jonathan Forte headed the only goal at the far post from Andy Liddell’s cross in the second half.
2008 Bodmin 1, Crystal Palace 4
The home team led 1-0 at half-time, but Championship club Palace won thanks to goals from James Dayton (2), Johannes Ertl and Carl Fletcher.
2010 Bodmin 0, QPR 6
Rangers powered to victory with goals from Hogan Ephram (2), Jamie Mackie, Andre Germen and Josh Parker.
2011 Bodmin 0, QPR 7
Tommy Smith (2), Matt Connolly and Heidar Helguson, who all went on to play join Cardiff, were among the scorers for QPR. Danny Webber (2) and Peter Vaagan Moen were also on target.
Warnock said: “The pitch was in fantastic condition. If our players can’t play football on that sort of surface, they can’t play on anything. It was superb.
“Everything is spot on here at Bodmin, which is why we keep coming back. The people at the club work very hard to put this game on.”
2012 Bodmin 0, Leeds United 4
Former Bluebirds striker Ross McCormack was among the scorers with Luke Varney, Andy Gray and Aiden White completing the tally.
