MATCH THREAD: “CARDIFF CITY v BLACKPOOL " MATCH THREAD

CARDIFF CITY v BLACKPOOL
Saturday 21st March, 12.30pm
Sky Bet League One - Match 39

ITS PAY ON THE DAY FOR BOTH SETS OF FANS


TEAM NEWS - Cardiff City

Cardiff City: Trott; Ng, Fish, Lawlor, Bagan; Wintle, Robertson, R.Colwill, Tanner, Ashford; Kellyman

Subs: Chambers, Kpakio, Scanlon, J.Colwill, Turnbull, Willock, Robinson


SURELY 20,000 Plus Crowd


Cardiff City Stadium 




Salech back after international break after neck, chest, back issues. Pain has gone.

Hopefully Isaak Davies returns as well after International break after he had a further set back last week.




TEAM NEWS:

Osho is Banned due to his Red Card

Salech still not fully fit to actually Start

Isaak Davies still out injured yet again

Eli King out all season

inside_the_stadium.png

About Blackpool

Blackpool are in their third successive season in League One, having been relegated from the Championship in 2023.

Last season they finished 9th.

They are currently 21st with 41 points from 38 games.

Club Connections

Josh Bowler returned to Blackpool in the summer.

He had a loan with us in 2023/24.

The Opposition's Manager

Ian Evatt was appointed Blackpool manager in October.

He previously managed Bolton, where he guided them to promotion from League Two and won the EFL Trophy.

He also got promoted from the National League as Barrow manager.

Opposition Dangerous Players

Ashley Fletcher scored 11 league goals last season.

He has 15 league goals this season.

Referee

TBC

Head To Head - Last Five Meetings

We have lost only one of the last five meetings, winning two of them.

But that one defeat was the reverse fixture this season, when they beat us 3-1.

Team News - Predicted Line-Ups

Cardiff City: Trott, Ng, Lawlor, Chambers, Bagan, Wintle, Robertson, R Colwill, Tanner, Ashford, Kellyman

Blackpool: Peacock-Farrell, Walters, Ihiekwe, Casey, Coulson, Honeyman, Brown, Bowler, Randall, Ennis, Fletcher

Last Game

We lost 2-0 at home to Wycombe on Tuesday.

On the same night, Blackpool won 3-2 at home to Port Vale.

Match Odds

Cardiff City - 4/11
Blackpool - 6/1
Draw - 4/1

Predictions

Post your predictions below 

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ITS PAY ON THE DAY FOR BOTH SETS OF FANS

SURELY 20,000 Plus Crowd

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TEAM NEWS:

Osho is Banned due to his Red Card

Salech still not fully fit to actually Start

Isaak Davies still out injured yet again

Eli King out all season

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ITS PAY ON THE DAY FOR BOTH SETS OF FANS

SURELY 20,000 Plus Crowd

I will be there again obviously, but looking at the ticketing website there are still loads of tickets left.

I agree with you, we should now be getting 20k plus for weekend home matches.

I know there's been a few bad results, but we are still pushing for promotion and in a great position to do that.

Don't expect many from blackpool. I
would say 300-500

NO NEW INJURIES AFTER WYCOMBE DEFEAT:


Salech back after international break after neck, chest, back issues. Pain has gone.

Hopefully Isaak Davies returns as well after International break after he had a further set back last week.


Osho Suspended

Eli King out for the season

We need to win this game.

Not because we won't be top two, we will. But because we've lost our last two at home and need to stop that mini run.

To be honest, we should be looking to win by 3 or 4.

Win or lose,looking forward to a good weekend
in cardiff

Blackpool are set to welcome Dale Taylor back to action next week.
Dale Taylor is set to make his return from injury in Blackpool’s home meeting with Burton Albion next weekend.

The striker, who joined the club from Nottingham Forest in the summer, has struggled with injury throughout his time on the Fylde Coast so far.

After missing a large chunk of the first half of the campaign due to a hamstring injury, the former Wigan Athletic loanee was ruled out again due to a broken metatarsal just three games after getting back into the action.

Following his return to training this week, and a concrete date for Taylor’s return to contention again has now been set.

“He obviously won’t make Saturday (against Cardiff) but he’ll be available for Burton next week,” said head coach Ian Evatt.

“He’s a fit lad naturally and is a really good professional. I can see how talented he is. I’ve only had him for about 30 minutes since I’ve been at the club, so it’s one of many frustrations that we’ve got - not having him and Albie (Morgan), two of our most talented players.

“As I keep telling him, he needs to be ready to have that vital impact for us for the remainder of the season. Having him back for seven games is better than not having him back at all. He has to have the belief he can impact those games to help us get the points we need.”

After featuring on Tuesday night, Michael Ihiekwe is set to be unavailable for Saturday’s trip to South Wales.

The defender has been battling with a toe injury throughout the majority of the campaign, and currently requires injections to play, with surgery penned in for the summer.

“Michael is still having to manage this toe injury,” Evatt added.

“I have a huge amount of respect and gratitude towards him for continuously putting himself forward, even though his performances have been affected by it. We’ve needed him to put his hand up to continue playing through the pain barrier. I’m grateful to him for doing that for us.

“Surgery is the only solution. We’ve been trying to manage his pain the best we can, knowing it’s one game a week. When he has to have jabs in that toe to play every Saturday, the knock on aftermath of that is he struggles to walk until Wednesday or Thursday.

“He needs support because we need him to be there for us. We’ve had to utilise him, and it’s been detrimental to his own performances.

“He’s an exceptional character and leader, and him putting himself forward has shown great leadership qualities.”

Evatt admits the potential of bringing Ihiekwe’s surgery forward would be influenced by other factors.

“I guess it would depend on our plight and the position we are in,” he acknowledged.

“If we feel like we’re in a pretty good position and we’ve had no further injuries, then that’s a decision we may take for the benefit of Michael and us moving forward because it means he will be back available for pre-season.

“There’s no concrete answer, it’s just something we need to review on a weekly basis.”

At the other end of the pitch, Niall Ennis is also being managed carefully due to a knee problem, but isn’t a concern for the Cardiff game.

“We have to monitor him with how much the knee occasionally swells,” Evatt stated.

“He’s fine, he’s not at the same level as Michael is, but he does still require some monitoring. We know the answers to what we need to do, but he’s okay.”

Should win this comfortably. No disrespect to Blackpool who are fighting for their lives
Can we still appeal to get Osho's ban extended ?

Should win this comfortably. No disrespect to Blackpool who are fighting for their lives
Can we still appeal to get Osho's ban extended ?

I’d bite your hand off for a 1-0.

3-0

3-1

BLUEBIRDS

It looks so empty more like a relegation battle

Kellyman Presses the keeper early on in a bid to apply a bit of pressure.

Hoofed upfield and all the way to Trott.

Corner City

Cardiff string the passes together as usual, but lets do something

Colwill has a go

Receives the ball near the left-hand corner of the box.

Cuts inside onto his right and shoots low.

Straight at the keeper.

Ashford bursts away down the left and pings in a lovely cross that bounces kindly for Tanner inside the box.

His angled effort is too high.

How poor are Blackpool

Colwill snaps at one

Tries his luck from around 25 yards out.

Well off target.

Blackpool have shown their intent from the start; eleven big lumps behind the ball and hope they keep the Bluebirds at bay! No real attacking intent other than one half-decent foray!

A couple of wasted opportunities for the Bluebirds but we are on top and need it to count!

LATEST SCORE: CARDIFF CITY 0 - 0 BLACKPOOL (12 mins)

Thankfully Trott ok as we don't have back up

Still feel we should have Joe in midfield. Seems lack of energy

Wow unlucky Blackpool after Lawlor mistake

Still feel we should have Joe in midfield. Seems lack of energy

Agreed should be out there

Blackpool Continue to threaten on the counter

Wintle's pass is cut out on the edge of the Blackpool box and the vistors break.

Hamilton curls a cross in from the left, but Cardiff just about deal with the danger.