Cardiff v QPR Preview

CARDIFF CITY vs QUEENS PARK RANGERS
Saturday 25th March 2005 – 3pm

This weekends fixture sees Cardiff at home to QPR. The R’s are currently in 13th position with 48 points. With us still hanging in there with a chance for the one remaining play-off place and QPR sitting comfortable in mid-table, the points are definately up for grabs.

Gary Waddock’s men travel to Cardiff on the back of three straight draws, the game previous to that being an impressive 3-2 away win at Sheffield United.

Two former Bluebirds are expected to be in the QPR squad, midfielders Gareth Ainsworth and Richard Langley. Ainsworth played for us in the promotion season (ironically missing out on the play-off final vs QPR through suspension). Although a fans favourite, it seems he was not rated by Lennie Lawrence and was told to find another club after promotion, QPR quickly
snapped him up. Ainsworth is currently the Rs top scorer with 7 goals from the right wing and is a frontrunner to be named the new QPR captain.

Another Bluebirds old boy returning is Richard Langley who returned to QPR
following 2 seasons at Cariff. Normally a central midfielder, he was often played on the wing under Lawrence and found first team opportunities limited. Whereas Ainsworth was a 100% commitment player and full of running and tackles, Langley was more cultured and was sometimes targetted by the Ninian faithful.

After last weeks impressive away win at Plymouth, the club are going all-out to attract a bumper crowd on saturday for a game we must surely win to stay in the play-off race. The club have announced a ‘Family Fun Day’ where a full paying adult(includes season ticket holders) can get TWO FREE under 16 tickets. Certain influential players including Purse and Koumas have this week been encouraging fans back to Ninian Park and with promotion to the
premiership at stake, a season’s best attendance of 16000+ is hoped for.

This is a game that can definately be won, and with Preston and Wolves both at home to Plymouth ans Sheff Wed respectively, we need the 3 points.

by Rhodri Turner