FAW Premier Cup victory!

Match Preview

The Bluebirds start their defence of the F.A.W Premier Cup this evening with a trip to Llansantffraid to face current Welsh Premiership leaders, Total Network Solutions.

Lawrence is expected to take a reserve side to The Recreation Ground this evening, and players such as Gavin Gordon, Fan Zhiyi, Andy Jordan and James Collins could all be given a chance to get themselves back into first team consideration. Martyn Margetson is also likely to start between the sticks for City.

TNS will certainly prove tough opposition for the Bluebirds. They are currently unbeaten after 20 Welsh Premiership games, 16 of which have been victories and they are looking firm favourites to emulate their success of the 1999/2000 season and win the Welsh Premiership crown. A recent 0-0 draw with Barry Town has kept TNS top of the division by 3 points, with 2 games in hand over the Dragons.

The club is based in the village of Llansantffraid and since the club changed it's name to Total Network Solutions following a take over in the late 90's their ambitions have got higher and higher.

TNS' Recreation Ground holds around 2,000 with 500 seats. The ground also has a pleasant Clubhouse where supporters from both clubs will be welcome.

Club owner, Mike Harris wants to see the club getting further in European Competitions, and his Sam Hammam style talks have encouraged many players with good Football League experience to the Welsh outfit. Striker Steve Anthrobus played for both Wimbledon and Oxford United and Gerrard Docherty played in the top flight for Derby County. The club also recently hit the headlines after negotiating a contract with former England legend, Paul Gascoinge.

TNS boss, Ken McKenna is looking forward to tonight's challenge, "It is going to be a massive game for us, and I hope the players can have a good go at Cardiff."

City boss, Lennie Lawrence remains confident that his second string side can do the job this evening, "I respect TNS but if we go there and can't get a result then we have a problem, I'm playing an experienced side and they should get the job done."

TNS also have a twinning partnership with Premiership giants, Chelsea which means that some of Chelsea's future stars could spend a loan spell at TNS to gain match experience. As part of the deal Chelsea brought a first team squad down to the Recreation Ground to face TNS in pre-season, Gianfranco Zola scored 3 goals as Chelsea romped home to a 6-1 victory.

Last season saw the Bluebirds win the Premier Cup for the first time in the competitions short 5 year history. After seeing off Newtown 3-0 in the Quarter-Finals, Cardiff went on to beat Wrexham on penalties in the semis before beating arch-rivals, Swansea City 1-0 in the final at Ninian Park with Graham Kavanagh's free-kick separating the two South Wales clubs.

The competition has been largely criticized since it was born the FAW Invitation Cup in the 1997/1998 season mostly due to shoddy formats. At one stage, all 4 teams who competed in the Group Stages qualified! Last season, the competition was given a new structure which saw the 3 league clubs and the Welsh Premiership champions receiving a bye to the Quarter-Finals, and although this has taken the shine away from the Group Stages it has proved to be a more successful format.

Although the competition has never re-captured the glamour that the Welsh Cup had when the exile clubs competed in it, the Premier Cup is still a chance to play fellow Welsh teams and also gives the Bluebirds a chance of some silverware (or should that be woodenware?!)

The game will not be shown live on TV as the BBC has decided to show Newport County's clash with Swansea City at the Newport Stadium but Highlights will be shown on BBC 2 Wales at 11.20pm. Tonight's other quarter-finals are Afan Lido vs Wrexham and Rhys vs Barry Town.

Many of the City players will be desperate to show their worth to the team tonight and you should see them taking this game very seriously.

I'm predicting the Bluebirds to do a professional job against TNS and come away with a 1-0 victory.