Cardiff Preview

By Aston
March 15 2005

Ipswich Town will be looking to follow up Saturday’s 6-0 win against Nottingham Forest with another win against Cardiff City tonight.

Cardiff Preview

Ipswich Town will be looking to follow up Saturday’s 6-0 win against Nottingham Forest with another win against Cardiff City tonight.

Town manager Joe Royle may be without Town captain Jim Magilton who has a calf strain if Jim fails to pass fit in time for tonight’s game on-loan Monaco midfielder will be on the bench while either Kevin Horlock or Darren Currie will start in Jim’s place.

Royle: “Ninian Park is never an easy place to go and Cardiff have some very good players, Richard Langley has played a lot of League football and the two at the back, Danny Gabbidon and James Collins, are among the best defensive partnerships in the Championship.

“Lennie Lawrence is a friend of mine as well and is a fellow member of the 1000^th games club as a manager and he will have them fully prepared for the match.

“It's a difficult time for Lennie with Cardiff's financial worries and he's in a situation similar to us a few years ago where he has had to watch his best players be sold but he'll get on with it and I wish him well - after tonight.”

Ipswich Town Squad: Darren Bent, Pablo Couñago, Darren Currie, Kelvin Davis, Jason De Vos, Kevin Horlock, Jimmy Juan, Shefki Kuqi, Jim Magilton, Tommy Miller, Richard Naylor, Lewis Price, Matt Richards, James Scowcroft, David Unsworth, Ian Westlake, Fabian Wilnis.

Cardiff boss Lennie Lawrence has a striker problem with Peter Thorne and Andy Campbell injured while Andy Lee is suspended so bluebirds midfielder Lee Bullock looks set to continue up front alongside Cameron Jerome. Former Town man Gary Croft is also out due to injury.

Lennie Lawrence: “Ipswich's forward line has got power and, in Bent's case, pace. They can score goals. We've got to make sure the supply to Kuqi and Bent isn't as good as it should be.

“If you catch Ipswich on a good day they can beat anybody - as Forest found out. They're not quite as consistent as Wigan and Sunderland, who don't lose many games.

“Ipswich do let in the odd goal - but they can also score goals for fun. Going forward, they are as good as anybody in this division.

“I'd like to think they've got that bad run out of their system with that win over Forest. But if we don't perform properly then they can bash us as well.

“We mustn't stand off and let them play. That would be fatal. The best way to deal with Ipswich is to take the game to them.”

Other games of interest for Town fans tonight are Wigan making the long trip south to Brighton and Plymouth making a long trip north to Sunderland.

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