Cardiff v Scunthorpe - Easy Pickins'

Fresh from their derby win against Swansea last Sunday, Cardiff now need to string a run of wins together to put pressure on the two teams sitting above them in the Championship - leaders QPR and Nottingham Forest - and reinforce their credentials as automatic promotion candidates.

A win tomorrow would see them leap frog Forest who travel to Loftus Road on Sunday for a top of the table clash.

Scunthorpe have had a rough season so far and look like relegation fodder. They sit second from bottom and seven points from safety and frankly, things aren't looking too good for them. They have played three games less than Crystal Palace who currently sit just outside the relegation places and so there is still hope - albeit fading fast.

Manager Ian Baraclough is not giving up quite yet though and said this week:

"Maybe one result is all it needs for us to start to turn things round. No-one, except within the four walls of our dressing room, will expect us to get anything down at Cardiff, but to us it's not out of the realms of possibility that we can. We have gone to places like that and got a result before this season, so we will go there in a positive frame of mind and pull off what in the eyes of most people would be an upset."

You have to admire his positive outlook - especially when you note that the Irons have lost five of their last six league games and only got one point from the other fixture. One win in twelve Championship games doesn't make better reading either.

But stranger things have happened and Cardiff need to guard against that old foe that haunts every side at some stage - complacency.

Scunthorpe are boosted by the inclusion in the squad of two youngsters from Premier league sides. Midfielder Abdisalam Ibrahim, on loan from Manchester City, returns from suspension and they have also signed Chelsea full back Ben Gordon, 19, to try and change their fortunes.

Cardiff boss Dave Jones has told his team to build ion the win against their neighbours and must know that it is this sort of game that they need to win in a professional and clinical way, if they are finally going to force their way into the top flight. He has said:

"It was a great performance at the Liberty, but we must carry on in the same vein this Saturday when we take on Scunthorpe. We need the next three points as much as we needed the last three, so we need everyone to be on their game and we need the home support to play their part as well.

We have seventeen games left in total to achieve what we all set out to do at the beginning of the season. Our destiny is in our hands."


He's right of course. Cardiff have everything they need to win promotion in my view and in Michael Chopra, Craig Bellamy and Jay Bothroyd they have three strikers who would be welcomed into several Premier League squads.

This should be a banker, but football isn't ever that straightforward, is it?