IF Cardiff City are to grab a much-needed win over Coventry today they are going to have to overcome their very own nightmare after Christmas!
The Bluebirds have not triumphed on Boxing Day for an incredible 11 years, with their last three points haul coming way back in 1999 when they beat Reading 1-0 at Ninian Park in a League One fixture.
Since then Cardiff have endured the ultimate post-Christmas hangover, with a run of five wins and five defeats culminating in last year’s miserable 1-0 Championship reverse at home to Plymouth.
Bluebirds’ boss Dave Jones will be hoping history does not repeat itself again with his side in urgent need of a morale-boosting three points today.
With last week’s clash with Burnley frozen out, Cardiff go into a packed festive fixture campaign outside the automatic play-off places.
Cardiff dropped to third last week, but are just a point behind and have a game in hand over Leeds, who leapfrogged them.
But, although still well placed, Cardiff go into today’s clash with Aidy Boothroyd’s Sky Blues entrenched in an awful run of form.
With just one win in their last seven games, a 4-2 drubbing of strugglers Scunthorpe back on November 13, the Bluebirds have taken just one point from the last 12 on offer and five from the last possible 21.
Despite the slump, no one from the dressing room is ringing the alarm bells just yet with the campaign just shy of halfway.
Cardiff defender Mark Hudson insists, despite the recent jitters, the belief within the Cardiff squad is as strong as it has always been.
“We still have a great belief in ourselves as a team this season and we’re very much focused on getting back on track,” Hudson told the Cardiff City matchday programme ‘I’ll Be There.’
“Sometimes results won’t go the way you’d want them to, but you just have to stay positive, trust yourself and those around you and work on putting things right.
“The Christmas period is a busy and important time in the football calendar and it’s preferable to start it well and then build momentum as you head towards the New Year.
“We’re coming up to the midway point of the season too now of course and we want to ensure we go into the second half fighting for that top spot.
“The game against Coventry is a very big game for us, especially as they have become one of our immediate challengers in the top six following a good run of form.
“It’ll be a tough game, as it was at their place a couple of months ago. We’ll have to be right up for it and be clinical enough to take all three points.”
Indeed at the Ricoh Arena the Bluebirds took the spoils thanks to a last-gasp Jay Bothroyd goal in a hard-fought and fractious encounter.
That result was nestled in a superb October for Jones and his men when they won every match.
Cardiff’s last outing saw a fruitless trek to Middlesbrough where a Julio Arca penalty proved enough to take the spoils.
Hudson said that encounter encapsulated the frustration he and his team-mates had been experiencing in recent encounters.
But he pointed to last weekend, when Cardiff were out of action and results fell mainly in their favour, as a plus point.
“Boro was very disappointing. We obviously conceded shortly before half-time and then just couldn’t find our way back into the game with them defending as one,” added Hudson.
“We had chances to get something out of that game, but were unable to make them count. It was a massively frustrating afternoon for us, but we’re hoping to use that frustration to our advantage today by going out and putting on a performance.
“We were obviously ready and prepared for the Burnley game, but the weather played its own part. It’s been really bad around these areas over the past couple of weeks meaning we’ve had to do most of our training indoors.
“The game will come around again, though. Fortunately the only teams that took advantage of us not playing were Leeds and Norwich. Swansea obviously lost at Sheffield United and QPR at Leeds. That was very positive for us, but we just have to look at what we’re doing here and start to pick up points again. If we get it right then we have a good chance.”
One big plus point for Jones ahead of today’s match is the return of main striker Jay Bothroyd, who missed the trip to Middlesbrough with a hamstring problem.
As Jones ponders his defensive frailties it looks likely Chris Riggott, who was on stand-by for the Clarets’ clash, will get a first start in the centre of defence. Michael Chopra could come back into the front line to partner Bothroyd with skipper Craig Bellamy shifting out wide as Cardiff look to get back amongst the goals.
Coventry currently are sixth in the table and could go level on points with Cardiff if they win.
But they are looking to bounce back following a disappointing 2-1 home defeat to Norwich last weekend.
The Sky Blues front line is spearheaded by controversial frontman Marlon King.
The 30-year-old was released from prison in the summer after a stretch in prison for sexual assault.
Source : http://www.walesonline.co.uk/footballnation/cardiff-city-fc/2010/12/26/bluebirds-aim-to-end-their-boxing-day-woe-91466-27879284/Summit Up 12-26-10: Where we're wishing you a very Merry Mummer's Day
Our stocking was stuffed with the usual suspects as well. Another new toothbrush (really, Santa, are you trying to tell us something?) and, ironically, a good deal of candy wrapped in Christmas-colored foil.
We, on the other hand, totally nailed the Christmas gift giving again this year. Seriously, if there was a gold medal for present-picking in our family, we would have won it for like five years running. That is because we have discovered the fail-safe secret weapon of presents: booze. Or anything related to booze usually works fairly well too. This year Dad got a six pack from one of Summit County's many fabulous microbreweries. Mom got a recently released book on wines of the world. Sis got a bottle of her favorite coffee-additive. And everybody was very happy (and a little sloshed) on Christmas morning.
We don't know about you, but we always feel a little melancholy when the Christmas season starts to wind down. All the yummy food runs out, decorations get packed back into their boxes and mothers-in-law return home ... OK, that last bit isn't so melancholy. But then there's New Year's right around the corner to take the edge off and usually some pretty good skiing during that week in between.
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Anyway, we were thinking that today, Dec. 26 kinda got shafted when it comes to placement in the calendar. In our ignorance, we thought Dec. 26 was pretty much nothing more than the international stand-in-line-to-return-presents-you-don't-like-day. We mean, who would want to be the act that has to follow Christmas? Not us, that's for sure. So we were sitting at our desk, feelin' bad for poor today, when we had the brilliant idea to dig up some awesome stuff about today and use the rest of this column to give Dec. 26 some love.
So we did some research (read: we went on Wikipedia) and discovered that we could not have been more wrong. Dec. 26 is far more than annoy-your-garbage-man-with-12-bags-of-thrown-out-Christmas-wrapping-paper Day! Dec. 26 is a holiday too. Actually, it's tons of holidays, you just have to know where to be.
So first and foremost, Dec. 26 is the first day of Kwanzaa, a week long African American and Pan-African holiday. In other years, today is also Boxing Day, but according to Royal Proclamation, anytime Dec. 26 falls on a Sunday Boxing Day gets transferred to December 27.
Today is the Day of Goodwill in South Africa and Nambia, Father's Day in Bulgaria, Independence Day in Slovenia, Thanksgiving day in the Solomon Islands, and last, but certainly not least, Mauro Hamza Day in Houston, Texas.
So here's to Dec. 26. Who knew you were so cool and international? Happy Kwanzaa, everyone, and a merry Mauro Hamza Day.
We out.
Source : http://www.summitdaily.com/article/20101226/SUMMITUP/101229887/1078&ParentProfile=1055
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