Tomorrow’s visit to Cardiff City will be a difficult opening game for Neil Redfearn’s reign as permanent Leeds manager, but it sounds like he’s had a productive first week working with the squad in training.

Although Cardiff are currently in 11th place with 19 points, they have improved since Russell Slade took over as boss after a mostly successful spell at Orient, and they’re not stuck in mid-table because of their home form. They have the second best home record in the division with 15 points from seven games, and have been something of a bogey side for Leeds in recent years.

We haven’t beaten them in 15 games stretching back to 1984, but although Redfearn is mindful of that record, he is certainly confident of getting a result tomorrow. He told the official site "We’re due to win one there. We’ve got to make sure we go there with that mentality. We’ve got to go and get at them, make sure they know they’re in the game. To be fair, the lads have been really upbeat. There’s no lack of confidence and there’s a desire to go and get a result.”

And the new head coach said he has been working his squad hard this week to improve their fitness and prepare for tomorrow’s game. "It’s up to me to make sure we’re organised and we’ve got a game plan. We’ve got to get back to the same message about having the ball and being able to play with the ball. We can’t cut corners. We’ve got to do the hard yards. The stronger you are and the more committed you are and the braver you are, the luckier you get. Sometimes that just tips a game and the balance to get a result."

There are no new injury problems, and one decision Redfearn will have to make is whether to recall Souleymane Doukara after the striker served his one match ban last week. Morison worked well with Antenucci against Wolves in the first half, but his lack of full fitness showed in the second, and he is likely to have to start tomorrow’s game on the bench.

Cardiff are also free of new injuries, and will have the option of recalling central defender Ben Turner for the first time this season after he suffered an ankle injuryin a pre-season friendly at Yeovil . This will be a harder fixture than we might have expected a few weeks ago when Cardiff were enduring a run of only win in eight in the league, which saw the dismissal of Ole Gunnar Solskjær.

With the Premier League’s parachute payments to boost their transfer funds during the rest of the season Cardiff will be likely to climb the table during the remainder of the season and could be challenging for the play-offs in May. So a draw will be a good result for Leeds tomorrow, and with the improvement that Redfearn will bring to the squad, I think we’ll get one.

Photo: Action Images

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