Your last chance for a visit to Ninian Park. At least it would have been if the weather hadn't intervened.  

Cardiff City v Derby County

Coca Cola Championship

7:45pm, 8th April, 2009

Ninian Park, Cardiff

With the fixture now being on a Wednesday, many Derby fans will miss saying goodbye to Ninian Park.  Construction of the new up to 60,000 seater stadium is underway on the nearby athletics ground and the club plan to use it from next season.

Cardiff will hope that its opening competitive game will be in the Premier League. Currently 6th in the table, the Bluebirds have slipped from the 4th position they occupied when this fixture was postponed.

Dave Jones has not given up on automatic promotion; despite being eleven points adrift of Birmingham in second. He said;

We are chasing down and there are still enough points but we have to rely on others to falter."

The Bluebirds have two game s in hand including this tie and have a relatively straightforward run in. The draw with Swansea and Birmingham and Sheffield united's wins make it seem unlikely. In fact they might want to look over their shoulders as Preston are only two points behind and defeat in their two games in hand could mean disappointment.

The draw against Swansea followed a heavy home defeat by Sheffield United. Dave Jones was happy with the point as it seemed that with 2 minutes to go Swansea had sealed the win when they went 2-1 up. A slightly dubious penalty restored parity;

"Two minutes to go it was a sloppy goal for us to give away, we were pressing to try and get the win and were caught with a sucker-punch. But fantastic character from the players, they never gave up and came away with something from the game. We deserved something and if we'd come away with nothing I would have been really down-hearted."

The game was slightly marred by coin throwing and indeed Referee Mike Dean was hit by a coin. The FA is to investigate.

Gabor Gyepes, who has just signed an extended contract, should return following suspension otherwise Cardiff have no reported injury concerns.

Cardiff facts

The Rams

Nigel Clough will leave it until the last minute before deciding whether Kris Commons, Stephen Pearson and Rob Hulse are fit to start the game.

Commons started his first game for a while on Saturday and managed 75 minutes before coming off to a standing ovation. Nigel Clough was full of praise - and a minor bit of criticism - for his star striker. From the BBC;

"He is capable of doing something on a football pitch to either make a goal or score a goal and not too many people have that ability. But we have to get him the ball in the right positions. A couple of times on Saturday he was back in our penalty area and certainly lost one in a dangerous area and that's something that we don't want him doing."

One of the people who need to learn to supply the ball is another Saturday returnee - Stephen Pearson. Although Pearson has talent, it's questionable if we've ever seen the best of him - other than Wembley. In the light of the fact that Nigel Clough has rescued the careers or Gary Teale, Andy Todd and Jay McEveley, the jury is back out on Pearson. He operated in fits and starts on Saturday and didn’t really influence the game as he should. Given the paucity of our midfield however, he should have ample chance to impress the manager.

Rob Hulse may need a rest. He is constantly under physical attack in his position as ball winner and it's possible he may be carrying a few knocks. I would start Porter and give him a rest on the bench.

Mick's team: Bywater, McEveley, Connolly, Nyatanga, Albrechtsen, Teale, Pearson, Savage, Bannan, Commons, Porter

What the bookies think

The Bluebirds are favourites at 4/5 while the Rams are at an incredible 18/5. The Draw is at 12/5.

Favourite to score is Ross McCormack at 6/5 while Jay Boothroyd is at 6/4. All of our strike force are at 10/3 while Kris Commons is at 5/1.

Information for travelling fans

Driving: It's about 160 miles to Cardiff. Take the A38 south and using either the M6 toll or the regular M6, head for the M42/M40 interchange for the M5 south.

Join the M4 at J15. Leave the M4 at J33 and take the A4232 towards Cardiff. Leave the dual carriageway at the B4267 exit, signposted 'Cardiff (Leckwith) Athletics Stadium'. Follow the signs for the stadium.

Parking: There is a huge car park across the road from the ground and further parking is available at the nearby Athletics Stadium.

Drinking: Most of the pubs near the ground are home support only and should be avoided. The exception is the Lansdowne Hotel on Beda Rd approximately ten minutes from the stadium. Footballgroundguide.com recommends drinking in the city centre before making your way to the ground.

Mick's prediction

Tough game again and few will think the Rams can take anything here. It’d be nice to sign off Ninian Park’s last night game as a Rams win but I doubt few Bluebirds fans would think that.

Could be a long night for the travelling faithful.

Photo: Action Images

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