Cardiff v Doncaster Preview
Posted on | August 21, 2010 | No Comments
This game pits two of the Championship’s longest serving managers together – but that won’t be the major talking point as kickoff approaches. The big news in football this week has surrounded Craig Bellamy – the player that despite plying his trade for one of the biggest and richest clubs in the world, has decided to drop down and play on loan for Cardiff. The Bluebirds are always one of the clubs tipped for a promotion push and this news will undoubtedly fuel those ambitions. Opponents Doncaster aren’t the “small” club that everyone underestimates anymore though and certain quarters even believe that Sean O’Driscoll’s men could have what it takes to make a playoff push of their own.
In the season preview written for Cardiff a few weeks ago we didn’t believe the Bluebird’s summer activity was sufficient for them to mount a promotion push. Since then however their transfer embargo has been lifted and Dave Jones has made some extremely shrewd signings. Daniel Drinkwater, Jason Koumas and Seyi Olofinjana have all arrived in the past fortnight although City’s latest signing has been the big talking point of English football through the last few days. Lifelong Bluebirds supporter Craig Bellamy opted to ditch life in the Premiership and join his hometown club, with Cardiff somehow organising their finances to cope with his reported £70k a week wages. Obviously, they won’t be covering the whole amount, but the board at the Cardiff City Stadium are obviously signalling their intent for the season by even contributing towards such a vast amount. So far, it’s been a very strong start for the Bluebirds as well and following a 1-1 draw on the opening day of the season against Sheffield United, Dave Jones’ men have won 4-1 and 2-1 against Burton and Derby respectively.
Opponents Doncaster on the other hand have had a slightly quieter week, although manager Sean O’Driscoll will be very happy with the start his side have made to the new season. Having comfortably beaten Preston 2-0 away on the opening day of the campaign, Doncaster followed that result up with a 1-1 draw with Bristol City. Those four points put Rovers 5th in the table and that could be a position that Sean O’Driscoll will be aiming for come the end of the season. Donny have impressed many with their brand of football over the past few years and after recording a couple of mid-table finishes, maybe now is the time they are going to make a serious promotion push.
Cardiff’s main team news surrounds Craig Bellamy, who is expected to make his Bluebirds debut and also captain the side. One player who won’t be featuring is Stephen McPhail though, with the former Leeds man still recovering from cartilage surgery. As for Doncaster, they look set to be without James Hayter who is struggling with a hamstring problem, but Wayne Thomas is poised for a debut following his recent transfer while James Coppinger could return after a leg injury.
Cardiff may be buzzing following their recent transfer coup, but we think Doncaster could be party poopers here. Rovers have proved to be a strong outfit in the division and with that, we think they could nick a 1-1 draw out of this one.
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