The arrival of Lennie Lawrence as Cardiff boss in replacement of Alan Cork had seen the Bluebirds go on an incredible run of ? games unbeaten, which took the City from almost certain mid-table obscurity to an unlikely play-off place. City continued their run-of-form with a 2-1 away victory at the Britannia Stadium in the first-leg of the end of season lottery, and all that stood in the way of City's day-out at the National Stadium was 90 minutes at Ninian Park.

The way the local media hyped up the occasion, you'd have thought City had already got promoted. The talk on the way to Ninian Park on that cold Wednesday night was not if we'd be there, but where we'd sit and what we'd do on the Millennium Stadium day-out. Not even the most pessimistic Cardiff City fan was expecting what happened.

It was not one of City's best performances ever, but with just 1 minute left of the encounter at Ninian Park, the scoreline remained 0-0. Then the message came over to the Cardiff fans from the tannoy.
"Please keep celebrations off the pitch when the full time whistle is blown".

As if by magic only seconds after the DJ, securely hidden away in the upper regions of the Grandstand, had put down his microphone, James O'Conner ran through the City defence with ease to slot home the equalising aggregate goal for the visitors. From then on, there was only one winner as Lawrence's side crumbled, and Souleyman Oulare sent Stoke to the final with a deflected free-kick in extra-time.

We all know what happened the following season - City underachieved, but settled for the final Play-off place before the memorable games against Bristol City and Queens Park Rangers. Meanwhile, over in the Potteries, it went to the final day of the season but Stoke battled hard to avoid relegation, with Brighton & Hove Albion taking the final dreaded spot.

So, Stoke City visit Ninian Park for the first time since that infamous play-off game, and the Bluebirds will be looking for revenge, particularly City skipper Graham Kavanagh who left Stoke to become Cardiff's first £1,000,000 player.

The Irish international can respect a frosty reception from the large band of visiting supporters travelling down from Stoke on specially organised coaches. Peter Thorne doesn't seem to receive stick from the fans, they seem to still like him, however comments Kavanagh made about Stoke when he arrived at Ninian Park have left them hating the midfielder!

Lennie Lawrence is expected to make a couple of changes from the side that drew 1-1 with Burnley at Turf Moor last weekend. Gary Croft returns to first-team action, following the birth of his child. Croft's inclusion would mean that Spencer Prior is likely to drop to the substitutes bench, with Tony Vidmar going back to the centre-half position.

Richard Langley has completed his suspension, and Lennie Lawrence is expected to pick either the Jamaican or Julian Gray ahead of Mark Bonner in the starting XI.

Robert Earnshaw and Gavin Gordon look set to start up-front, with Peter Thorne not fit enough to have a crack at his former club. There was a slight hint that the former Blackburn striker would be fit by tomorrow, but Gordon will get what is probably his last chance to prove himself he is worthy of a regular first-team place at City.

The visitors are waiting on the fitness of Clint Hill and John Halls for the trip to South Wales, but both rated doubtful to start Saturday's game. New loan signing Frazer Richardson is expected to start, with Clive Clarke also likely to be involved after shaking off a groin injury.

Victory for City could mathematically take us as high as 7th, but this is unlikely. A clean sheet would even City's record of six consecutive home clean sheets in the league (West Ham scored three times in Cardiff in the Cup!).

The Bluebirds have been made firm favourites for the clash with odds of 8/13 for win, with the visitors priced at a massive 4/1. Honours even has been given odds of 12/5. As for the specials, you can get odds of 7/1 for their to be exactly 11 corners, and Robert Earnshaw is the unsurprisingly favourite for first scorer, priced at 4/1! The goalless scoreline is at 9/1.

Prediction - Cardiff City 3-1 Stoke City
Earnshaw to get 2, with off-form Richard Langley to grab a goal. City haven't been playing the best football in recent weeks, but we're proving hard to beat, and I can't see Stoke breaking City's 5-match unbeaten spell at Ninian Park tomorrow.

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