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DATE: Sunday
31 July 2005
Last Season: Finished 16th in the Coca-Cola Football League Championship. Beaten in the 3rd round of the FA Cup by Blackburn Rovers and beaten in the 4th round of the Carling Cup by Portsmouth. The Manager: Dave Jones is no stranger to Albion fans after spending almost four years as manager of Black Country rivals Wolves. The 48 year old was appointed City manager on May 25 2005 replacing Lennie Lawrence. During his playing career Jones turned out for Everton, Coventry and Preston. He started his management career at Southport, before moving onto Stockport, Southampton and then Wolves in January 2001. One To Watch: Cameron Jerome - The former Middlesbrough trainee made his debut against Leeds in October 2004. The pacy striker went on to finish his first season in professional football with seven goals. The Ground: Ninian Park was opened in 1910, it has a current capacity of 21,508. The record attendance for a game at the ground is 62,634 for the Wales v England international on October 17 1959. Cardiff's record attendance at the ground is the 57,893 achieved against Arsenal on April 22 1953 for a League Division One match. City's average league attendance for 2004/05 was 12,515.
Albion have met Cardiff City 44 times in competitive football. The first meeting of the two clubs came in a League Division One game at The Hawthorns on October 22, 1921, the match finished 2-2, Howard Gregory and Andrew Smith scoring the Albion goals. Albion currently have 19 league wins compared to City's 13. In the FA Cup the clubs have one win each. Albion's biggest win against the Bluebirds came in November 1953 when they beat the Welsh side 6-1 at The Hawthorns. Albion have achieved three big wins at City's Ninian Park ground over the years, a 6-3 victory in 1930 was followed in April 1948 by a 5-0 success. More recently, in July 1998 Albion travelled to Wales for a pre-season friendly and came home with another 5-0 victory, Italian trialists Marco Nappi and Mario Bortolazzi amongst the goals. Cardiff's biggest win against Albion came in 1923 at The Hawthorns, Cardiff running out 4-2 winners. The two clubs also met five times in wartime football, Albion winning twice, one of them a 6-3 win in a Football League South game in August 1941. The last meeting of the clubs came in the league at The Hawthorns in February 2004. Albion won the game 2-1 thanks to a late Lee Hughes goal. The last meeting at Ninian Park took place in November 2003 and Albion travelled back to the West Midlands with a point after securing a 1-1 draw thanks to a Jason Koumas goal. Last Meeting At Ninian Park
Cardiff City: Alexander, Croft, Vidmar, Gabbidon, Barker, Gray, Langley, Bonner, Robinson (Boland 72), Gordon (Thorne 61), Earnshaw. Subs not used: Margetson (gk), Campbell, Prior Goalscorer: Earnshaw 65 (penalty) Albion: Hoult, Haas, Gregan, Gaardsoe, Gilchrist, O'Connor, Johnson, Robinson, Koumas, Dobie (Sakiri 45, Dichio 85), Hulse. Subs not used: Murphy (gk), James Chambers, Clement Goalscorer: Koumas 49 Referee: Brian Curson (Leicestershire) Half-Time: Cardiff City 0-0 Albion Attendance: 17,678 Current Connections Rob Earnshaw became Albion's record signing in August 2004 when he moved from Ninian Park for a fee of £3.625 million. Albion midfielder Junichi Inamoto spent three months on loan at Ninian Park last season.Darren Purse spent 12 months at The Hawthorns before joining the Bluebirds. Jason Koumas is currently on a season-long loan deal at Cardiff from Albion. Past Connections Amongst the players to have turned out at various levels for both clubs are: Kevin Bartlett, Stacey Coldicott, Stan Davies, Andy Dibble, Elfed Evans, Wayne Fereday, Danny Gabbidon, Mark Grew, Derek Hogg, Wayne Hughes, Steve Lynex, Mick Martin, Johnny Nicholls, Mel Rees, Walter Robbins, Kevin Summerfield, Andy Thompson, Garry Thompson and Gavin Ward. Frank Burrows had two spells as manager of Cardiff City before becoming Albion's assistant manager under Gary Megson in March 2000. After Megson's departure in October 2004 Burrows was placed as caretaker manager at The Hawthorns. Ex-Albion player and manager Bobby Gould managed City during the 2000/01 season. LAST TEN MATCHES AGAINST CARDIFF CITY
Tickets are now on sale, priced £12 adults and £6 concessions for advance bookings. Seats bought on the day of the game will cost £14 adults and £7 concession. Anyone interested should call the Ninian Park box office on 0845 345 1400. |
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