Howard Absence Boost For Cardiff City ?

Cardiff City face Leicester City in the play-off semi-final first leg and the Foxes will be without towering striker Steve Howard with the former Derby county man serving a three match ban for a two footed lunge on Watford`s Ross Jenkins.

The automatic three match ban saw him miss wins over Preston and Middlesbrough meaning he will be available for the second leg at CCS if selected.

Howard has just 5 goals to his name this season, including one against the Bluebirds when he hooked in a loose ball just minutes after coming on as a substitute during the 2-1 win for the Bluebirds at CCS. Although he has not fired the goals which propelled Leicester to a play-off position, Howard remains an important player for the Foxes and had appeared in 36 of the 44 games prior to his suspension.

Known as a powerful, battling striker - Howard has caused problems for us on numerous occasions and was a transfer target for Dave Jones over the past few years. We had enquired about him prior to his loan to Leicester but he ended up moving to help the Foxes in their promotion bid from League 1.

Ddespite the absence of Howard, Leicester City fans will not be too concerned and have the on-loan pair of top scorer Martin Waghorn and James Vaughan available. Additionally, the Foxes have been boosted by the return to first team action of Matty Fryatt after missing nearly three months with a broken jaw. Those three have plenty of goals in them, perhaps Vaughan would have had another if not for a superb covering (rugby) tackle by Gabor Gyepes when the Everton man raced clear…

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