R's TEN Day Rest To Cardiff's ONE

Cardiff City have a relatively thin squad, and do not have the luxury of squad rotation for the FA Cup. As such, virtually the same starting XI has taken the field for City since before Christmas (although Ramsey deputised for McPhail against Chasetown).


Cardiff's FA Cup fourth round victory was well earned with a strong and respectful performance against Hereford United on Sunday. The game was a tightly contested battle, which Cardiff eventually won 2-1.


However, that game means that the Cardiff players have had just Monday to recover their fitness before tonight's midweek league clash against QPR.


The visitors, by contrast, have had a full 10 days break after being beaten by Chelsea in the previous round of the cup. Their fully rested squad will be raring to go against a Cardiff side who may well be a little jaded.


Cardiff's attempts to rearrange either game proved fruitless and they must rely on their players to come through this tough fixture without showing any signs of exhaustion, both mental and physical.


This is where many other play-off contenders have the edge over Cardiff and if we harbour realistic play-off ambitions, then the small dquad will have to show itself capable of coping with inevitable fixture pile-ups. Hopefully we can see a typical energetic performance tonight with the players sharp, bright and full of running.