The FA Cup has been pretty barren for City in the years since 2008 when the Bluebirds went all the way to Wembley, losing 1 - 0 to Portsmouth in the final.
Lasy year City went out in round 3 to Fulham, in previous years there have been disappointing third round exits to Shrewsbury at CCS and in 2013, away at non league Macclesfield.
But in 2013 City went on to win promotion. So was Malky Mackay's decision to play a very under strength team at Moss Rose justified?
Neil Warnock will face a similar decision today when Mansfield come to CCS (3:00pm). With injuries affecting the first team I don't expect anywhere near a full side to be risked today so we are likely to see players given a run out like Jazz Richards who has overcome injury. Bench players like Greg Halford could also play and it's a chance for another game for Rhys Healey as he gets back up to speed after his year out injured.
Although with so many out it could be that we see a number of Development players completing the squad
Lee Peltier has been ruled out for a month after being booked in for surgery and Matthew Connolly - who damaged a muscle in the New Year's Day defeat at QPR - will be out for a similar length of time.
Cardiff are already without Aron Gunnarsson (ankle), Sean Morrison (groin), Danny Ward (knee) and Kadeem Harris (groin), and Bluebirds boss Neil Warnock says his squad has also had to cope with a training ground flu bug this week.
Danny Rose could return to the Mansfield squad after missing the win over Carlisle on Monday with a hip injury. Captain Zander Diamond also missed that match after he was struck in the face with the ball against Wycombe on December 30 and remains absent.
Midfielder Joel Byrom will not be fit in time, but he is expected to return to training next week following his groin injury. Defender David Mirfin is still being assessed after knee surgery and it remains to be seen whether he will be involved.
Opta stats
This will be first time these two sides have met in the FA Cup - the last meeting in the league was in March 2003, with Cardiff winning 1-0 via a Rob Earnshaw winner.
The Bluebirds have won seven of their last nine games against Mansfield (L2), winning each of their four home games in this run.
Cardiff have been knocked out of the FA Cup in eight of their last 11 ties, including each of the last three.
The Stags are in the third round for the first time since 2013 whilst in the non-league, however they haven't reached the fourth round since 2008.
Match officials
Referee: LEE PROBERT
Assistants: Robert Merchant, Craig Taylor
Fourth Official: Robert Lewis