City unchanged. Wigan preview
Last updated : 29 September 2003 By Michael Morris
Cardiff City v Wigan Athletic
Tuesday 30th September 2003.
Ninian Park, ko 7:45pm.
Graham Kavanagh took a knock against Crewe but will be fit to play against newly promoted Wigan at Ninian Park on Tuesday night.
Peter Thorne is again expected to be able to take his place in the starting line up after only being passed fit late on Saturday. Thankfully Thorne did play and scored a couple of goals.
City then expect to be
Alexander, Weston, Vidmar, Gabbidon, Barker, Langley, Boland, Kavanagh, Bonner, Earnshaw and Thorne.
The bench shows we have a slight lack of strength in depth with 3 of the 5 subs defenders. We are struggling in the midfield department with Jason Bowen, Gareth Whalley and John Robinson all injured.
Subs (if the same as Saturday) Margetson, Prior, Croft, Collins, Campbell.
Wigan are the surprise package this season, after a defeat and a draw in their opening games they went on to record 6 straight wins before snatching a late draw at Coventry on the weekend. They have also progressed to round 3 of the Carling Cup.
Coming into the game they are in second place on goal difference behind Sheffield Utd. Cardiff are 9th with a top 6 place a possibility with a win.
Top half of the table Last season Wigan easily won Division 2 with their solid approach and ability to keep clean sheets. They've done pretty well so far this season at doing the same, in the run of 6 victories mentioned above 5 of them were wins to nil.
The Latics are no slouches in front of goal either. They have the excellent Nathan Ellington up front and have added to their squad by bringing in Geoff Horsfield from Birmingham City. Ellington has scored in 5 of the 8 games he's played in so far this season. Horsfield's best contribution to date was the winner against West Brom at the JJB a fortnight ago.
Last season both games ended in draws, 2 - 2 at Wigan and nil nil at Ninian Park in our last regulation home game of the season.
Full head to head history.
| At Cardiff (9) | | At Wigan (9) | | Overall (18 matches) |
| Results | Total | % | | Results | Total | % | | Results | Total | % |
| Cardiff | 3 | 33.33 | | Wigan | 5 | 55.56 | | Cardiff | 4 | 22.22 |
| Wigan | 1 | 11.11 | | Cardiff | 1 | 11.11 | | Wigan | 6 | 33.33 |
| Draws | 5 | 55.56 | | Draws | 3 | 33.33 | | Draws | 8 | 44.44 |
| Goals | Total | Av.pg | | Goals | Total | Av.pg | | Goals | Total | Av.pg |
| Cardiff | 14 | 1.56 | | Wigan | 15 | 1.67 | | Cardiff | 19 | 1.06 |
| Wigan | 10 | 1.11 | | Cardiff | 5 | 0.56 | | Wigan | 25 | 1.39 |
|
| Records |
| Highest Aggregate | 5 | Cardiff | 3 - 2 | Wigan | 1982/1983 |
| Highest Cardiff score: | 3 | Cardiff | 3 - 0 | Wigan | 1995/1996 |
| Highest Wigan score: | 4 | Wigan | 4 - 0 | Cardiff | 2001/2002 |
|
| Season | Date | Home | Score | Away | Competition |
| 2002/2003 | Sat 26 Apr | Cardiff | 0 - 0 | Wigan | League Division Two |
| Sat 05 Oct | Wigan | 2 - 2 | Cardiff | League Division Two |
| 2001/2002 | Sat 16 Feb | Wigan | 4 - 0 | Cardiff | League Division Two |
| Fri 12 Oct | Cardiff | 2 - 2 | Wigan | League Division Two |
| 1999/2000 | Sat 23 Oct | Wigan | 2 - 0 | Cardiff | League Division Two |
| Sat 25 Sep | Cardiff | 0 - 0 | Wigan | League Division Two |
| 1996/1997 | Mon 31 Mar | Wigan | 0 - 1 | Cardiff | League Division Three |
| Tue 27 Aug | Cardiff | 0 - 2 | Wigan | League Division Three |
| 1995/1996 | Sat 16 Mar | Wigan | 3 - 1 | Cardiff | League Division Three |
| Tue 05 Mar | Cardiff | 3 - 0 | Wigan | League Division Three |
| 1989/1990 | Sat 03 Feb | Cardiff | 1 - 1 | Wigan | Third Division |
| Sat 23 Sep | Wigan | 1 - 1 | Cardiff | Third Division |
| 1988/1989 | Fri 07 Apr | Wigan | 1 - 0 | Cardiff | Third Division |
| Fri 30 Dec | Cardiff | 2 - 2 | Wigan | Third Division |
| 1985/1986 | Sat 08 Feb | Wigan | 2 - 0 | Cardiff | Third Division |
| Sat 19 Oct | Cardiff | 3 - 1 | Wigan | Third Division |
| 1982/1983 | Sat 16 Apr | Wigan | 0 - 0 | Cardiff | Third Division |
| Sat 11 Sep | Cardiff | 3 - 2 | Wigan | Third Division |
There will be the usual coverage of the game with Cardiff City World offering live internet commentary to subscribers and Radio Wales covering all three Welsh Nationwide League clubs in their midweek sport programme. There will also be chatroom coverage and messageboard reaction on this website.
There are 7 other Nationwide League Division 1 games being played on Tuesday. Leaders Sheffield Utd are at the new Milton Keynes home of Wimbledon and 3rd placed West Brom entertain Millwall.
Walsall play Gillingham on Monday night while there are three games on Wednesday, one of them involving our next opponents Crystal Palace who travel to West Ham United.
Since losing to Bradford in the opening home game of the season Cardiff are averaging 4 goals per game in the league at Ninian Park, that would be a huge ask against Wigan but very nice if we could acheive it.
