Sheff Utd match previews

CARDIFF CITY manager Lennie Lawrence finds himself caught up in an injury crisis on the eve of the Bluebirds' showdown with Sheffield United.

Lawrence is already without midfielder Graham Kavanagh (ankle), striker Peter Thorne (foot) and right-back Rhys Weston (knee).

But he could also lose midfielders Willie Boland (thigh), John Robinson (hamstring) and Gareth Whalley (dead leg), winger Paul Parry (hamstring) and Spencer Prior (knee).

And with midfield grafter Mark Bonner having headed to Second Division club Oldham earlier in the week, then Lawrence's options are thin.

"I need Gareth (Whalley) for this game and I could do with one or two of the other injured players to come back," said a concerned Lawrence.

"If none of the players make it then it's going to be a tough afternoon for us.
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YOU could say Lennie Lawrence and Neil Warnock are managerial chalk and cheese, but fire and ice would be a more accurate description.

The two managers who'll shake hands in front of the Ninian Park dug-outs before kick-off tomorrow evening are men from the opposite ends of the coaching spectrum, but they have a strong mutual respect.

It helps that they are men of the same era, but the bottom line is that each has held a deserved reputation in the game for consecutive decades.

I have long thought people admire in others the things they lack in themselves and this pair, the detached Londoner and the involved Northerner, are a perfect example of that.

"He is outspoken and confrontational, entirely different to me, " said Lawrence of Warnock.

"But he is bloody good at the job.
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TOMORROW'S battle against Sheffield United at Ninian Park (3pm) already looks to be Cardiff City's last great hurrah for the season.

Having been defeated twice by the Yorkshire side already this season, (5-3 away and 1-0 at home in the FA Cup) this is a game Lennie Lawrence wants to win, and one he sees as one of his final challenges of the season.

In both previous meetings with United, City have had a full side out except for one midfield change in each match and the Bluebirds boss admits that even then the Blades were too sharp for his side.
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SHEFFIELD United manager Neil Warnock believes that Cardiff City needs Lennie Lawrence if the club is to drive forward under Sam Hammam.

The 55-year-old Sheffield United boss is famed in the game for his hair-trigger temper and occasional dirty tricks, but there's always respect for him, albeit mostly grudging.

He has just the kind of rasping, arm-waving animation that a certain section of the Bluebirds fans would love to see on the touchline at Ninian Park - the anti-Lawrence section.

But Warnock has great respect for his opposite number and says passion is not measured simply by how loud a man can shout.

"I think of myself as really enthusiastic really," he said.
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