Thorne Set to Start - Team News & Preview
Peter Thorne
By Chris O'Brien
November 28 2003
Peter Thorne looks likely to return to the City starting line-up tomorrow, following a long lay-off with injury. City are still without skipper Graham Kavanagh and Rhys Weston for the visit of the Tractor Boys, in a game where Robert Earnshaw will hope to net his 100th Cardiff City goal.
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| Cardiff City's record signing Peter
Thorne looks set to return to first-team action tomorrow after a long
lay-off with injury. Former Lincoln City target-man Gavin Gordon has
partnered Robert Earnshaw for the past 7 matches, but Thorne looks set to be
named in the starting line-up tomorrow, with Gordon relegated to the
substitutes bench.
City skipper Graham Kavanagh is still absent with heavy bruising sustained on international duty with the Republic of Ireland, and is working hard to return to action for Cardiff's visit to the Britannia Stadium to face Kav's former-club Stoke City next Saturday. On-form Gary Croft looks certain to start against his former-club, with Rhys Weston picking up a reoccurrence of a cartilage injury in City's 1-1 reserve team draw with rivals Swansea City. Scott Young, Jason Bowen, Alan Lee and Gareth Whalley are all still out injured, and all look a long-way off being fit for competitive action. It is believed the 16-man match-day squad named for
tomorrow's game will be identical to the one picked against West Bromwich
Albion during mid-week, meaning the starting line-up should be: As for the visitors, former City winger Alan Mahon has been ruled out of the game by Town boss Joe Royle. George Santos is a doubt for the Tractor Boys, and leading scorer Pablo Counago misses out again with a hamstring problem. Tomorrow's game promises to be a cracker. Both sides are equal on points, with City ahead on a marginally superior goal difference. Ipswich come into the game on the back of a superb 3-0 victory over promotion hopefuls Sheffield United and following a disappointing start to the season, the East-Anglia outfit have their promotion race firmly back on track. Victory for the Bluebirds could mathematically see us rise to third position in the table, but this strongly depends on other results on the day. Third place is also attainable should the Tractor Boys leave the Welsh capital with all three points. An attendance in the region of 16,500 is expected at Ninian Park tomorrow, with hopefully a decent following coming down from Ipswich. Their last visit to Cardiff was back in 1984, when Eric Gates netted a hat-trick to knock the Bluebirds out of the F.A Cup. Bluebird to the Bone Prediction - Cardiff City 1-0
Ipswich Town |