Cardiff City boss Brian Barry-Murphy is facing a selection dilemma at the heart of his defence ahead of this weekend’s critical League One clash with Bolton Wanderers.
After a dip in form, the Bluebirds have been fortunate to see the sides chasing their second-place spot also drop points in recent weeks.
While an eight-point buffer appears healthy, with a game in hand, that could be cut to just five if they lose Saturday’s lunchtime kick-off.
And they face one of those challengers this weekend, Bolton, without a handful of central defenders.
Captain Calum Chambers was withdrawn at the interval in Monday’s clash at Peterborough United, replaced by right-back Ronan Kpakio. He is the latest Bluebirds man to pick up an injury, with a disproportionate amount of those at centre-half. Boss Barry-Murphy was reluctant to give too much away, as it’s too early to tell if it will keep his skipper out of their fixture against the Trotters this weekend.
“He’s had a scan. I think he’s seeing the specialist today, so we should know more on that in the next 24 hours. But he obviously couldn’t continue and wasn’t even close to carrying on at half-time on Monday.
“It just depends on the results of his scan and the specialist, which he’s not seen yet. Once that becomes clear I think it will be a pretty easy decision of whether he can play or he can’t.”
Dylan Lawlor missed out at London Road on Monday, after he was taken off soon after coming on in Wales friendly with Northern Ireland. It isn’t clear whether he will be involved at the weekend, having missed training over the Easter period. He will be assessed in the next day or two. Gabriel Osho will also be absent after seeing red against Wycombe Wanderers last month. That leaves 23-year-old Will Fish as their only recognised fit centre-half.
This couldn’t have come at a worse time for Cardiff, with the visit of promotion rivals Bolton next on the agenda on Saturday.
What Has Gone Wrong At Cardiff?
It’s fair to say that Lincoln City’s victory at the Cardiff City Stadium last month has had quite the impact on the Bluebirds. Cardiff went into that clash having won four of their five matches the previous month, scoring at least three times in each victory, to sit a point above the Imps prior to this title decider.
Lincoln did a job in South Wales, emerging with perhaps their finest three points of the season, thanks to second-half goals from Rob Street and former Cardiff youngster Dom Jefferies. While they were held at Barnsley the following midweek, Barry-Murphy’s side were quickly back on the scoring trail by hitting Exeter City for four the following Saturday. However, there has been a noticeable dip since, with a loss to Wycombe before being thwarted by Blackpool.
Out of action on Good Friday due to Port Vale’s FA Cup progression, they could only sit and watch as all the other sides in the top five emerged victorious. Despite another dominant showing at Peterborough on Easter Monday, they could only draw after being pegged back by Posh just 17 seconds after going ahead.
While their gap remains healthy, a difficult next three fixtures against Bolton, Huddersfield Town and Reading mean there is plenty of work to be done. If they can come through that period still in the driving seat, then promotion should be secured in either home game against Port Vale or Northampton Town, who will both almost certainly be relegated by the end of April.