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As the clock ticks ever closer to the end of season, game #42 (#43 for our hosts) sees us head down the yellow brick road (a.k.a. the M4) for our 4th away trip this month (including the ill fated Rotherham tie) for a visit to Vicarage Road, a not so old stadium by historical standards, but it's still standing and it's tenants Watford will be eagerly awaiting our arrival no doubt.
As much as the City may be in poor form we just know the blues never fade away.... at least not without a fight, and what better time for a fight than uuurrm Wednesday night. So long as the players sacrifice every last ounce of effort then I'm sure we'll no longer be on such shaky ground. I may be a little naive and no doubts some will want to come and tell me when the whistle blows that I am deluded, but hey, I don't care!
We head into this one with the 2nd worst form in the division over the last 6 games (only QPR are worse) but, if we look at the last 10, then we are still mid-table and actually have taken 1 point more than our hosts, so hope springs eternal.
Our hosts form recently hasn't been great to be fair, losing their "derby" game v Luton (we share their pain) and also getting tuned over at home by a resurgent Huddersfield, but, courtesy of a 2-0 home win v the Wurzels they do still retain faint play-off hopes and are sitting in 12th spot, 4 points from that elusive line and some 17 points and 9 places higher than the City.
Earlier this season at the CCS we saw the Hornets pinch a 1-2 win, despite the Bluebirds taking the lead through a rare Cedric Kipre goal and surviving a bit of a late rally from the home side in an otherwise tight game.
The previous corresponding game from December 2020 saw the Bluebirds nick a 0-1 victory at a sparsely populated Vicarage Road thanks to Kieffer Moore’s fine strike, his 5th in 5 games, in a 3 match winning streak for the City. How much could we do with such a run now eh? The game of course being one of the the first to have limited crowds return after a slight easing of covid restrictions.
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We really need Moors of this from our current strike force!!
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Early Bluebirds Team News
The big news again this week is that Ebou Adams managed a 45 minute run out for the U-21's on Monday v the Mole's men, but of course this game is still way too early for a return to 1st team action.
Rather worryingly, Jaden Philogene is also a doubt with a knee issue whilst Jack Simpson reportedly left Bramall Lane in an arm brace and is also ruled out for this crucial game.
Callum Robinson HAS now been ruled out for the remainder of the season in yet another huge blow for the Bluebirds survival hopes and Fabergé Colwill also remains out with his hip injury.
On a positive note, Caullum O'Dowda will hopefully be fit for a starting place.
By my reckoning any travelling fans may want to take their boots just in case.... the squad is starting to look decidedly thin in numbers for our relegation scrap here.
Prutton & Co Predict
I really need to stop bothering with this part of the pre-match write up, we all know the odds on the Sky guy and his mate predicting a Bluebirds win are longer than the odds you'd get for a joint Bluebirds buy out by Vladimir Putin & Volodymyr Zelenskyy and so it is, once again we see a loss, this time by a 2-0 scoreline being predicted.
The bookies also appear to have given up on us with the home side odds on to gain back to back home wins;
Home Win 17/20 Draw 12/5 Away Win 100/30
Fun Fact
In the 1950s, the standard pregnancy tests like they are today simply didn't exist. Instead, women would send their urine off to two places - Edinburgh or Watford... let's hope they don't extract the urine tomorrow because if they do we could well prove to be f#cked!
Sharing The Love
On the home thread I went into a little detail about Malky Mackay (for good reason), Don Cowie and an old hero of mine, Jimmy Gilligan.
This time I'm focusing on another Malky signing and 1 that seems to generate a lot of "if only he'd realised his full potential comments", that being Jordon Mutch.
Mutch joined the Bluebirds from Birmingham (who were in dire trouble financially at the time) and was reunited with Malky Mackay after he'd previously enjoyed a good loan spell at Watford.
Mutch slotted in seamlessly with the City playing 22 games in his first Championship season with us as we romped to promotion.
He then became 1 of the best players in our Premier League season, clocking up 35 appearances, scoring 7 goals and providing 5 assists. Sadly with the Bluebirds falling from the top flight, Mutch understandable went in search of higher levels again, signing for Harry Redknapp at QPR in what genuinely seemed like a coup for him, with Rangers forking out just £6m for him.
Redknapp was quoted as saying “Jordon’s a fine young player, with a big, big future”. “He’s already shown what he can do at this level with Cardiff last season with a decent goals return – and this move will provide him with a great platform to take his game on to the next level.
“He wants to learn and improve his game. He’s a good pro with a great attitude and this is a big opportunity for him at QPR.”
Unfortunately for Mutch things didn't pan out, and after just 11 appearances Crystal Palace paid a reported £5.8m and gave him a 3 year contract. Again though, things didn't go well and ever increasingly desperate moves came and went, with stints at Vancouver Whitecaps (with Rob Earnshaw there as a coach), Gyeongnam in South Korea, Aalesund in Norway, then on to Australia with both Western Sydney Wanderers and Macarthur.
Mutch is now finally back in the UK, signing for Crawley Town in March of this year but agonisingly has seen his season ended by a hamstring injury in just his 3rd appearance. With a contract at the Red Devils running just until the end of season things aren't looking good for his time there either.
Hopefully he can find some of that quality he brought to our maiden Premier League season again before his career finally finishes, at 31 he probably hasn't got too many years left sadly. Good luck Jordon, we've never really managed to replace you since you left.
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Jordon Mutch desperately tries to convince Wayne Rooney that he is male and still way to young to be considered for his bus pass.
Others making the list are.....
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So, can the Bluebirds avoid the Hornets stinging when they're winning? Will it be a wonderful crazy night as we topple Elton's boys?? Can we make the home team do the walk of shame as we come away with 3 points and all but end their play-off hopes???
All I know is it ain't gonna be easy and we need to get back to being a high flying bird!
Bloooooooooooooooobirds!!!
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