PREVIEW Coventry City v Cardiff City
Ricoh Arena Tuesday February 12 7:45pm
Coventry City begin life post-Iain Dowie tonight when they welcome play-off chasing Cardiff City to the Ricoh Arena in the Coca-Cola Championship.
The Sky Blues are now on the lookout for their 13th boss since 1987 after relieving Dowie, assistant boss Tim Flowers and chief scout Bob Dowie of their duties on Monday.
First-team coach Frank Bunn and performance manager John Harbin, pictured above, will take charge of City for the visit of Dave Jones' Bluebirds and will be looking to bounce back from Saturday's slender 1-0 defeat at Preston.
Cardiff arrive at the Ricoh looking to get their play-off push back on track after back-to-back defeats away at Stoke and at home to Norwich on Saturday took the shine off a nine match unbeaten run.
Dave Jones has safely weathered a storm earlier in the season which saw speculation rife that the man who played eleven games for the Sky Blues between 1979 and 1981 would lose his job.
Cardiff sat in seventh spot after that defeat at the Britannia Stadium a fortnight ago, and although they have since slipped to eleventh, they remain just two points off a top six berth.
Robbie Fowler's scoring rate of four league goals from 10 starts would have certainly helped the Bluebirds into the promotion pack by now had he not been plagued by fitness problems which have sidelined him since mid-December.
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink (right) has proved more enduring to Jones' cause, but six goals from 27 outings has been a disappointing return for the former Dutch international so far.
However, goals have flowed from the middle of the park, where the Actim Index Championship Player of the Month, Welsh international Joe Ledley, and winger Paul Parry have wach bagged seven goals
Cardiff's big-spending forays are a thing of the past, with the Fowler and Hasselbaink deals were financed by last summer's £5 million sale of Michael Chopra to Sunderland.
But Jones have moved shrewdly elsewhere in the transfer market as defenders Kevin McNaughton, Roger Johnson and Tony Capaldi have all excelled this season despite only commanding modest fees.
Team News
The Sky Blues' are sweating on the fitness of midfielder Stephen Hughes ahead of the clash after the former Arsenal man limped out at half-time against Preston, with Michael Hughes waiting in the wings for a start should he fail to recover.
Full-back Danny Fox could also return after he missed the trip to Deepdale with gastric flu while latest recruit Scott Dann is pushing for a start.
Cardiff boss Dave Jones has no new injury worries but Darren Purse, Aaron Ramsey and Darcy Blake will be eyeing starts.
But the match should come too soon for midfielders Trevor Sinclair and Riccardo Scimeca, who have returned to training but are both short of match fitness.
Form Guide
Coventry City: LWLWL
Cardiff City: DWWLL
We'd like to sign...
Joe Ledley (right), his goalscoring exploits from midfield would be a welcome addition to any side in the Championship.
Keep your eye on...
Jimmy Floyd Hasselbaink, he may be 35 but the Dutchman has eight goals from just seven previous appearances against the Sky Blues during spells at Leeds, Chelsea and Middlesbrough - including four goals during one game for Chelsea in 2000.
Last time we met...
City will take on Cardiff at the Ricoh Arena without a full-time manager for the second successive season after Adrian Heath took caretaker charge against the Bluebirds following Micky Adams' departure last February.
The two teams battle out an entertaining 2-2 draw which was not short of controversy.
Leon McKenzie opened the scoring for the Sky Blues when he fired home Michael Mifsud's cross, but Andrew Whing's foul on Roger Johnson saw Michael Chopra equalise from the spot for Cardiff.
The visitors took the lead in the second-half with a fine curling shot from Peter Whittingham, then saw centre-back Glenn Loovens sent off for a second bookable offence.
The home side dominated after that and referee Graham Poll angered both sides, Cardiff for the dismissal and City for disallowing two McKenzie headers for pushing.
But Dele Adebola headed in Jay Tabb's cross to earn a valuable and deserved point.
Back Jay to do a double...
The Sky Blues will be looking to do a league double over Dave Jones' men tonight, having beaten them 1-0 at Ninian Park at the start of the season, with Jay Tabb on target in the first-half.
And, as you'd expect, bet365 are offering First Goalscorer betting, with unlimited places for each way betting.
In fact, because they're committed to offering this market to every Football League club, they can sometimes get caught out by shrewd customers all too aware of a certain player's run of goalscoring form. Can you spot the value?
After netting the only goal between the sides in South Wales, Tabb is 12/1 to get City off to the best possible start again tonight by scoring first.
Michael Mifsud is a decent bet to net his first goal in the Championship since December at 6/1, while Leon Best is even better value to continue his recent run in form at 15/2.
As well as backing a player to score first, you can also back them to score last, which is usually the same odds.
If you think a player is bound to score at some point in the match, bet365 offer odds on this too, making Tabb a good shout at 4/1.
CLICK HERE for the latest Goalscorer betting.
