by Mark Denham
A sold out Cardiff City Stadium awaits Leicester City on Wednesday evening, as the Bluebirds prepare to do battle with the Foxes for a place at Wembley.
Cardiff hold a slender 1-0 advantage from Sunday's first leg at the Walkers Stadium heading into the winner takes all spoils second leg of the Coca-Cola Championship play-off semi final. That means that a draw or better for the Bluebirds on Wednesday will put them in to the May 22nd Final.
Early Cardiff team news: Chris Burke should figure for the Bluebirds after being assessed for a groin strain on Monday. Burke is the only slight concern following Sunday's game, though Anthony Gerrard is still considered unlikely to take part along with long term absentee Gavin Rae.
Early Leicester team news: Striker Steve Howard is back in contention for the Foxes after serving a suspension for the first-leg. Matty Fryatt will hope for a starting role after coming on as a substitute at the Walkers Stadium, as will veteran midfielder Matt Oakley. Everton loanee James Vaughan remains unlikely to figure, whilst Alex Bruce is expected to continue deputising for the hamstring-plagued Wayne Brown.
First-leg: Peter Whittingham's 78th minute strike secured Cardiff a hard-earned 1-0 victory three days ago at the Walkers Stadium. The Bluebirds dominated large parts of the game and came very close to scoring on numerous occasions before Whittingham's eventual opener. But Leicester rallied following their set-back and will feel unfortunate not to have equalised late on when Matty Fryatt, Paul Gallagher and Alex Bruce all came close. Fortunately for Cardiff, David Marshall was in blistering form between the sticks.
Playing to meet: Blackpool. The Tangerines pulled off a superb second leg performance at Nottingham Forest's City Ground on Tuesday evening after taking a 2-1 lead into the fixture. Forest took the lead through Robert Earnshaw early in the first half, but DJ Campbell beat the offside trap early in the second to make the scores level on the night but give his side an aggregate lead. Earnshaw scored again to give Forest hope, but a second Blackpool goal by substitute Stephen Dobbie and then a further two from Campbell stunned the home crowd as their home record and Premier League dreams disappeared.
Leicester City (9/5/10) - Weale, Solano, Hobbs, Bruce, Berner, Wellens (N'Guessan, 85), King, Spearing, Dyer (Fryatt, 62), Waghorn (Kermorgant, 76), Gallagher. Subs not used: Logan, Morrison, Oakley, Adams.
Cardiff City (9/5/10) - Marshall, McNaughton, Kennedy, Blake, Hudson, Burke (Etuhu 75), Whittingham, Ledley, McPhail, Bothroyd, Chopra (McCormack, 90). Subs not used: Enckelman, Gyepes, Capaldi, Quinn, Wildig.
