Team news

Forest wait on duo Midfielder Paul Anderson and striker Robert Earnshaw are doubts for Nottingham Forest ahead of the visit of Coca-Cola Championship play-off rivals Cardiff.

Both players missed the 1-1 draw at Bristol City with Achilles and back problems respectively and will continue to be monitored.

Boss Billy Davies could make changes as the Reds go in search of a 13th successive home league win that could guarantee them a top-six finish.

Victory will be enough to secure a play-off spot for Forest if Leicester lose at home to QPR or Blackpool fail to beat Doncaster at Bloomfield Road.

Davies could recall either Garath McCleary, Joe Garner, Nathan Tyson, Dexter Blackstock, Lewis McGugan or Radoslaw Majewski should he wish to freshen up his starting line-up.

Cardiff boss Dave Jones will again be without Gabor Gyepes.

Gyepes has been ruled out for three to four weeks due to a hamstring tear so makeshift centre-back Darcy Blake will continue to deputise.

Full-back Mark Kennedy and winger Chris Burke (both hamstring) are missing, while long-term absentees Chris Burke, Kevin McNaughton and Mark Hudson also remain on the sidelines.

However, Joe Ledley should step up his return from injury with another place on the bench after coming on as a second-half substitute in Saturday`s dramatic 2-1 win over fierce rivals Swansea.

Nottingham Forest 0-0 Cardiff

Last modified 09:35 06/04/10

Pause Play

Left

Right

View thumbnails View full screen Turn captions on/off

• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 
• 

• 
• 

Prev

Next

• Page 1
• Page 2
• Page 3

Billy Davies is strapped in for another white-knuckle ride on the play-off roller-coaster after Cardiff scrapped to prevent the Scot from breaking a 30-year record held by Brian Clough.

Davies is preparing for his fourth experience of the lottery in five years after Forest stumbled in their bid to secure a 13th successive home win.

And Cardiff’s players took fighting to secure their top-six place a little too literally five minutes from time when keeper David Marshall and Anthony Gerrard – cousin of Liverpool and England star Steven – had to be pulled apart after rowing over a late defensive lapse.

The pair kissed and made up at the final whistle and Bluebirds boss Dave Jones, who is on course for his first play-off finish at Cardiff, insisted the tiff was done and dusted.

He said: “They are two young boys and they lost their discipline. I told them I didn’t want to see it. If they want to fight then it shouldn’t be in our dressing-room.

“I don’t know what it was over but it gave Forest a bit of momentum and my worry then was that we’d lose our heads.

“I don’t want to see it again but it does prove they care. They are a little hot-headed now and again and I think the passion just overflowed a bit too much.”

Forest’s failure to break down the Bluebirds handed promotion to leaders Newcastle and made West Brom virtually certain to grab the other

automatic promotion place – but nothing should detract from Davies’s dramatic revival at the City Ground.

This time last year Forest had just drawn away at Barnsley and were only one point adrift of the trapdoor into League One.

But next month they are preparing for the end-of-season shoot-out and could still end an 11-year exile from the Premier League.

And the prospect of these two sides meeting again at Wembley in the play-off final is inching closer to reality, after another cautious and bad-tempered encounter.

Cardiff had damaged the top-six hopes of both Leicester and Swansea last week and were dominant here early on.

Darcy Blake headed a Ross McCormack corner narrowly over before Lee Camp was forced into emergency action to keep out McCormack’s free-kick.

The second period was almost a non-event, with Forest striker Dexter Blackstock heading Chris Cohen’s 61st-minute cross straight at Marshall.

Blackstock wasted the best chance to break Clough’s record of home wins, set in 1980, when his shot was kept out by Marshall’s outstretched hand.

Davies, now preparing for Saturday’s visit of Ipswich, said: “I’d love to play Cardiff in the play-off final. Whatever happens I’ll be cracking a bottle of champagne open with my staff.

“As long as there is still a glimmer of hope of getting second place we will go for it, but whatever happens it’s still been a massive turnaround.

We will enjoy the challenge. It’s all about getting in the top six for us now.”