I love the FA Cup and those who read my blog know I have been following a team from the opening round who are long gone now and presently tied to MK Dons. This is part of my fantasy “Road to Wembley” but now its third round time and the mighty Cardiff City enter the fray.
Even with it not having, the same prestige has in my youth because of the rise of the Premier League and money from the third round up until the semi-finals weaken teams are mostly the nor for the big teams with League and European football taking priority.
It even manifests in clubs in lower where promotion or relegation plays it part in managers decision.
Anyone below the Premier League wants one of the top six teams, the likes of Arsenal, Chelsea, Liverpool Spurs or one of the Manchester teams City or United but that is down to lady luck and former Liverpool captain Steven Gerrard and ex-Arsenal striker Ian Wright who made the draw tonight live on BBC2 earlier.
To the draw, my road fantasy fixture either MK Dons or Charlton will face a trip to Brighton but have a replay to get out of the way first. No big money draw for Cardiff with a home game against fellow Championship team Fulham. Back in August at Craven Cottage, the two teams fought out a 2-2 draw.
The 32 fixtures for the FA Cup third round will be played across the weekend of January 6-9, 2017.
On the subject of the Bluebirds, the all-important festive fixtures are upon us with five games left before the New Year starting Saturday and we need a good festive run of points. We need the wins to change the poor season we have been having so far.
Two of the five games are at the Cardiff City stadium while the other three games are on the road while if you take todays league table into account of the three are in the bottom half of the table, with one just outside
Ipswich Town v Cardiff City Sat 10 Dec 3pm
Cardiff City v Wolverhampton Wanderers Tue 13 Dec 7:45pm
Cardiff City v Barnsley Sat 17 Dec 3pm
Brentford v Cardiff City Mon 26 Dec 1pm
Brighton & Hove Albion v Cardiff City Fri 30 Dec 7:45pm
There are 15 points up for grabs but honestly, I can see that happening. I will stick my above the wall and cross my fingers for 9 out of 15.
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