 Friday, 4th Mar 2011 16:13 Boss Paul Jewell says Town’s next three games, starting with Saturday’s live Sky match at Cardiff (Sky Sports Two/HD Two 5.20pm), will give a good indication of how far the Blues have progressed under his management. Town subsequently face Reading at home and then a trip to Leeds. Jewell said: “We’ve got a tough week coming up with games against Cardiff, Reading and Leeds. That might be a bit of a gauge for us. “We are where we are because we haven’t been good enough in enough areas too often this season. We need to improve for next year but we’ve got to get to 50 points as quickly as we can because that was our job when we first got here. “We’ve probably been the victims of our own success by winning so many games early on. That started talk about the play-offs. “We never want to dampen people’s enthusiasm but we’ve just got to be realistic and from my perspective when I came in my main thing was to make sure we stayed in the league, and we’ve still got a bit to do.” The Town boss felt that last Saturday’s 2-0 defeat to Portsmouth was as good as any performance since he’s been at Portman Road: “It was as well as we’ve played even when we’ve got a result. “As I said after the Doncaster game, that was never a 6-0. If we’d have beaten Portsmouth 6-0 on Saturday we could have seen where that had come from. But obviously we didn’t. “We’ve got to take our chances, we know that. But if we don’t, we’ve got to make sure we keep the other end quiet and we just didn’t do that against Portsmouth.” That won’t be easy with Cardiff’s fearsome front three, which Jewell says is probably the best in the Championship and expects to take them into the Premier League this season: “Arguably, when they play the front three from last Saturday of Chopra, Bellamy and Bothroyd, there aren’t too many better in the division. They’re Premiership players, I think. “Bellamy obviously is, Bothroyd if he doesn’t go up with Cardiff will go to a Premier League club and Chopra’s played at the top level. “Those three are a potent force, but they’re much more than that. They’ve got a good defence and they get goals from midfield.” Jewell was keeping his cards close to his chest regarding his team at his pre-match press conference on Thursday, promising reporters that they would find out at 4.20 on Saturday afternoon, but will probably stick with the same side given the impressive performance, if not result, against Portsmouth. Márton Fülöp will be in goal, Mark Kennedy at left-back, Carlos Edwards on the right with Gareth McAuley and Damien Delaney in the centre. In midfield, skipper David Norris, Grant Leadbitter and Jimmy Bullard will be in the centre with Championship Player of the Month Connor Wickham on the left and Lee Martin on the right. Ex-Swansea frontman Jason Scotland will be looking for only his second away goal for the Blues. Colin Healy remains sidelined with his torn stomach muscle, while Brian Murphy is still recovering from his broken ankle and Alan Quinn finally appears to be making progress having undergone a second operation on the groin injury which has kept him out of action for the whole of the season so far. Cardiff have signed two keepers on loan this week with ex-Town loanee Stephen Bywater, who recently faced the Blues with parent club Derby, and Blackburn’s Jason Brown, who came on as a sub at Portman Road when on loan at Leeds earlier in the season, joining on a temporary basis Bluebirds first-choice Tom Heaton (groin) is a big doubt, former Canary David Marshall (elbow) is out for the season and Canadian youngster Jordan Santiago (finger) is also missing. Bywater looks likely to start with manager Dave Jones having made his choice but not making his decision public: “It has been a difficult situation because other teams don’t want to let their keepers go at this stage of the season. “So I’m delighted to bring in both Stephen and Jason as we needed to move for two good goalkeepers quickly because of the injuries. “But the team won’t get nervous by the change in goal because Stephen and Jason can marshal the defence well and are good talkers. That was important.” Midfielder Seyi Olofinjana is sidelined with a knee injury but defender Paul Quinn is expected to have recovered from illness. Aaron Ramsey has returned to Arsenal after his loan spell. Jones says he knows his Town counterpart well: “Jewelly is a good friend — I have a lot of time for him. “I’ve played against Paul as a player, coach and manager. I’m chuffed to bits he’s back in work. He was out for too long and is doing a good job. He’s a daft Scouser like myself. “Roy Keane is a difficult act to follow and he’s done that well. It takes time to impose what he wants and expects from his players. “Paul likes his teams to play football and he’s a good tactician. He has all the attributes needed to be a good manager. This will be another tough battle for us today.” Town have the upper hand historically, winning 18 (16 in the league), drawing 10 (10) and losing 10 (nine). Jason Scotland’s second strike for Town and an Adam Matthews own goal saw the Blues to a 2-0 victory over Cardiff and into second place in the Championship at Portman Road in September. After a slow start Town, who had been denied what looked like a certain penalty when Connor Wickham was felled inside the area in the first half, went ahead after the break when Matthews headed past his own keeper, Scotland sealing the victory with 16 minutes remaining. Last season at Cardiff, a late deflected Jon Stead goal saw the Blues come from behind to a record a 2-1 victory in Wales. The home side went in front via Peter Whittingham’s stunning first-half volley, but the Blues hit back through Jon Walters and Stead. Mark Kennedy joined the Blues from Cardiff in the summer for £75,000, while Arran Lee-Barrett was with the Bluebirds between 2003 and 2005 but without making the first team. New Cardiff loan keeper Stephen Bywater was at Portman Road on loan in 2007/08. As well as being live on Sky, the match is being shown live in various places across the world including Sweden and Norway, while the game is on Fox Soccer Plus but with a delay. If you're based overseas and know where the game is being shown, post a comment below. Saturday’s referee is Tony Bates from Staffordshire, who has shown 75 yellow and four red cards in 27 games so far this season. Bates’s most recent Town game was the 3-1 win at Middlesbrough on the opening day of the season when he booked Mark Kennedy, David Norris, Tamás Priskin and one Boro player. Probable squad: Fülöp, Lee-Barrett, Edwards, Kennedy, Delaney, McAuley, Smith, O’Dea, Norris, Leadbitter, Bullard, Drury, Martin, Wickham, Drury, Civelli, Scotland, Priskin.
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