Pinning our hopes on Lee. City v Crewe, match preview

Last updated : 19 March 2005 By Michael Morris
The City striker was sent off at Sunderland a few weeks ago and he has missed the matches against Sheffield Utd, Coventry and Ipswich. Lee Bullock it seems will drop back to the bench after his efforts up front.

Lee will join Cameron Jerome to give City a "proper" strike partnersip.

Bullock it appears will compete with Toni Koskela for a midfield place amongst the subs. It's not impossible but unlikely that Peter Thorne could be on the bench.

City probable

Alexander, Weston, Gabbidon, Collins, Barker, McAnuff, Inamoto, Ledley, Langley, Lee, Jerome.

Subs from Margetson, Williams, Vidmar, Koskela, Bullock, Thorne, Fleetwood.

Personally I'd play Koskela from the start alongside Inamoto. Give Langley a rest and play Ledley wide left. But what do I know?

Seriously, If City cannot beat a Crewe side that has not won in 12 league games and who prop up the form table then there's no hope.

The match at Ninian Park kicks off at 1:00pm. Wales play ireland in the 6 nations at 3:30pm. It's a possibe Grand Slam match for Wales. Because of that the gate at Ninian Park is likely to be hit pretty hard. It's a romantic idea to think a sell out City crowd would then head into town or stay at NP to watch the Wales game. Realistically City should have played on Friday night. Sam's comments in the past of never having to move a fixture because of the rugby is now added to the script along with "We are not a selling club" and "Earnie's sale will mean 4 or 5 new players" amongst several others.

If City can attract 10,000 fans it will be an achievement.

Back to where we started. Alan Lee. The Irishman is one of the lucky 70,000 to have a ticket for the Millennium Stadium. With Irish success at Cheltenham and St Patricks Day this week lets hope Lee has the luck of the Irish in front of goal at Ninian Park. He can then walk under a ladder and break a mirror on his way to the Millennium Stadium to see Wales triumph in the rugby.

With Leicester drawing at West Ham on Friday night there is just 3 points seperating 7 teams. City have to be at the right end of that equation. A win over Crewe is the least we need.

Have a happy and safe Saturday. It's a huge game for City, a huge game for Wales and a massive day for the City of Cardiff.