"Spencer will play against Bristol. He's the nearest thing we have to a leader at this club.
"We were quite young at the back against Colchester and it showed at times. We could have done with Spencer because he's an organiser.
"The defenders who played on Saturday are good young players but they don't talk a lot during games. Spencer will do that.
"We need people who can win games up front but we also need experience and players with battling qualities."
It's getting close to do or die for Cardiff City, as reported in the review of yesterdays game there are many combinations of results that will see many twists and turns before the seasons over. City, if they win their three remaining games will go up.
Tonights game could see the return of Steve Jenkins and Gareth Whalley. Andy Campbell could also make the 16.
Bristol City have to win to keep alive their automatic promotion hopes and if they lose they are only three points away from Tranmere in 7th and could miss out on the play offs with two more bad results.
Prior lines up with Daniel Gabbidon, the centre half pairing resuming the partnership that was in place earlier in the season
"It's a strange one but Spencer is more comfortable when Gabbs is playing alongside him. They are a perfect pairing.
"Gabbs is a good passer and he's got pace while Spencer has strength and is good in the air. He had a lot of stick from the fans this season but he's bounced back and shown good character. He's raring to go against Bristol City."
Chris Barker has paid the penalty for three errors that have cost City three goals from 5 in the last two games.
"Chris had made some mistakes but I don't think his overall game has been bad. He was OK at Peterborough and he didn't play well against Colchester, although he wasn't the only one, said Lawrence.
"The performance against Colchester lacked quality and composure but it wasn't anywhere near as bad as I originally thought.
"The problem was we made three or four catastrophic mistakes and we were punished on nearly every occasion."
Bristol City v Cardiff City
Ashton Gate, 7:45pm
Tuesday April 22nd.