Cardiff are now 10 games without a win in all competitions after a 5-2 loss at Elland Road to Leeds United in their FA Cup third-round replay on Wednesday night, with goals from Wilfried Gnonto, q Patrick Bamford putting the game beyond the visiting Bluebirds by the time Callum Robinson popped up with a late brace to reduce the deficit.
Dean Whitehead was in temporary charge of Cardiff in Yorkshire after Mark Hudson was sacked following the 1-1 draw with bottom-side Wigan Athletic last weekend, and it seems the 40-year-old will take the reins once again as the Cardiff hierarchy search for a manager capable of keeping the club in the Championship.
The likes of Valerien Ismael and Neil Warnock are amongst the favourites to succeed Hudson in South Wales, but any managerial arrival is unlikely to be in motion before Saturday afternoon, meaning it is down to those already at the club to earn a much-needed result.
Despite losing just one of their six Championship matches since returning from the World Cup break, the five draws that accompany that defeat at Blackburn Rovers have ultimately cost Hudson his job and leave Cardiff 21st in the Championship, just three points above Huddersfield Town who sit in the relegation zone.
Cardiff’s last success on home soil was way back in October, when Jaden Philogeneq-Bidace came off the bench to score the decisive goal against fellow strugglers Rotherham United – the 20-year-old should be amongst the starters at the Cardiff City Stadium on Saturday afternoon.
Millwall boss Gary Rowett has always made sure to control expectations around The Den after a promising start to the campaign, and those efforts have proven worthwhile, with his side suffering back-to-back defeats in all competitions for the first time since August over the past fortnight.
The Lions were defeated 2-0 at home to high-flying Sheffield United in the FA Cup third round, before a Championship trip to the Riverside ended in a narrow defeat to Middlesbrough courtesy of Marcus Forss’s fifth goal of the season.
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defeat allowed West Bromwich Albion and Norwich City to leapfrog Rowett’s men in the league standings, with the Londoners now sitting in eighth place, two points behind Carlos Corberan’s Baggies in sixth.
Overall, Millwall have struggled on their travels this campaign and have relied on their impressive home form to maintain their playoff ambitions – Rowett’s side have collected just 12 of their 39 second-tier points away from The Den to date.
However, unlike in previous years when Millwall could be accused of being reliant on pure defensive solidity, the Lions now have a genuine goalscorer and attacking quality in the form of Dutchman Zian Flemming, who has hit the ground running since his summer switch from Fortuna Sittard in the Eredivisie.
