Cardiff City v Leeds United ***FA Cup Matchday Thread***
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Manager Jesse Marsch is desperate to end Leeds United's recent wretched FA Cup record as his side prepare for the third-round visit to Cardiff City.
The Elland Road club have lost at the third-round stage in each of the past five seasons, including shock defeats to Newport County and Crawley Town.
Marsch said he had spoken with chief executive Angus Kinnear on the subject.
"Angus subtly spoke to me last week and said maybe we should focus on having a good FA Cup run," Marsch said.
"I said 'message received'. We believe that a cup run can give us momentum."
Leeds sit 14th in the Premier League, two points above the bottom three, but they were top of the table, under David O'Leary, the last time they visited Cardiff in the cup in 2002.
The Bluebirds ran out surprise 2-1 winners that day and Marsch, who will be taking charge of his first FA Cup tie, says the impact of that result still resonates two decades on.
"I know the history and we expect Cardiff will be very spirited - but we know 6,000 (Leeds) fans are going, so we want to put the best team we can on the pitch," Marsch added.
Since the shock result 21 years ago, Cardiff have become a bogey side for Leeds, winning 14 of the 22 subsequent meetings, and Bluebirds boss Mark Hudson hopes his team, a lowly 20th in the Championship, can take inspiration from their success.
"I've been reminded of it this week - it's a team that we've done well against historically and we look forward to it," Hudson added.
"When you play a Premier League team you're going to be deemed as an underdog, but we've got to focus on what we can do."
Team news
New signing Max Wober, who arrived at Elland Road this week on a four-and-a-half-year deal from Red Bull Salzburg, could make his debut in the Leeds defence.
However, the game may come too early for striker Patrick Bamford, who returned to training this week after undergoing groin surgery during the World Cup break.
Adam Forshaw (hip) and Luis Sinisterra (foot) remain unavailable, as does Stuart Dallas, who has had a third operation because of an infection as he recovers from a fractured femur.
Hudson has vowed to field a strong side, but revealed he may have to rest "one or two" unnamed players because of illness.
0 - 3.
MOT.
