The Swans travel to Cardiff tomorrow for an evening kick off which will be screened to millions via Sky TV and their associated licence holders across the world. It’s the biggest fixture in the Championship calendar for both sets of fans, and the biggest derby in the Championship - despite what supporters of other clubs will tell you.
The Swans hold all the plaudits over the last two seasons with four wins across the board and the first double ever recorded in this historic fixture. Last season they emulated that by doing the same again. Cardiff City fans are of course cautious dismissing the game as just another fixture, but of course that is because they have hardly done anything to enthuse their followers this century. In fact it’s been ten years since the club have won at home in this fixture. A covid victory at Swansea in an empty stadium is pretty much all they have to write home about.
Duff recognises the importance of the fixture (at last) stating yesterday, "It’s a big game. It’s such a bitter rivalry. They don’t always produce the best games in the world, but they’re energetic, chaotic local derbies. Yeah, I’m looking forward to it” For Duff, he isn’t new to the management role with a very good track record of a nearly forty three percent win rate, he knows now his squad have to perform come tomorrow night. In training he has most certainly put his charges through their paces this week.
We gave an insight in to that right here yesterday
—> ⚽️ Swans out on their feet
Duff has overseen the past ten days which he has described as a ‘mini pre season’ and is confident in his side this morning. On the past to ten days Duff said,”Really good. We got some really good work into the players. Having the new players has given everyone a lift. There’s proper competition for places. Not that we didn't have that before but the players we’ve brought in are proven at this level. There’s a few to develop for the future and those for the here and now. They’ve been really good. They’ve responded really well. When they’ve been in, they’ve been working as hard as they have since they’ve been here. It’s not going to happen overnight. We weren’t good enough against Bristol City so we need to stick to the processes."
The Swans have won seven of the last nine meetings with one loss and one draw, that most certainly sticks in the throat of Bluebirds fans. They will reach for any excuse to reinforce their lack of interest in this fixture, but it’s just lost words from a fanbase that’s been humiliated far too often. The media are seeing this as Cardiff City’s best opportunity to take a Swansea scalp this weekend, however both they and the Swans are in the lower reaches of the league table and not looking too convincing over the first six weeks of the season. Cardiff will point to some tough fixtures already for their poor start, but conversely then the Swans can say they have lost their three league games by the odd goal. There really is no need to refer to previous form at this time, and the victors will be the side who hold their nerve the best. And then until the reverse fixture at Swansea the winners, if there will be one, will hold some form of bragging rights.
Or indeed search for the ‘excuses book’ which in Cardiff City’s case has been pretty much exhausted in recent times.