Championship preview: Patience key for Craig Bellamy as Cardiff press ahead

The in-form Bluebirds have been victorious in seven of their last nine games, with their 2-1 Boxing Day win over promotion rivals Crystal Palace putting them five points clear at the summit.

Tomorrow they host Millwall and will be expected to win another three points, but Bellamy has urged supporters not to become frustrated if things do not immediately go to plan.

“The fans were OK (against Palace), but I still remember the first 10 and 15 minutes when one or two passes went backwards and there were one or two boos,” he said.

“Sometimes you have to keep the ball. We went a bit direct too early and, credit to Palace, they soaked that up and knew what we were doing. We had to be a bit more patient.”

Cardiff’s bid for promotion was boosted not only by their win over Palace, but by the fact a number of their rivals at the summit dropped points on the same day.

Palace’s loss in Wales left Ian Holloway’s men without a win in four matches and saw them drop to fourth place, seven points behind the pacesetters.

Tomorrow they travel to Nottingham Forest, who despite lying just one point outside the play-off spots following their 4-2 win over Leeds sacked manager Sean O’Driscoll this week and replaced him with Alex McLeish.

Second-placed Hull face a testing lunchtime Yorkshire derby at home to Leeds, who had won five of their last six in the Championship prior to their defeat to Forest.

Leicester go to Burnley while third-placed Middlesbrough are at home to Blackpool and sixth-placed Watford travel to Brighton in the day’s late kick-off.

At the other end of the table, rejuvenated Peterborough will hope to climb out of the relegation zone if they can claim a fourth successive victory when they go to bottom side Bristol City.

Posh manager Darren Ferguson said: “Obviously it’s a massive game for us at Bristol and if we win we put six points between them and us and we will hopefully close the gap on those teams above us.”

Elsewhere second-bottom Barnsley play host to a Blackburn side who also sacked their manager this week, with Henning Berg dismissed after just 57 days in charge.