Exclusive Blog with former Cardiff City Vice-Captain Andy Legg

Cardiff play host to Leeds United in the FA Cup third round - a repeat of one of the most thrilling and hotly contested Cup matches in the Premier League era.

Back in 2002, Leeds were riding high at the top of the Premier League when they visited Cardiff’s former stadium Ninian Park with the Welsh club then languishing in the third tier of the English game.

But roared on by a passionate home crowd, Cardiff pulled off a major upset when they came from a goal down to beat Leeds 2-1 - sparking a pitch invasion at the final whistle.

Andy Legg was a vice-captain of that Bluebirds side 21 years ago and played a key part in proceedings - and he spoke exclusively to Stake.com about his memories of the occasion and thoughts on what might happen when the two sides meet against this weekend.

What are your fondest memories of this match? Was it one of the best games you've played in?

It’s definitely up there with one of the best games I’ve played in.

Because of the atmosphere it will always stand out - especially as it was a 4pm kick-off on a Sunday evening.

A late kick off didn’t help matters especially as most would have been in the pub all day!

But it was a stand-out match that will always be in the back of my mind.

I had three games which really stood out but this one was the best atmosphere I played in - it’s hard to replace as grounds don’t give you an atmosphere like this anymore.

You got the assist for Cardiff's opener as you were tackled, did you think this was one of your best games in the blue shirt?

I’ve played better than that for sure. I don’t think I was involved that much as it was a team game.

Sometimes you have games where the individual stands out but the whole XI played really well that day and they had to, to be fair, or we’d have got mullered.

When Mark Viduka scored we thought it’d be a very tough night but then things started to go for us, with Rio Ferdinand carried off, Alan Smith sent off and then Graham Kavanagh scoring a wonderful free-kick.

Everything went for us and it was crazy.

There were some huge names on show for Leeds, who were in their pomp, who had the most quality out of the likes of Rio Ferdinand, Lee Bowyer and Mark Viduka?

Leeds were top of the Premier League and from goalkeeper to centre-forward, they were littered with stars.

You couldn’t switch off as any one of them could have hurt you.

We had to work really hard to stop them. But we relaxed and kept going and that was in Alan Cork’s pre-match talk and it worked.

Alan Smith was sent off, do you think you'd have won anyway?

Playing with ten men is extremely hard, it doesn’t matter who you are or what team you’re playing against.

Everything helped us and I still say the fans won the game for us. Alan Smith got sent off and I was the one pulling his shirt, and my bloody mouth probably got him off - he caught me there and it bled so that probably helped.

What are your thoughts on this weekend's game?

I’m hoping for a Cardiff win obviously, but Leeds have some top players.

Cardiff need a good start and they need to score goals - they haven’t scored in five games I think.

They played well against Blackburn in the last game but in both boxes they are failing at the moment.

They got unfortunate with the deflected goal in the last game - it was cruel.

They’re playing okay at the moment, but they need to start scoring goals and I can’t see where they’re coming from.

Who are Cardiff's most important players for this weekend's game?

Whether they’re playing a back five or back four they have to defend for their lives.

They’re going to have to work extremely hard to close Leeds down.

Callum Robinson needs to start putting the ball in the back of the net and hold the ball up for Cardiff.

They have got the players there and on their day they can turn Leeds over, but have they all got to be bang at it.