Neil Etheridge will want to best Fulham more than most Cardiff City players

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This week saw Fulham leapfrog Cardiff City into second place in the Championship. The Cottagers defeated struggling Reading 1-0 whilst the Bluebirds suffered defeat at the hands of fellow promotion chasers Aston Villa.

Cardiff, however, do have a game in hand over their West London rivals and, if they can pick up the victory in that game, they will return to the automatic promotion spots.

One man who will hope they can beat Fulham to promotion more than others is Cardiff City goalkeeper Neil Etheridge.

The Philippines international has been a revelation for Neil Warnock’s side this season since arriving from Walsall in the summer.

But his career has been something of a struggle up to this point, including a difficult spell with Cardiff’s biggest promotion rivals. The 28-year-old headed to Fulham from Chelsea in 2006. He spent eight years with the Cottagers but played just once for the club in his time at Craven Cottage, in a Europa League clash with Odense Boldklub which saw Martin Jol’s side dumped out the competition.

Instead, he spent much of his time at Fulham out on loan with the likes of Leatherhead, Charlton, Bristol Rovers and Crewe Alexandra.

Then, in the summer of 2014, Fulham released him.

Since then he has rebuilt his career with spells at Oldham Athletic, Charlton and, eventually, excelling at Walsall.

Etheridge signed initially as a back-up to Lee Camp, has now established himself as the number one at Cardiff City. For him, ensuring that Cardiff get one over on Fulham would be a massive personal boost against a side who never gave him the chances, it seems, he could have taken.