Jim's column 14.12.2019

What a tremendous result for the Sky Blues at Ipswich on Tuesday night. Few City fans gave their team a chance in the Second Round replay at Portman Road but Mark Robins's side put on a super display to seal a place in the Third Round. City's record in away FA Cup replays has traditionally been awful and this was only the fifth time in the club's history in the competition that they have won an away replay and the first since 1997 when Gordon Strachan's side narrowly scraped home in a Third Round replay at non-league Woking.

Since that close shave in 1997 City have lost replays on three occasions after being held on their own ground, at Middlesbrough (0-1) in 2006, at Colchester (1-3) in 2004 and at Bramall Lane in 1998 when they lost on penalties after a late Blades' equaliser.

Over the years City have been notoriously vulnerable in FA Cup replays. In the 1990s they lost at Southampton (1991), Cambridge (1992), Norwich (1995), Manchester City (1996) as well as the Sheffield United game in 1998. In the 1970s there were defeats after home draws at Liverpool (1970), QPR (1974), Arsenal (1975), Newcastle (1976) and West Brom (1979). Perhaps the most embarrassing defeats were at non-league Scunthorpe (2-4) in the 1936 promotion season and at Tranmere (0-2) in 1968. In total City have been involved in 31 FA Cup away replays and won only five.

The only times that City have won replays on opponents grounds are:

1974 Derby County 1-0 after 0-0 draw

1991 Wigan Athletic 1-0 after 1-1 draw

1995 West Brom 2-1 after 1-1 draw

1997 Woking 2-1 after 1-1 draw

2019 Ipswich 2-1 after 1-1 draw.

Following my piece about former City full-back Bob Dobbing a few weeks ago I heard from Kevin Ring who remembered Bob from the 1960s:

You wrote about Bob Dobbing and how he is unwell. I remember him well. As a
teenager I would go to reserve games and stand behind the goal at the West
End, often with girlfriends (they had a thing for young footballers).
Bob was a regular in the reserves. I found a picture
of him in my old childhood scrapbooks (from The Pink), lining up with other young hopefuls.
My memory tells me (Left to Right) it's Martin Clamp, Malcolm Keley, Mick Coop, Tom
Sinclair (who I used to deliver morning papers to in Lodge Road),
Paul Bloodworth, Don Peachey, Bob Dobbing, Roy Linnie, Dave Matthews, Mick
Cartwright, Pat Morrissey, John Chambers, John Docker, Willie Carr.