Congratulations to Mark Robins and the team for reaching the Championship play-offs for the first time. With perfect timing the team entered the play-off places for the first time in game 44 and with a home win over Birmingham and a draw at Middlesbrough sealed the top six finish. It's the highest final position the club has achieved since the club left the premiership in 2001 and all the more surprising with the hurdles they have had to overcome this season. The delayed start to the home season that saw them win only one of their first ten games and still in 22nd place on 1st November. A fantastic run of results in the run up to the World Cup break saw them rise to eighth place but then they slipped back after a dodgy December and January. After the narrow defeat at the Hawthorns in early February, when they were 14th, the team has lost just once in 17 games and completely confounded not only the critics but many of their own supporters. In that period they have picked up 32 points – automatic promotion form – and haven't lost a single away game.
The point at the Riverside meant nine away games unbeaten and the club's best league run since 1988 when John Sillett's team managed ten unbeaten. After losing 1-0 at Old Trafford in February 1988 they remained unbeaten in the final six away games of the season with wins at Watford, Southampton and Wimbledon and draws at Newcastle, West Ham and Arsenal. The 1988-89 season started with three away wins, at Sheffield Wednesday, Wimbledon and Newcastle, followed by a draw at Liverpool. The 10-game run ended at Highbury where the Gunners won 2-0. The all-time club record is 12 unbeaten away games, set by Jimmy Hill's 1966-67 Division 2 champions.
A two-legged play-off against Middlesbrough will now decide who goes to Wembley on May 27th. I've been looking at City's record in two legged ties in the past and the omens are promising. Including the first two-legged tie in the FA Cup 3rd round in 1946 (an experiment that was ditched after one season), a 3-2 aggregate defeat to Aston Villa, there have been 33 double headers. City have won 21 ties and lost 12.
There have been two in the European Fairs Cup (1970), one in the EFL Trophy (Crewe 2013), one in a League Two play-off (Notts County 2018), four in the Texaco Cup (1971-73), one in the FA Cup (1946) and 24 in the League Cup. Many of the League Cup two leg affairs were against lower division clubs when the first round of the competition was over two legs and the two semi finals (West Ham in 1980 and Forest in 1990) were both lost.
There was another sell-out away following at 'Boro on Sunday with 2,118 City fans in attendance. The average away following for the Sky Blue Army this season is 2,054, up 11% from last season and the highest average since records were kept in 2006. Prior to that records are hazy but I believe this season's average to be the highest since the golden days of the 1960s. Back then most grounds had bigger capacities and there were few restrictions on the numbers of away fans whereas today the number of away tickets available can be seriously restricted. For instance in 1966-67 season an estimated 15,000 City fans followed City to St Andrews whereas this campaign there was only just over 2,000 City fans allowed in. There were massive followings at local derbies back then with 10,000 at Derby in 1964, 12,000 at Peterborough the same year and 15,000 at Wolves in 1966. I am sure if there were no restrictions on numbers today there would have been much larger contingents of City fans at many of the away games.
City will face Middlesbrough three times in succession after the final game of the regular season and two play-off games. Several readers asked when this last happened. I can recall only two occasions when this has happened in the past. The last time was in the season of the big freeze, 1962-63, when City met Portsmouth in the FA Cup fourth round. The tie was delayed because two months after the scheduled date, City and Lincoln had not been able to play their third round tie because of the freezing temperatures and a snowbound pitch. City duly beat the Imps and seven days later travelled to Fratton Park to face a team one division higher knowing that a home tie with Sunderland was the reward for victory. A 1-1 draw on the Wednesday night was followed by a 2-2 draw after extra time at Highfield Road on the following Saturday. The sixth round draw had been made by this time and the path was clear; the winners of the second replay would face Sunderland and the winners of that tie would face Manchester United in the quarter final. The third Pompey tie took place three days after the first replay, at neutral White Hart Lane and City triumphed 2-1. Three games against Pompey in seven days.
The only other occurrence was in December 1932 when City, a Third Division South club, met Reading three times in successive games. The first was a league game at Elm Park when City recovered from 3-0 to draw 3-3. The following Saturday an FA Cup second round tie at the same venue ended 2-2 and five days later it was 3-3 at Highfield Road in the replay. The tie was eventually decided, after an intervening league game, at neutral Stamford Bridge with the Biscuitmen triumphing 1-0.
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