Jim's column 14.1.2023

It was another miserable Cup day last week for Sky Blues' fans as the team slumped to a Third Round FA Cup defeat to National league Wrexham – the fourth defeat to a non-league team since World War Two and the eighth since City were admitted to the Football League in 1919. The North Wales club added their name to the giant-killing list that already contains Rochdale (1921), New Brighton (1923), Worksop (1926), Scunthorpe (1936), Kings Lynn (1961), Sutton United (1989) and Worcester City (2014). Wrexham, however, are just the second non-league side to score four goals against City in the competition – Scunthorpe won a replay 4-2 in 1935.

The defeat means that the Sky Blues have fallen at the first hurdle of both Cup competitions at home for only the third time since the League Cup was introduced in 1960. The other occasions were 2009 when they were defeated by Hartlepool in the League Cup and Portsmouth (in a replay) in the FA Cup, and in 2014 when there were defeats to Cardiff (League Cup) and Worcester.

One positive outcome from the disappointing defeat was the attendance. Boosted by almost 4,500 fans from Wrexham, the crowd was 18,218 – the largest FA Cup gate at the stadium since 31,407 watched the Sixth Round tie with Chelsea in 2009. It is also the largest crowd at the stadium for a Third Round tie and since over 20,000 attended the Tottenham visit in 2002 although there were 21,193 for the 'home' tie with Birmingham at St Andrews three years ago.

The Wrexham following was 4,407 just 28 short of the West Brom contingent before Christmas and there have been several away followings of over 4,000 since the club returned to the CBS Arena in August 2021. Marshall Stewart wondered if the Albion support was the largest since the original move from Highfield Road in 2005. Since then there have been 15 instances of 5,000 or more visiting supporters, all of them in the pre-2012 Championship days. The biggest was in 2010-11 when Leeds brought 6,366 to see a thriller. Leeds led 2-0 at half-time before Lukas Jutkiewicz pulled one back. Then Max Gradel made it 3-1 with a penalty and Ben Turner made it 3-2 to set up a hectic finish with Leeds hanging on for a 3-2 victory. The total crowd that day was 28,184 – the biggest crowd to watch a City home league game since 1980. I don't know for sure but suspect there are police limits on away supporter numbers these days.

John Sills enjoyed the story of the Christmas Day 1959 game against Wrexham in which teenager Ken Satchwell scored four goals in a 5-3 victory. He wondered how many City players have scored four or more goals in a game since 1959. There have been only three instances since then, one in the league and two in the League Cup. Mick Ferguson scored all four goals in the 4-1 home win over Ipswich Town in 1979, Cyrille Regis scored five in the 7-2 home win over Chester City in the League Cup and Steve Livingstone netted four in the 5-0 home win against Sunderland in the same competition in 1990.

                                        Mick Ferguson

There have been four other post-war instances of a City player scoring four in a game. Welsh international George Lowrie did it twice in 1947-48 and Jimmy Rogers and George Stewart each achieved the feat in 1958-59.

Jim's column 13.1.2018

What a remarkable day last Saturday. I, along with many Sky Blue fans, gave City little chance of beating Premiership Stoke City even with the Potters lack of form. Over ninety enthralling minutes however the team thoroughly deserved a famous victory and a place in the Fourth Round for only the third time in nine years.

Since the club reached the sixth round and faced Chelsea in 2009 the Sky Blues reached the fourth round in 2011 (losing to Birmingham) and 2014 (losing to Arsenal). Let's hope it's third time lucky for the fifth round at Milton Keynes where it will be the first ever FA Cup meeting between the clubs.

Saturday was the club's first victory over a team from a higher division since Steven Pressley's side won at Championship side Barnsley in 2014. It's a welcome relief after being knocked out by teams from lower status in last three seasons. Worcester City, Northampton and Cambridge United have all left egg on City's faces in the last three years.

In the 93 seasons that City have played in the FA Cup since joining the Football League they have now faced 30 clubs from a higher division – obviously in the 34 years between 1967-2001 when the club were in the top flight they couldn't play a team from a higher division. In those 30 meetings they have progressed on seven occasions:

1937 v Charlton Athletic – City, then a Division Two side beat Division One leaders Charlton 2-0 at Highfield Road.

1963 v Portsmouth – Division Three City beat Second Division Pompey in a second replay at White Hart Lane after two draws.

1963 v Sunderland – Sunderland were Division Two leaders when City made it to the Sixth Round triumphing 2-1.

2008 v Blackburn – Ian Dowie's Championship side dumped First Division Blackburn out, winning 4-1 at Ewood Park. (Mark Hughes was Blackburn manager that day).

2009 v Blackburn – Chris Coleman's side repeated the Blackburn result, winning 1-0 in a Ricoh replay after a draw at Ewood.

2014 v Barnsley – Steven Pressley's League One side progressed at the expense of bottom of the Championship side Barnsley, winning 2-1 at Oakwell.

2018 v Stoke City – 53 places (a club record) separated City & the Potters but anyone landing from Mars would have found it hard to identify the Premiership team.

City had a wonderful FA Cup tradition in the early part of the 20th century before they joined the Football League. In 1908 as a Birmingham League side they reached the equivalent of the Third Round and two years later, now in the Southern League, they defeated First Division Preston and Nottingham Forest to reach the quarter-final where they lost to another top flight club Everton in front of a record 19,000 crowd. They caused another upset the following season by winning at First Division Sheffield Wednesday.

Saturday's attendance of 14,199 was City's largest home crowd in the competition since that famous day against Chelsea in 2009 when 31,407 watched the Londoners win 2-0. Since then City had had eleven home games and the biggest crowd in that time until Saturday was the 9,000 who watched the Sky Blues lose 2-1 to Southampton in 2012. It was also the club's biggest gate for almost two years – since 17,140 watched the league defeat to Burton Albion in January 2016.