Phil Yelland raids the history books to take a look at how The Bluebirds have fared when they have reached the League Cup Second Round in the past.
Tuesday night sees the Club play in the League Cup (now named the Carabao Cup) Second Round for the fourth time.
Our first appearance at this stage took place in September 1962, when we met Shrewsbury Town of Division Three here at Holker Street. We were unbeaten in six home games from the start of the campaign, and we performed a minor giant killing with a 3-1 win. Gordon Brown netted twice from the penalty spot and Ben Clark was also on target in front of 4,003 fans.
In the Third Round we met Villa’s neighbours Birmingham City and, after a 1-1 draw on home soil, the replay at St Andrews finished 5-1 to City.
We had to wait until September 1967 before our second appearance in Round Two, having defeated Oldham Athletic in Round One. The reward was a trip to Ewood Park to play a Blackburn Rovers side just relegated from the top flight. It meant a swift return to Rovers for goalkeeper Fred Else, who had joined us from Rovers that summer. We lost 4-1, with our goal coming in the form of an own goal from Dick Mulvaney, brother of striker Jimmy, who joined us the following season.
In 1968/69, we were back home in Round Two against Crystal Palace from what was then Division Two, now the Championship. Again, we were involved in a giant killing, as a second half goal from Jim Mulholland won us the game in front of 7,908 fans.
That meant a trip in the Third Round to Hillsborough to play Sheffield Wednesday, then in the top flight. We played well enough but lost 3-1, with Billy McAdams getting the consolation goal in front of the biggest crowd to watch us in this competition to date – 21,829.
Our last appearance at this stage came in September 1969 when top flight Nottingham Forest were the visitors and snatched a 2-1 win with virtually the last kick of the game. Dave Storf scored our goal in a game that saw Jim Mulvaney sent off – and subsequently suspended for six weeks along with Forest’s combative midfielder Bobby (Better known as Sammy) Chapman. A bumper crowd of 8,919 watched the game – there has not been a bigger crowd here for a game since.