Phil Yelland dips in to the archives to find out how The Bluebirds have fared on previous trips to Walsall ahead of Friday night's League Two encounter.
Friday night sees us head for The Banks’s Stadium for the first time. All of our previous visits to Walsall have been to their former home at Fellows Park.
We have made 16 visits to Walsall down the years – the first came in our very first season in Division Three North in February 1922 when, despite a goal from Bernard Sharkey, we were to lose 3-1. We gained revenge a week later with a 3-0 home win.
Our first point at Fellows Park came two seasons later, in March 1924, when a goal from Frank Alford was enough to secure a point. Our first win of three arrived on the final day of the 1925/26 season when we won 2-1, with goals from Bob Hutchinson and Harry Roberts. We still finished bottom of the division, eight points adrift of second bottom Walsall. However, it was the only double we completed that season having beaten The Saddlers 5-2 at Holker Street just before Christmas 1925.
Our other two wins both came before World War Two. On the opening day of the 1931/32 campaign in August 1931 we won 2-1, with the goals from future Northern Ireland international Billy Millar and Joe Wilson. Two seasons later, in September 1933, we won 4-2 thanks to goals from Bill Murray, Joe Roberts, Matthew Robinson and Jimmy Shankly.
Since then, we have played six times at Walsall and The Saddlers have won five of those games. We conceded five goals in successive defeats to the Midlands outfit in January 1935 and April 1936, although at least we scored a consolation goal in the latter.
Our last point at the venue came in February 1969 when a goal from Jim Mulvaney secured a 1-1 draw. Our final trip to Fellows Park in Division Three in September 1969 saw us lose by the only goal of the game.
A total of 16 trips to date have seen three wins, three draws and ten defeats - let’s hope for win number four on Friday night.