Saturday marked their first league win by five or more goals in
nearly 18 months. Before yesterday's romp, City's last league win by
five or more came on March 16, 2002, when the Bluebirds pasted Oldham
7-1 at Boundary Park. There have been other such wins in recent
years as well, a 6-1 win at Exeter on January 1, 2001 and a 7-1 home
triumph over Doncaster Rovers on March 14, 1998. These wins came,
though, while City were playing in the lower divisions.
How long has it been, then, that City have won by five or more while
playing in the upper echelons of league football? How often have
City won by margins of five or more while playing in the top
divisions? How often have they won by five or more while blanking
the opposition? How often have they netted five or more at this
level? I've trolled through City's postwar results and come up with
the answers to these questions. Here's what I've found:
* Before yesterday's big win, the last time City won by five or more
came just two months short of 20 years ago. On November 12, 1983,
the Bluebirds whipped Cambridge United 5-0 in a Division Two contest
at Ninian Park. The win that day was quite out of character for the
club that year as it marked only their fifth win of the league
campaign (in their 14th game) and lifted them only to 17th in the
table. They'd go on to finish 15th in that next-to-last season in
the old Second Division.
* Winning by five or more hasn't been a very common occurrence at
this level. In fact, City's 5-0 win on Saturday marked only the 13th
time the Bluebirds have pulled off such a feat while playing in the
top two divisions. All 13 of these wins have come at home, by the
way; City have yet to win by five or more away from home as an upper
echelon club since the end of World War II.
* Their biggest such win came on December 7, 1957, when the Bluebirds
battered Barnsley 7-0 at Ninian Park. That win marked the only time
City have netted seven as an upper-division club in the postwar era.
* City's 5-0 win Saturday is their 10th clean-sheet win by five or
more as an upper-division club since the resumption of league play in
1946-47. Seven of the 10 have been of the 5-0 variety. Besides the
7-0 Barnsley win in December, 1957, the Bluebirds have two 6-0 wins -
on January 3, 1948 vs. Millwall and on February 21, 1953 vs.
Manchester City.
* This season marks City's 37th postwar campaign in the top two
divisions, seven of them in the top flight, 30 in the second. During
those 37 seasons, the Bluebirds now show 37 matches while scoring
five or more. Their record in these 37 is just what you'd hope it
would be - 37-0-0.
* Seventeen of these 37 five-or-more outbursts came during the 10-
year period from 1962-63 to 1971-72. In 1962-63 alone, the Bluebirds
scored five or more five times. All but four of these 37 wins have
come at Ninian Park. The last time City won at this level while
scoring five away from home came back on December 7, 1968, when City
won at Fulham 5-1.
* Of these 37 matches, City show 27 with five goals, nine with six,
and that one match with seven. The last time City netted six while
playing in the league's upper echelons came on October 23, 1971, when
the Bluebirds blasted Charlton 6-1 at Ninian Park.
John Heyda