One
for the statto's. My good friend John Heyda a City fan from Middletown, Ohio, USA has been
trawling the history books and has come up with the following Cardiff City opening day
statistics.
"Hard to believe that City
will be spending only their tenth season in the dungeon this year. It all started on
the opening day of the 1986-87 season with a 1-1 draw at Hartlepool. As the dungeon
was not invented until the 1958-59 campaign, this means that City spent precisely no time
in the cowshed circuit during its first 28 years of operations. Got that, Sam?
Zero.
Anyway, some stats:
* City has played nine dungeon openers, compiling an overall mark of one win, seven draws,
and one loss. City has scored a grand total of eight goals in these nine matches,
with three of them coming in one game, a 3-3 draw against Rochdale at Deepdale to kick off
the 1995-96 season.
* City has not won a single basement opener at home in five tries. The home mark shows no
wins, four draws, and a loss (a 2-1 setback at the hands of Lincoln City to begin the
1991-92 season).
* City has not lost a dungeon opener away in four tries. The away record shows one
win and three draws. The win, City's last on opening day, came three years ago at
Leyton Orient, with Carl Dale netting the only goal of the day. City has never
failed to score in a dungeon opener away, tallying all of six goals in the four away
matches.
Here are some of bigger picture stats regarding City openers:
* City's all-time record on opening day shows 16 wins, 28 draws, and 30 losses.
* City has never won three straight opening day matches.
* City hasn't won back to back on opening day since the start-ups to the 1969-70 and
1970-71 campaigns.
* City has won the opener following a relegation campaign but once. That was at the start
of the 1985-86 season, when City bested Notts County 4-1 away. The overall mark in
such openers shows one win, five draws, and three losses."
Thanks John. John will be delighting us with more stats as
the season goes on.
