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City's first ever St. David's Day league match was by far its most consequential. On March 1, 1924 the Bluebirds visited Huddersfield Town as First Division leaders only to concede two second-half goals and lose 2-0, a result that shaved their lead to a single point over Sunderland, 1-0 winners over Nottingham Forest that day. With their win, Huddersfield pulled to within three points of the first-place Bluebirds. The loss ended an eight-game unbeaten run for City in league and FA Cup matches. A City win or draw that day could have made all the difference in the world, of course, as Huddersfield went on to take the First Division title from the Bluebirds by the microscopic margin of 0.024 goals.
By the time City next played on St. David's Day, in 1930, they had dropped into Second-Division mediocrity, though their 2-0 home win over Bradford Park Avenue put them seventh as they closed the gap on Avenue, just above them in sixth, to three points. City wound up eighth that year, however.
Besides the Division One runnersup of 1923-24, some other top City sides played league football on St. David's Day. The legendary Division 3-S champions of 1946-47 played on March 1 and pasted Southend United 3-1 at Ninian Park. The win that day extended City's unbeaten run in the league to 21 games (19 wins, two draws) and left City eight points clear at the top as second-place QPR kept pace with a 1-0 win at Norwich City. (By the way, City's magnificent league unbeaten streak would end with their next match, a 1-0 loss at Bristol Rovers on March 8.) The 1951-52 promotion winners played on Wales's big day as well, and managed a 1-1 home draw with West Ham United. City's draw that day left them fourth in the table but only two points back of first-place Nottingham Forest, 1-0 winners over Bury. The 1968-69 side, which went on to finish fifth in Division Two, lost at Crystal Palace 3-1 on March 1. The Bluebirds stood third in the table after this defeat, only four points back of first- place Derby and two behind second-place Middlesbrough. Crystal Palace were sixth after their St. David's Day triumph but went on to finish second and win promotion to the top flight.
City have played some rather well known table-toppers on this date as well. On March 1, 1975 the Bluebirds met first-place Manchester United at Old Trafford in a Division Two contest and lost 4-0, a setback that helped pave the way to a 21st-place finish and the club's relegation to third-tier football, where they'd play the next year for the first time in nearly three decades. City's loss left them 23rd in the table that day while Manchester United tightened their grip on the top spot, four points clear of runners up Sunderland. City have not played Manchester United since that St. David's Day encounter of 28 years ago. By the time March 1, 1980 rolled around, City were a Division Two outfit again and facing another tough away test against top opposition. This time the Bluebirds lost to Chelsea 1-0 at Stamford Bridge as the Pensioners took over the top spot and City dropped to 13th. Chelsea slipped to fourth by season's end, however, losing out on promotion by goal-difference alone, and a scant two points behind Division champions Leicester City. City slumped to 15th.
Another promotion-winning side to play on St. David's Day were the Bluebirds of two decades ago, who drew 0-0 with Reading in a Division Three contest at Ninian Park on March 1, 1983. The draw marked only the fourth time in 16 matches that City had failed to take maximum points at home and prevented City from gaining on first-place Portsmouth, who drew 0-0 at home to Wigan. Had second-place City won they would have pulled level on points with Pompey at the top. Portsmouth went on to take the title, finishing five points ahead of runnersup City.
City's last St. David's Day league defeat came 17 years ago when the Division-Four Bluebirds lost at Derby County 1-0. Since then City have rattled off three St. David's Day wins in a row - a 1-0 win at Halifax Town on March 1, 1988, a 3-0 home win over Burnley in 1991, and a 2-1 defeat of Burnley at Turf Moor in 1994. The 1988 match marks the last time an eventual promotion-winning Bluebird side won on St. David's Day as City kept pace with first-place Wolverhampton Wanderers with their win at the Shay. It was the Bluebirds' first St. David's Day win in 41 years and ended a six-game winless streak in league games played on March 1. Wolves won that day, 1-0 at Rochdale, to stay seven points ahead of City. They would go on to take Division Four by a five-point margin over the runnersup Bluebirds.
John Heyda.