Just 12 months ago, City striker Emmanuel Adebayor was on the score-sheet twice as the Blues took on Arsenal at the Emirates Stadium.
The problem was that Ade was still in an Arsenal shirt! The Togo striker struck in each half to give the Gunners a 2-0 win as Mark Hughes’ first season in charge headed towards an unremarkable end.
Exactly 86 years ago to the day on March 29 1924, City lost their FA Cup semi-final 2-0 to Newcastle United at St Andrew’s and the chance of appearing in only the second final to be held at Wembley Stadium was gone.
Some 42 years later, Second Division City’s FA Cup heroics against Everton finally ended in defeat. Having held the title-chasing Toffees 0-0 at Maine Road in the sixth round, the Blues then repeated the feat at Goodison Park in the replay in front of more than 60,000 fans.
That meant a replay on neutral territory but Joe Mercer’s side ultimately went down 2-0 at Molinuex on April 4, 1966, though City did win promotion back to the top flight just six weeks later.
Goals from current coach Brian Kidd and another from Dave Watson gave Tony Book’s City a vital 2-1 win over Ipswich Town on April 2 1977 as their bid to win the title gathered pace, but the Blues would eventually finish just one point behind champions Liverpool.
With City desperate for a victory in their bid to escape relegation, the surprise 2-0 win at West Brom courtesy of Kevin Reeves and David Cross goals meant the table published at 5pm on April 2 1983 looked a little healthier.
However, just two days later, a 4-0 home thrashing by Liverpool on Easter Monday quickly dissipated the feel-good factor around Maine Road!
April 4 1992 saw the Blues beat leaders Leeds United 4-0 thanks to goals from Andy Hill, Mike Sheron, Niall Quinn and Mark Brennan also helping second-placed Manchester United - but Leeds still won the title by four points...
On April 3 1999, Terry Cooke capitalised on a Roy Carroll error to slide the ball home from a tight angle in the vital Division Two promotion clash with Wigan Athletic and give City a 1-0 win. A month later the Blues would knock the same team out of the play-offs with a 2-1 aggregate victory.
Finally, on March 30 2002, a Darren Huckerby hat-trick saw off Nottingham Forest in a 3-0 Maine Road victory for Kevin Keegan’s team. Promotion was all-but rubber-stamped when Shaun Wright-Phillips scored both goals in a 2-0 win at Wolves just three days later.
