Days gone by | Bluebirds’ Birmingham superstars

Cardiff City travel to St. Andrew's on Tuesday night, as they take on Birmingham City in the second round of the Carabao Cup.

There have been numerous stand out performances from Bluebirds players against the Blues. We take a look at three players who left their mark against the Midlands team.

Clinical Chisholm

Scottish striker Ken Chisholm was a journeyman for much of his career. A former RAF pilot, Chisholm played for the likes of Leeds United, Leicester City and Coventry City before he joined City in 1952. The Bluebirds were embarking on their fifth straight season in Division Two when Chisholm arrived, but there were ambitions for Cyril Spiers’ side to gain promotion back to the top tier.

After a mixed start to the season, City went on to lose only three games out of 20 between September and January, and that propelled them straight into promotion contention. But after a good start, Spiers’ team would only win one game between February and April. With promotion hanging in the balance, Chisholm took matters into his own hands and went on a tremendous goalscoring streak, including a clinical game against Birmingham.

Only three days prior to the fixture at Ninian Park, City suffered a narrow 3-2 defeat to Birmingham, but Chisholm and the rest of the squad had revenge on their mind. The Scot bagged a brace as they romped home to a 3-1 victory. In the run up to the end of the season, Chisholm scored eight goals in eleven games, as he finished as the club’s top scorer in his debut season. The Bluebirds gained promotion on goal difference in the end, and no doubt the goals of Chisholm helped their cause no end.

Brilliant Bobby

While the 1952-53 season was a great success story, the same cannot be said of the 1966-67 season. City were looking down the barrel and were involved in a real relegation scrap at the bottom of Division Two. Having lost to bottom of the table Bury a few weeks earlier, a game against Birmingham City was a must win if the Bluebirds had any chance of staying up.

The shining light in the team was forward Bobby Brown. Brown was the top scorer so far during the season, and if City were to pull away from danger, the onus was on the striker to score the goals to keep them up.

In front of over 12,000 fans, Brown dragged his side to an emphatic 3-0 win. His double along with a goal for Barrie Jones secured a valuable three points for City. Even though Jimmy Scoular’s side lost the final game against Huddersfield Town, his team survived the drop by three points. That result against Birmingham practically kept the Bluebirds in the second tier, and Brown’s goals in that game and throughout the season were incredibly valuable.

Wicked Wilson

In more recent times, one performance at St. Andrew's springs straight up to the minds of Bluebirds fans, and that was Harry Wilson’s spectacular display.

During a COVID hit season, Mick McCarthy had dragged his City side to challenge for a play-off place. As the games went on, it looked like the Bluebirds would just miss out on the season finale, but that didn’t deter the players from wanting to put on a show, epitomised by Wilson’s electric display away from home on the penultimate day.

It only took nine minutes for the winger to open the scoring, as he spotted Blues keeper Zach Jeacock off his line and proceeded to conjure up a magical curling effort into the far corner. Five minutes before the break he had his second. This time it was a trademark free kick that he bent expertly round the wall and into the back of the net. He would have to wait until the 86th minute for his hat-trick, but he claimed it in style with yet another spellbinding free kick. Mark Harris was also on the scoresheet as the Bluebirds secured a 4-0 win on the road.

Who will be the next Bluebird to produce a magical display on the St. Andrew's pitch?