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GOALLESS
GAMES
Of City's 1060 draws so far in the
Football League, 292 have ended goalless.
It took 38 games until the first stalemate came along, and it was in
City's solitary visit to Middlesbrough
Ironopolis on January
13th 1894. It was also goalkeeper William
Gresham's only 0-0 in his City career, with the clean sheet
being the first of three successive shut-outs for the Liverpool-born player.
Over five years would elapse before the next goalless game; Blackpool
the opponents on this occasion at Sincil Bank on March
11th 1899. The draw was the first between City and their seaside
opponents and the first of three 0-0 home outcomes in five meetings
between the two sides whilst the 157 match run is the second longest
such run in the Club's history.
The next two blanks came in successive League matches the following
season (City's last ever match at Burton
Swifts and a home game against New
Brighton Tower), although sandwiched between them was a 1-0
home defeat to Barnsley
in the FA Cup.
Goalless games came at regular intervals over the following five
seasons, including both matches against Chesterfield
in 1904/05,
until a 119-game run, which started and finished against Grimsby
Town saw a spell of almost four and a half years without a
blank. The 0-0
against the Mariners which ended the run saw five players make their
City debuts in what was the opening home game of the 1909/10
season. Three days earlier six players had made their debuts in a 5-0
defeat at Leeds
City!
The two games against Preston
North End in 1912/13
both finished goalless; Tommy
Fern, who was between the sticks for 15 such games, was in goal
for both whilst the next lengthy spell without a shut-out didn't come
until the late 1920s / early 1930s with a 53 match run starting at Nelson
on November
9th 1929 ending at home to Gateshead
on January
17th 1931. It was another 56 matches before the next 0-0 game,
this being against Wrexham
on April
30th 1932.
A 70-game goal scoring run lasting just short of a year and a half
came along in the mid 1930s whilst the post-WW2 period got off to a
goalless start with Hull
City's first ever game at Boothferry Park on August
31st 1946 being both against the Imps and ending 0-0. Billy
Bean and Geoff
Marlow being the only players not to make their City Football
League debut in that match.
That goalless draw was the only one of the 1946/47
season and it was 56 games before the next one came along; this being
at home to Mansfield
Town on November
8th 1947 whilst an 88-game goal scoring run, spanning almost two
years and including the whole of the 1951/52
Division Three North championship winning season, took place between November
11th 1950 (away at Oldham
Athletic) and October
17th 1952 (away at Plymouth
Argyle).
That run had nothing on the one that arrived during the latter half
of the 1950s though as, after the first home game of the 1953/54
campaign against Bury
ended goalless, it was almost five and a half years before the next
blank arrived - a staggering run of 237 matches!
Leyton
Orient were the opponents on February
21st 1959 when the record came to an end, with a crowd of 10,106
witnessing Brian
Wright's debut at Sincil Bank fail to produce a goal at one end
or the other. The run was not only a Club record but a Football
League one with the nearest to it being Everton (206, starting in
1889), Bolton Wanderers (203 from 1889) and West Ham United (188 from 1928).
Aston
Villa, the only side we've met in the Football League and
haven't lost at least once to, were the next side to battle out a 0-0
draw with the Imps and had it not been for a shutout between City and Luton
Town on April
23rd 1966 then a 100-match run would have been achieved for only
the fourth time in the Club's history.
There was at least one 0-0 draw in each of the following 16 seasons
whilst towards the end of the 1979/80
season we saw the only occasion when we drew three successive games
0-0. Eric
McManus was the man between the sticks for the games against Hereford
United (April
5th), Rochdale (April
7th) and Northampton
Town (April
19th). The latter match was the fifth clean sheet in a row for
McManus on what was his final appearance for us. The game was also
the last for City for Aidan
McKenzie and Brendan
Guest.
With the 1982/83
campaign failing to produce a blank it formed part of an 81-match
streak of goal scoring games stretching from February
13th 1982 (at Newport
County) until November
2nd 1983 (home to Bolton
Wanderers) but there were goalless draws galore in 1984/85
with nine blank games coming from the 46 matches. This included the
opening two games of the season (home to Hull
City and away at Rotherham
United) and the last two games of the season (at home to Walsall
and the Bradford
City fire game).
Both games against Chesterfield
(in 1904/05),
Preston
North End (1912/13),
Plymouth
Argyle (1952/53),
Port
Vale & Wrexham (1969/70),
Northampton
Town (1979/80),
Walsall (1984/85),
Hereford
United (1986/87)
and York
City (1989/90)
ended goal-free whilst, of the 107 teams we have shared a 0-0 draw
with, the most have come against Darlington
(10). Hot on their heels are Doncaster
Rovers (nine), Northampton
Town (eight) and Wrexham (eight).
As already mentioned, the most 0-0 games in one season came in 1984/85.
There were eight in 2003/04
and six on a further 11 occasions, the most recent being in 1991/92.
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