This weekend sees only the 13th league meeting between Bristol Rovers and Birmingham City and we will be looking for only our second win against them.
Eight of the previous 12 meetings have been drawn, Birmingham have won three and we have just the one win to our name. Rovers have scored 13 goals, Birmingham 16.
That victory came on 12th January 1980, when Shaun Penny scored the only goal of the game, in front of an Eastville crowd of 9,351, to give Rovers a 1 -0 win.
The first league meetings between the sides, in the 1953/54 season, both ended in 1-1 draws, at Eastville on 17th October 1953 and at St Andrews on 6th March 1954.
The last time we met Birmingham in the league was some 30 years ago, during the 1994/95 season. The match at St Andrews saw Birmingham win 2-0, on 29th October 1994, while the return fixture at Twerton Park on 29th March 1995 ended in another 1-1 draw.
The sides have met on seven occasions in the League Cup, with Birmingham winning six of those ties and Rovers one. Our only win in that competition was back in January 1971 when we were 3-0 winners at Eastville. One of those ties was at The Memorial Stadium on 11th September 2001 when all eyes were on 
the terrorist attacks in America, not on a League Cup tie in Bristol.
The fixture in 2015/16 is the last time the sides met in a competitive game, Birmingham winning 2-1 at The Mem. The previous season had seen the only FA Cup meeting between the two, with Birmingham winning 3-0 at St Andrews on 14th January 2014.
A good many players have turned out for both sides (I’ve managed to count 21 – there may be more). That list includes some familiar names; Dennis Bailey, Stewart Barrowclough, Jake Clarke-Salter, Neil
Etheridge, Robin Stubbs, Will Packwood and Graham Hyde are in there, as is Rovers’ current Director of Football George Friend, who made 46 league appearances for Birmingham and 12 for Rovers.
I can only track down one player who made his Rovers league debut against Birmingham, and that’s Justin Channing who first pulled on a Rovers shirt in our 2-1 defeat at St Andrews on 24th October 1992 when he became the 574th player to make his league bow for the club.
Relegated from The Championship last season, Birmingham are expected to bounce back at the first attempt and their summer spending spree, which included the signing of former Exeter City player Jay Stansfield appears to be paying off.
The striker spent last season on loan at St Andrews, from Fulham, and The Blues paid a fee believed to be worth £20m to secure his services on a permanent basis in the summer. To date he has scored nine goals in 12 league appearances.
The weekend’s fixture is going to be tough as Birmingham currently occupy third place, with 39 points from 17 games while Rovers are in 18th place with 21 points from 18 games.
It’s a match to look forward to, surely, for players and supporters alike; it’s not often you get the opportunity to watch Rovers play in a stadium that regularly hosts crowds in excess of 20,000 for third tier matches. Birmingham are playing at this level for the first time since 1995 and I think it’s fair to say that visiting teams at St Andrews can’t fail to be motivated for games such as this.
Both sides need points, for vastly different reasons, and Rovers will be backed by close on 2,000 travelling supporters hoping to witness our first ever win at St Andrews!
Safe travels to all Gasheads making the journey to see our team in action!
