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Saturday, October 25, 2008, 09:00
They began and ended their post-war sequence on this date with defeats to Wolves in 1946 and Rotherham in 2002.
But in between we see City winning six and drawing two of their eight league and cup fixtures on this date.
And seeing as those two draws came at Manchester United and Chelsea, we can safely conclude that Stoke head to Manchester City this weekend with the calendar firmly in their corner.
Stoke were taken to the cleaners by Wolves immediately after the war in a 3-0 drubbing at the Victoria Ground in 1946.
But City were in scintillating form on October 26, 1957 when a 5-1 hammering of Ipswich left the home faithful lauding the goalscoring efforts of Harry Oscroft and George Kelly.
Five years later, Stoke were pocketing their customary three points off West Brom after returning from The Hawthorns clutching a narrow 3-2 win, courtesy of Peter Dobing, Calvin Palmer and John Ritchie.
Stoke continued their winning ways in 1968 when the visit of Chelsea ended in a 2-0 triumph after goals from David Herd and Dobing.
Stoke's endeavours on October 26, 1971 were in the League Cup as a goalless draw at Manchester United came at the start of a trilogy of cup ties before City eventually won the fourth-round tie en route to Wembley.
Stoke collided with Chelsea in 1974 when the two clubs shared a six-goal thriller at Stamford Bridge in which Jimmy Greenhoff, Sean Haslegrave and Jimmy Robertson hit the net for the visitors.
A second round, second leg League Cup tie saw Stoke and October 26 meet again, this time in 1983 when Brendan O'Callaghan and Robbie James were their scorers at Peterborough in a 2-1 win on the night and on aggregate.
Stoke were down in Division Three by the time they met Leyton Orient and safely disposed of the Londoners 2-0 at the Victoria Ground in 1991 thanks to goals from Wayne Biggins and Ian Cranson.
Stoke's fine record on this date continued apace five years later as Gerry McMahon netted either side of a Mike Sheron strike to complete a 3-1 home victory over Portsmouth.
We'll gloss over events at Rotherham in 2002 when managerless City – Steve Cotterill had recently hot-footed it to Sunderland – were swept away 4-0 at Millmoor.
1946: Stoke 0, Wolves 3
1958: Stoke 5, Ipswich 1.
1963: West Brom 2, Stoke 3
1968: Stoke 2, Chelsea 0
1971: Man United 0, Stoke 0
1974: Chelsea 3, Stoke 3
1983: Peterborough 1, Stoke 2
1991: Stoke 2, Leyton Orient 0
1996: Stoke 3, Portsmouth 1
2002: Rotherham 4, Stoke 0
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