And then there was one. Chelsea and Bristol City started the day as the only unbeaten sides in the top five tiers of English football. The only sides capable of joining The Invincibles – Preston North End, in the 1888-89 season, and Arsenal, in 2003-04.
At the end of the day, only Chelsea remained. City lost to a late goal in an often feisty West Country derby with Swindon Town and their chance of immortality had gone.
Mind you, had they avoided defeat at the County Ground, they would still have had another 29 games to safely negotiate. That would have been unlikely.
As it was, City’s loss was tinged with not regret but bitterness and controversy – at the fact of having to play for 87 minutes, plus stoppage time, with only ten men.
Even the real Invincibles might not have managed to survive that.
The City captain, Wade Elliott, saw red in only the third minute when he tangled with Swindon’s midfielder Jack Stephens. After exchanging sly digs, Elliott appeared to flick his head backwards into the face of Stephens, who fell to the floor.
As Stephens received treatment, the referee, Darren Drysdale, took advice from Lee Swabey, his assistant, and dismissed Elliott.
“The sending off was an absolute disgrace,” the City manager, Steve Cotterill, said. “I didn’t see it but I’ve looked at it four times on a laptop. Stephens pulls back Wade by the shoulders. We will appeal 100%. We have to.
“But that [incident] probably only enhanced what I already knew about my players. After our first defeat, I can speak only positively about them.
“They are a real honest bunch of lads, I’m really proud of them. I know they’re hurting and they just feel that they’ve suffered a big injustice. Wade certainly feels that way.”
As natural in many a derby dust-up, the rival manager viewed it differently. “I’ve not seen the sending off yet,” Swindon’s Mark Cooper said. “But my players said it was a backwards head-butt.”
Butt or not, the Elliott-Stephens confrontation ignited the flames– and a couple of smoke bombs were thrown on to the pitch from the Stratton Bank stand, which housed the City fans.
Once the red mist and smoke had cleared, a game emerged. Not in the first half, as City adjusted to their numerical disadvantage, but certainly after the interval.
The League One leaders City were actually boasting a 22-match undefeated League One sequence – going back to last season – and were doing their damnedest to protect it.
But Swindon, with an average age of just under 22, showed youthful exuberance in abundance. Nathan Byrne thumped a 25-yarder on to the crossbar and the City keeper Frank Fielding saved superbly from a Stephens piledriver.
With 12 minutes remaining, the dam broke. Michael Smith went on a slaloming, mesmerising run deep inside the City area before poking the ball home past Fielding for his 12th goal of the season to seal a win that lifted them to second place.
And that was that. City’s aura of invincibility was over. Chelsea now have a clear run to share the glory with Preston and Arsenal.
