This weekend’s Emirates FA Cup third-round clash will mark just the 12th time these two sides have faced each other in league or cup competitions.
To find the first of our previous 11 encounters, you have to go back all the way to the 1968/69 season where City were drawn at home against The Owls in the second round of the League Cup.
Having overcome Plymouth Argyle in the first round, City lined up at the Park against a side that had just beaten the then European Champions Manchester United in a 5-4 thriller at Hillsborough.
As a result, City were not hugely fancied to beat Wednesday in their first ever meeting, but a vintage display - with goals from Dermot Curtis, John Corr, and Peter Bullock - saw The Grecians win the tie 3-1 and book a match-up with Tottenham Hotspur the next round.
Nearly 10 years then passed before the sides met again - this time on City’s promotion to the old Division Three - and between 1977 and 1980 the sides played home and away each season with City winning three, drawing two, and losing just one of these annual home and away encounters.
Sadly, Wednesday's promotion to Division Two in the Spring of 1980 meant that it would be another two decades before the teams played again, but for City fans it turned out to be worth the wait.
Once again, Sheffield Wednesday proved to be opponents for some classic encounters, and on meeting for the first time in twenty years, City demolished Wednesday as we ran out 5-1 winners at St James Park, courtesy of a Jamie Cureton brace and goals from Liam Sercombe, Scott Goldbourne, and John O’Flynn.
Whilst that match proved to be the perfect way to reacquaint ourselves with the Yorkshire giants, it is perhaps the next game that sticks in the memory of City fans more than any other, as Troy Archibald’s incredible last-minute solo-goal helped Paul Tisdale’s side to eighth in the table and match the club’s highest ever finish in the English Football League.
In all, despite the infrequency of our meetings and the illustrious history of our opponents, it is City who have the edge in terms of results with seven wins, one draw, and three defeats. In terms of goals it is 20 scored and 14 conceded and so if the past – and a 3.4 goals-per-game average - is anything to go by, we should be in for an exciting game at the Park this weekend.