Rovers entered the 3rd round of the 2019-20 FA Cup courtesy of their Championship status, on Monday and were among 43 other teams who were coming into the competition, for this campaign at this stage.
The draw for the 3rd round occurred live on the BBC as the 44 sides from the Championship and the Premier League entered the draw, alongside all the 2nd round victors from League 1, League 2 and the rest of the English footballing pyramid.
With the draw seeing the introduction of the mouth-watering ties against the ‘big boys’ from the top tier, Rovers – ball #6 in the draw – were drawn away from home against Championship outfit, Birmingham City, who fell at the first hurdle in the 3rd round of this competition, last season as they were brushed aside by West Ham United, at the Olympic Stadium by a 2-0 scoreline. The clash is set to take place at the St Andrew’s Trillion Trophy Stadium, between the 3rd and 6th of January, with a confirmed date to be set in the near future, along with ticket information.
Rovers and Birmingham are two sides who are well aware of each other, having already locked horns in the Midlands this season, with the home side narrowly coming out on top by a 1-0 scoreline in October, following a first-half header by full-back Maxime Colin. Whilst Rovers are currently on a good run, having not tasted defeat in their last three games, Tony Mowbray, who labelled the Brum game as ‘one of the worst performances of his tenure’ will be hoping that his side could rectify the errors of their league defeat and advance into the next round of the competition.
The second-tier sides do have previous in this competition, with their last tie under the FA Cup banner coming in January 2004. Rovers fans might not want to remember that day, as they saw their side smashed 4-0 by the Blues following a 35-minute delay due to electrical problems at the stadium, which compounded a miserable afternoon for the Lancashire side. As if that wasn’t bad enough, the home side contained Rovers favourites Robbie Savage, Damien Johnson and David Dunn, which was the epitome of ‘adding insult to injury’ for Rovers and their fans. With much changed for both sides over the 15-year period, Rovers will be hoping that they can continue their good form over the Christmas period and get to the 4th round of the competition for the first time since the 2016-17 edition.
