August–December

Cardiff's opening game of the season was a South Wales derby against Swansea Town on 30 August 1930. Ralph Williams, Cardiff's top goalscorer the previous season, scored his first goal of the new campaign after 15 minutes before Swansea answered with three goals to take control of the game. Williams added a second goal late on but Swansea held on to win 3–2.^[8] The defeat proved to be the start of a five-game losing streak that began the campaign; in their following four matches, Cardiff conceded thirteen goals and scored only four in reply. They claimed their first point of the season in their sixth match on 17 September, securing a 1–1 draw with Everton with Williams scoring his side's goal. A draw with Bradford City followed three days later before Cardiff secured their first win of the season by beating Plymouth Argyle 4–1 on 22 September. Both Walter Robbins and Len Davies scored their first goals of the campaign, the former with a brace.^[9]

Davies would appear in two further matches, a defeat against Charlton Athletic on 27 September and a victory over Barnsley a week later before appendicitis ruled him out for more than four months.^[6][9] The latter fixture also ended Emlyn John's season when he suffered a broken ankle in a collision with an opposition player; the injury left Cardiff with ten players out injured during the early part of the campaign.^[10] Cardiff gained only one further point in October, during a 1–1 draw against Nottingham Forest, but began November positively by winning consecutive matches against Southampton and Reading. The latter victory saw Robbins score his second brace of the season while recent arrival Albert Valentine scored his first goals for the club as Cardiff ran out 5–0 winners. The side scored only once in their next three matches, defeats against Stoke City, Bradford and Wolverhampton Wanderers. On 6 December, Robbins scored the side's first league hat-trick of the season in a 4–4 draw with Millwall. Although they suffered a heavy 7–0 defeat to Preston North End a week later, Cardiff again scored four on 20 December, defeating Burnley with Robbins adding another brace.^[9]

Williams made his first appearance since October on 26 December but his goal proved to be a consolation as Cardiff lost 5–1 in the return fixture against Plymouth. Cardiff's last fixture of the calendar year was the second South Wales derby of the season. Leslie Jones scored the only goal of the game as Cardiff defeated their local rivals for the first time in the Football League.^[8][9]

January–May

Due to a clash with FA Cup fixtures, Cardiff played only three matches in January losing two and winning one. In the first defeat, a 3–2 loss against West Bromwich Albion, new signing Jimmy McCambridge scored a brace on his debut having arrived the day before from Everton,^[9][11] but was unable to stop his side suffering defeat. Their only victory came in a 2–1 defeat of Port Vale at Ninian Park on 17 January as Robbins scored a brace. Their last match in January, a 2–0 defeat to Charlton, proved to be the start of a low-scoring run as the team scored only 8 times in their final 17 league matches. McCambridge added his third goal of the campaign in a 2–1 loss to Bradford City on 4 February before the team failed to score in three consecutive matches, losing to Barnsley and Bristol City before drawing with Oldham Athletic.^[9]

Davies added his second of the season after returning from his appendicitis issues in a 3–1 defeat to Nottingham Forest on 28 February, while March opened with further defeats to Southampton and Reading. Cardiff broke an eight-match winless run on 21 March by beating Stoke 3–2 on 21 March with McCambridge scoring a hat-trick. He added a brace just over a week later in a 2–2 draw with Tottenham Hotspur but this proved to be the side's last goals until the final game of the season as they failed to score in five consecutive matches, drawing three and losing two. Their final game of the campaign ended in a 3–1 defeat to Bury as Cardiff ended the season having won only 1 of their final 17 fixtures. They finished bottom of the Second Division having scored the fewest goals in the league and were subsequently relegated to the Third Division South.^[9][12][13]

Partial league table

Match results

Key

Results^[9][14]

FA Cup

Cardiff entered the FA Cup in the third round and were drawn against Third Division South side Brentford. The first match took place on 10 January at the opposition's Griffin Park and ended in a 2–2 draw with Jones and Valentine scoring for Cardiff. As a result, the two sides met again four days later in a replay at Ninian Park. Robbins scored for Cardiff but his side fell to a 2–1 defeat and were eliminated from the competition.^[9]

Welsh Cup

The Welsh Cup final the previous season had ended in a goalless draw between Cardiff and Rhyl. Unusually, the Football Association of Wales (FAW) did not host a replay of the final until October 1930, three months into the following season. On 8 October, Cardiff met Rhyl in a replay and won the match 4–2 following a hat-trick from Davies and one goal by Jones.^[9][15]

Cardiff entered the 1930–31 Welsh Cup in the third round where they were drawn against Barry Town on 4 March 1931. Cardiff proved too strong for their opponents despite fielding several reserve players, winning the match 7–3 with braces from Matt Robinson, Davies and Bill Merry and one from George Emmerson. For the 1930–31 season, the (FAW) had allowed English club's located near the Wales-England border to compete in the competition for the first time. Cardiff were drawn against English side Chester in the sixth round, winning 1–0 following a goal by McCambridge. However, in the semi-final Cardiff were eliminated by English opposition after losing 1–0 to Shrewsbury Town.^[9][12]

Player statistics