Sunday 30 October 2016 11:56, UK
To the blue side of Birmingham, September 16, 2002 brings back the happiest of memories.
To the other half of the second city, it was a grim Monday evening, a night where just about everything went wrong for Aston Villa fans, their manager Graham Taylor, and their star-crossed goalkeeper Peter Enckelman.
To those outside of Birmingham, it put a ferocious rivalry on the national map.
Birmingham City were led back to the top flight by Steve Bruce after a 16-year absence and faced Aston Villa in only their third home game of the season. The rivalry goes back to the 1870s, and though the decade-and-a-half absence of a league game meant battles on the pitch were rare, no love was lost between the two sides.
It was kept alive by the likes of Paul Tait, the Birmingham City midfielder who revealed a T-shirt with an expletive aimed at Villa after scoring the winner in the 1995 EFL Trophy final at Wembley against Carlisle, and also by Villa's relative failure to push on and cement themselves in English football's top few clubs despite knocking on the door throughout the 1990s.
The clubs were kept close, and when Birmingham finally gained promotion with a penalty shoot-out victory over Norwich in Cardiff, this was the first fixture every fan of both sides looked out for.
Despite going into the game as underdogs, the Blues were 3-0 winners in a game that saw some over-exuberant crowd celebrations and one of the worst goalkeeping mistakes in Premier League history.
The return fixture in March at Villa Park was equally eventful, producing another goalkeeping calamity, more crowd trouble and an infamous Dion Dublin headbutt on Robbie Savage.
Commentator Rob Hawthorne was present both nights with Sky Sports alongside Alan Smith, and despite both growing up in the Midlands, the ferocity was still surprising.
"There was an intense build-up to the first match, and these types of games are quite difficult to prepare for as a commentator," Hawthorne said. "You can research the history right down to every single previous fixture, but you're aware that this particular game is creating history.
"There are certain things that are going to happen that you can't predict and the Enckelman incident was one of them."
"There was a moment where Alan and I looked at each other and thought, 'Did what we think has just happened actually just happen?'
"It was such an innocuous situation. Suddenly, I was faced with thinking, 'Who do I give this goal to?' Eventually it went down as an own goal, but I didn't know who to give the credit to.
"What gave the game away for Enckelman was that he put his hands on his head, even though we weren't 100 per cent sure he touched it, and as Graham Taylor said after the game, we weren't sure Enckelman even knew what the rules were.
"Then there was the idiot who ran on the pitch and gestured to Enckelman, and I'm thinking, 'Should I refer to this? Should I not?' because I don't want to give this guy any publicity."
Smith, born seven miles away from St Andrews, added: "I remember it as being very, very feisty. From a commentator's point of view, you see the throw-in going back to Enckelman, and you're half-turning your head up the field to see what's going on up the pitch.
"Then you hear the crowd, quickly turn back, and see it roll under his foot and into the net. An amazing moment, I couldn't quite believe it.
"The fan ran onto the pitch and teased Enckelman, who kept very cool, I must say."
That night in September went down in folklore among Birmingham fans, and a chant to celebrate the memory to the tune of The Four Seasons' "December 1963 (Oh, What a Night)" was quickly thought up.
"For that period of the early to mid-00s, it was one of the fiercest games I'd covered," Hawthorne said.
"It was a completely mad, mad night. The other goals are almost obliterated by the memory of Enckelman. It was just so bizarre and so unexpected. The goal absolutely floored Villa. It was manic.
"I'd been aware in the build-up that the West Midlands police had put extra numbers out, but it did feel particularly toxic on that September night, especially with the game being at St Andrews.
"I think Birmingham have probably felt they've always been treated as the poor relations of the second city, by the fact that traditionally Villa have been the most successful of the two neighbours."
Six months later, three miles across the city at Villa Park, the return fixture was arguably even more eventful. In another night game in front of the Sky Sports cameras, Birmingham ran out 2-0 winners this time, thanks in part to another shocking error from Enckelman to allow Geoff Horsfield to score at the Holte End.
Dublin was sent off, banned and fined for his heabutt on Savage. Cristophe Dugarry was fined for spitting in the direction of Joey Gudjonsson, who himself was sent off for a nasty two-footed lunge on Matthew Upson.
Dublin branded Savage a cheat, the crowd problems continued with over 40 arrests, while Taylor turned on his heels in his post-match interview with Sky Sports, choosing to do his talking in the dressing room and not to camera.
"Next up in March 2003 at Villa Park, it was just as poisonous," Hawthorne said. "It had everything.The preparation for this game was slightly different. Bearing in mind all the scars left from the September game, you expected all the rough and tumble.
"It was one of those games again where you felt you needed your eyes and ears as much for what was going on off the ball as on the ball. It was one of those games where you needed to be at maximum concentration level. You can't afford to be looking down at your notes all the time.
"People were storming on the pitch, and we had shots on supporters in the stand with their faces covered so they couldn't be traced."
Smith added: "The return game in March was a very hot atmosphere, very lively. It was buzzing that night. Dion Dublin just lost it, just got wound up, and that's what derbies can do to you."
Lee Hendrie, on the bench for the first game, played the full 90 minutes at Villa Park, and remembers the incident with Dublin and Savage well, revealing that he and the former Villa striker still discuss the game.
The Villa fan and former midfielder also insists the 'second city derby' is up there with the fiercest in the country.
"Sav was obviously a wind-up merchant back in his day. I still speak to Dion about it, I know it still winds him up because of the way the situation was and the way he got sent off in such a massive game.
"The derby games stand out a mile for me, especially being a Brummy lad, it's pride of the city. They talk about the Wolves and West Brom games, but this is the big clash.
"You look at the big derbies around, the Manchester derby and others, I still don't think they come close to this."
The two sides have met 14 times since, but on Sunday they face off in the second tier for the first time since 1987, live on Sky Sports 2 HD, where the Birmingham fans will be looking to build on a six-point lead over their rivals.
Just another match? Smith, who played in tens of north London derbies with Arsenal, knows from experience that the atmosphere at a sold-out St Andrews will have an impact on the players.
"Derbies are definitely not just another game. It is a cliche, but derbies are levellers. Form does tend to go out of the window. The atmosphere in the crowd does transmit itself to the players.
"They're the only clubs in Birmingham. Obviously, Birmingham have lived in Villa's shadow in terms of the size of the club and the trophies they've won, so it's always special when Blues win and they don't hesitate to rub it in."
Will they be rubbing it in come 2pm on Sunday? Watch Birmingham City v Aston Villa live on Sky Sports 2 HD from 11.30am.
