Our semi-final at Wembley against Barnsley on Sunday will be the fourth occasion in our history that we have played in the penultimate round of the competition. On March 19^th 1921, near the end of our first season as a Football League club, we played fellow Second Division side Wolverhampton Wanderers at Anfield.

It was a 0-0 draw in front of a 41,892 attendance that included King George V and Queen Mary who saw the second half following their visit to The Grand National at Aintree. The replay took place four days later at Old Trafford when 44,864 were present, and we lost 3-1.

Four years later, on March 28^th 1925, we were again in semi-final action, this time against Blackburn Rovers. The venue was, surprisingly, Notts County's Meadow Lane ground, and just 20,000 were present to see us gain a comfortable 3-1 victory after we had taken a first-half 3-0 lead. We went on to lose 1-0 against Sheffield United in the Final.

Our third semi-final appearance was on March 26^th 1927 when we faced Second Division side Reading at Wolverhampton. We easily won 3-0 in front of 39,476 and went on to beat Arsenal 1-0 in the Final. North-Easterner Harry Wake scored in the semi-final, and he was looking forward to the Final and the chance to atone for his 1925 error when his mistake resulted in Sheffield United's winner.

But seven days before the 1927 Final, Wake sustained a blow to his kidneys in our 3-2 home win over Sheffield Wednesday, an injury that cost him his Wembley place which was taken by locally-born Ernie Curtis.