Bristol City supporters have been making the journey to Watford's Vicarage Road for a December Football League encounter since 1934 – and it has not always been a season to be jolly.

Watford played host to City in a festive encounter for the first time on 29 December 1934 and it was the Robins' who were hungover as they crashed 4-0 at Vicarage Road before a crowd of 8,367. It was City's third away defeat where four goals had been shipped by goalkeeper Bill Dolman, then in his first season at Ashton Gate.

The defeat also brought to an end a fine run during the yuletide month that started with 1-0 wins against Torquay and Brighton respectively and then three successive draws; 3-3 against Cardiff and 1-1 and 2-2 versus Northampton on Christmas Day and Boxing Day.

Up until that point City could look back on six previous League meetings with Watford who had joined the Football League as founding members of Division Three in 1920/21 when their playing strip was black and white stripes. It wasn't until 1959 that the Hornets changed to their now familiar yellow and black attire.

In all that time only one win came City's way. The date was January 22 1927 and although it was openly a 1-0 win, courtesy of a strike from Arthur Rankin, it came during City's Division Three South Championship winning campaign of 1926/27 where they only lost seven matches in a 42-game season and only one of those at home.

The win had completed the double over Watford, who had gone down 5-0 at Ashton Gate in early September.

Before the outbreak of WWII the Robins were triumphant one more time at Vicarage Road and was on the opening day of the 1935/36 season as goals from Joe Bradford and Reg Bungay secured both points. For Joe, it was his only goal for City in just five appearances, while his strike partner Reg returned with figures of three goals in eight Div III South matches in what was their only campaign with the club.

To date, City's best ever performance in the League at Vicarage Road came on March 26 1963 when leading scorer Brian Clark bagged a hat-trick , including one from the spot, as the Robins stung the Hornets 4-1, with Bobby Williams netting the other.

The two clubs met each other in three consecutive seasons in the second tier of English football (today's Championship), beginning with the opening match of the 1969/70 season as a John Galley goal gives City both points at Ashton Gate. In the return match on St Valentines Day 1970 the Hornets were triumphant 2-0 before a crowd of 12,744.

The next two campaigns gave the City faithful something to cheer on their travels to Watford, beginning with a 3-0 victory on March 13 1971 with goals from the G-men; Galley, Gerry Gow and Chris Garland. It was City's final away win of the season as relegation from Div II was narrowly avoided.

The drop happened instead to Watford the following season as goals from that man Galley and Danny Bartley earn the Robins both points in a 2-0 win on March 11 1972 and inflict on the Hornets one of their 11 defeats at home while City notch up their third win on their travels.

City's fall from grace in the early 1980's coincided with Watford's meteoric rise to the top, winning promotion to the top flight in second spot in 1981/82 and then having the audacity to claim second place in Division One the following season, eleven points away from Champions Liverpool.

During the 1990's it became something of a seasonal tradition to play Watford during December, where two draws (0-0 in 1992 and 1-1 in 1997) and a home win (1-0 in 1998) for Watford was as far as the Christmas spirit extended towards City, the latter being played exactly ten years ago next Friday (Boxing Day)

City's last win at Vicarage Road in the League came last season when late strikes from Enoch Showunmi and Darren Byfield on December 1 ended a run of five matches without a win.