The teams competed in the derby twice a year for the first 13 seasons of the Football League, with both sides being founding members, and having never beaten their Black Country rivals, Wolves went on a stunning run during the early league contests, as the old gold were unbeaten in six matches between and The derbies came thick and fast during the first 60 years of the rivalry, with both sides of the Black Country divide enjoying their dominant spells, but it was the gold and black half of the region who were on top following the end of the Second World War.
Up until that point, FA Cup derbies had not been cause for celebration for Wolves, with the old gold having never beaten their bitter rivals in the oldest cup competition in world football, with Albion taking three wins in regular time, while Wolves had drawn twice to force replays β both times at the Hawthorns β before falling in the reverse at Molineux. Yet, that was all to change in February as Wolves hosted Albion in the quarter-finals.
The rivalry reached its peak in the s as both clubs challenged for the English top-flight title as two of the best teams in the country. Wolves enjoyed the better of the league and cup domination for a good deal of the decade, finishing in the top three on nine occasions, while winning the league three times and the FA Cup twice in this period.
But Albion were also a strong side during the decade, as they lifted the FA Cup in That ended a season in which the clubs finished as the top two in the country for the first and only time, as Wolves pipped their Black Country rivals to the league title by finishing four points ahead of the Baggies.
Speaking to wolves. Even though there will be no fans there on Saturday, there will be fans watching and listening, not just in the Black Country, but everywhere around the world, and will mean everything to Wolves and Albion supporters. The s was not a great decade for the Baggies, who fell out of the top division in , but two years before their relegation, they played in the th league derby in West Bromwich, but it was the visitors who came out on top, winning a six-goal thriller with Hugh Curran scoring two superb goals.
