CITY 1 BRIGHTON AND HOVE ALBION 1
League Division 1
18th December 1982
attendance 20,615
Scorers
City Bond(42)
Brighton Ritchie(50)
Ref Vic Callow
City Corrigan, Ranson, McDonald, Bond, Power, Caton, Tueart, Reeves, Cross, Hartford, Bodak – sub May(11)
Brighton Digweed, Ramsay, Nelson, Grealish, Foster, Stevens, Case, Ritchie, Robinson, Ward, Gatting – sub Ryan(unused)
FROM THE PRESS BOX
ALL BARK – NO BITE
PATRICK BARCLAY WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN 20TH DECEMBER 1982
There were days when teams used to travel to Maine Road in fear of a beating. Now the main danger is a dog-bite.
On Saturday. for the second time in a month, a match there was held up for several minutes by a dog, which escaped the attentions of police, players and groundstaff armed with a net before disappearing into the Kippax. It was loudly cheered for despite not finding the net, it twice directed efforts against the foot of a post. Bearing in mind City’s financial problems, someone asked if this was the
oflicial retriever, after which we tried to concentrate on the football, which was difiicult because of constant interruptions due to inadequate technique and refereeing.
In fairness there have been worse matches, and Brighton in particular worked hard to make it a better one. The fruits of their more positive policy had already been plucked, with four points and as many goals in two matches, although they will appreciate that a draw at City is not the achievement it once was.
Brighton might well have won, however. for after losing a goal to Bond a minute before half-time they retaliated through Ritchie and finished the stronger side with the former Manchester United striker missing a chance to score a home-town winner. The idea of using three main strikers, Ritchie, Robinson, and Ward, worked well. although the absence of a winger’s service was always
conspicuous.
City had a winger, Bodak, making a reasonably promising first appearance on loan from Old Trafiord. But he was handicapped by the loss of Cross, the player most likely to benefit from his service. The tall striker went off after an early collision with Foster, who for
the rest of the afternoon blunted City’s aerial attacks with the monotonous regularity of their conception.