CITY 4 IPSWICH TOWN 0
League Division 2
11th February 1989
attendance 22,145
Scorers Gayle(16), Biggins(34 & 85), Morley(87)
Ref Steve Lodge
City Dibble, Lake, Taggart, Gayle, Megson, Redmond, White, Gleghorn, Morley, McNab, Biggins – subs Moulden(unused), Bradshaw(unused)
Ipswich Fearon, Yallop, Harbey, Hill, Redford, Linighan, Kiwomya, Dozzell, Wark, Atkinson, Baltacha – subs Juryeff(65), Milton(unused)
FROM THE PRESS BOX
JAMES LAWTON WRITING IN THE SUNDAY INDEPENDANT (DUBLIN) 12TH FEBRUARY 1989
It was a cruel week for the image of football but here at the top of the Second Division was a nugget of Hope.
Manchester, the old capital of the English game, indeed still had two teams committed to reviving the old concept of a game of grace and speed.
The young City team simply refused to dwindle in the shadow of reviving Manchester United and long before the end of the superbly coherent and intelligent performance their recent Cup humiliation at Brentford was a discarded memory.
Also pushed aside, for a while at least in the thrilling fluency of City’s efforts was Brian Clough’s Derisory punishment for punching fans and a numbing fact of Vinnie Jones continued licence to make a mockery of the game’s best values.
Here at least was football honest in execution and quite sweeping in its ambition.
The one sadness was that the creative force behind City’s win, Scottish midfielder Neil McNab faces another suspension after reacting to the close attention of Ipswich spoiler David Hill. His retaliatory swipe brought a yellow card that carries him past the 30 point total that means he will miss homes games against Plymouth and West Brom.
However, McNab Marked his exit with a glorious flourish, sending through a series of biting through balls, and his link up with David White in the 85th minute finally crushed Ipswich. Wayne Biggins scored his second goal to make it 3-0 after McNab’s move completely exposed the Ipswich defence.
Ipswich, for whom Dalian Atkinson played with style and poise up front, were much better than the score suggests. But City had too much Pace and too many options. Brian Gayle gave them the lead in the 16th minute, and Trevor Morley formally ended the contest with just three minutes to go. It left City five points clear in the promotion zone.
If they can survive the absence of McNab and goalkeeper Andy Dibble continues to restore himself after a nightmarish introduction to International Football for Wales in Tel Aviv, City Should make it back to the First Division.
They are young and have style. This may still leave them Manchester’s ‘other team’ but this, thankfully Is for the moment no reason not to cherish them.
The old town is lifting the jaded spirits of a battered game.
