Leicester City v Manchester City 1977/78

LEICESTER CITY 0 CITY 1

League Division 1

2nd January 1978

attendance 24,041

scorer Owen(70 pen)

City Corrigan, Clements, Donachie, Booth, Watson, Owen, Barnes, Bell, Kidd, Hartford, Palmer – used sub Doyle

Leicester Wallington, Williams, Rofe, Sammells, Sims, Webb, Armstrong, Kelly, Davies, Hughes, Earle – used sub Salmons

‘OUR LAST VISIT’ from the City programme 29th October 1980
Villa could not respond but City still needed to find the killer second. The inevitable finally came in the 67th minute and it was good enough to win Match of the Day‘s coveted ‘Goal of the Month’ award for December. Brian Kidd started the move by collecting the ball around the halfway line. He fed it to Tueart who played it inside to Asa Hartford. Villa were left chasing shadows once again as Hartford fed the ball out wide to Barnes.
The young England winger whipped in a perfect cross and Kidd launched himself full length to plant a tremendous diving header past the Villa ‘keeper It was a fantastic goal and no more than City deserved for their endeavour. There were no further goals and the victory pushed City into fifth position, eight points adrift of leaders Nottingham Forest.
Kelly tried stroking a back pass through his crowded penalty area but instead of finding ‘keeper Wallington the ball rolled to Roger Palmer. The City striker dragged it clear of Wallington and was about to shoot when Kelly blatantly upended him. In the absence of Dennis Tueart, Owen scored from the penalty spot.
City’s defence resisted all Leicester’s first half pressure because peak-form Dave Watson and Tommy Booth covered with so much strength and understanding, Joe Corrigan had very little to do.
Colin Bell, playing in only his third full League game of the season, showed his creative instinct was still intact and produced one spectacular moment before the break when from 20 yards he volleyed a loose ball against the bar. Hard work from Owen and Asa Hartford in the ‘engine room’ was helped by lively attacking from Palmer.