MANCHESTER UNITED 1 CITY 1
League Division 1
3rd February 1990
Attendance 40,274
Scorers
City I Brightwell(73)
United Blackmore(70)
Ref Vic Callow
City Dibble, Harper, Hinchcliffe, I Brightwell, Hendry, Redmond, White, Clarke, M Ward, Megson, Lake – Subs J Beckford(81), Fleming(unused)
United Leighton, Anderson, Pallister, Donaghy, Martin, Duxbury, Phelan, Blackmore, Wallace, McClair, Hughes – Subs Beardsmore(11), Robins(85)
CELEBRATIONS AFTER IAN BRIGHTWELL’S SPECTACULAR GOAL
FROM HOWARD KENDALL’S COLUMN PUBLISHED IN THE CITY PROGRAMME 10TH FEBRUARY 1990
My summing up of my first Manchester derby has to be that we missed an opportunity to come away from Old Traflord with three
points.
But when we didn’t take our chances and, suddenly they were in front, l began to think it wasn’t our day. So the fact that we got back into the match and came away with a draw, had to be cause for satisfaction.
And what a goal! Brilliant! I was on the field before Ian Brightwell’s shot hit the back of the net.
Then he went on the television and said ‘I just wellied it!‘ Lovely innocence. I said to him ‘Why didn’t you tell them on TV that you saw the ‘keeper off his line, saw the spot and picked it! That we work on that kind of shot every week!‘
Imagine the coaches down at Lilleshall saying ‘Right, we’re going to practice wellying it now!‘
Seriously, it was a smashing goal, worth the admission money alone. It’s just a shame that so many of our genuine fans only saw it on TV. It was very disappointing that we were allocated so few tickets for the game. Having been used to Merseyside derbies, where you get a great mass of red and white and blue and white whether you’re home or away, it takes something away from the occasion when you only get a small number of your supporters at one end of the ground.
ln many ways it was a typical derby game. Plenty of passion and incident, plenty of opportunity. l don’t think it was the drab derby some people made it out to be. It depends what you expect. I know that a midfield player in a derby game is lucky to get three touches the whole match. If you prefer what we saw on the telly on Sunday, Spurs v Norwich, that’s okay. But there wasn’t a tackle made in the game.
As l said before, we should have won at Old Trafford. But I can’t criticise people for not putting the ball in the net as long as they are getting there and creating the chances.
United had a good spell in the second half, as they were bound to do with the players they have got, and that was when they scored their goal. Naturally, they were on a ‘high’ after that, but not for long! Frankly, it would have been an injustice if we had lost.
l enjoyed the occasion. And the build-up to it. You sense there is something more at stake than usual. After all, you are playing for half the city!
