NEWCASTLE UNITED 1 CITY 3
FA Cup 4th Round
29th January 1977
attendance 45,300
scorers
City Craig(33 og), Royle(44), Owen(54)
Newcastle Gowling(41)
Ref Mr P Reeves
City Corrigan, Clements, Donachie, Doyle, Watson, Power, Owen, Kidd, Royle, Hartford, Tueart – sub Barnes(unused)
Newcastle Mahoney, Nattrass, Kennedy, Cassidy, McCaffery, Nulty, Barrowclough, Cannell, Burns, Gowling, Clark – sub Hudson
FROM THE PRESS BOX
PATRICK BARCLAY WRITING IN THE TIMES 31ST JANUARY 1977
The fearsome juggernaut of Manchester City brushed aside another road block at Newcastle on Saturday. For several weeks City have been combining the courage and esprit de corps of the underdog with the assurance of the favourite, going 14 matches without defeat and ironing the wrinkles from Tony Book’s brow. “This is what we have been working towards,” he said, “I’m beginning to fancy us now.”
The new City are a showcase for the pragmatic school of English League football. They are very good at the things demanded by their England coach, Bill Taylor, getting behind the ball, denying opponents space, not lightly conceding possession and attacking swiftly and in numbers when the occasion is right.
Unfortunately City have other features in common with recent trophy-laden teams of Leeds United and Liverpool. They have much of the cynicism of Don Revie’s Leeds, nudging, body-checking, chattering to the referee, and like Liverpool, another side who leave little to chance, they tend eschew flair.
Gordon Lee’s Newcastle, if it is not too early to write their obituary, have flair, much of it in the shape of Tommy Craig, and the injury which put him out of Saturday’s match did not help their chances. Nor did the icy pitch, which made the midfield a test of courage. No one wins a test of courage against Hartford, and company in their present mood.
Even in the early stages, when Barrowclough was denied a penalty, and a clever shot by Burns dipped a split-second too late, it appeared that it would not be Newcastle’s day. The feeling was reinforced after 33 minutes when Power took a pass from Tueart, made for the by-line, slipped the ball back, then leapt with delight as David Craig turned it into his own net. Gowling, who battled bravely against the commanding Watson and Doyle, equalised with a superb header in the 41st minute, but three minutes later a fine save by Mahoney from Doyle was rendered pointless as Royle drove home the rebound.
It sometimes seems that every time the Newcastle goalkeeper parries the ball an opponent is there, unmarked to take advantage; and poor Mahoney’s curse returned in the 54th minute when he blocked a stinging shot from Kidd and Owen scored easily. All three City goals had come from the left side, mirroring the crucial contributions in that area of the irrepressible Power and Tueart.