STOKE CITY 1 CITY 3
League Division 1
5th September 1981
Attendance 25,256
Scorers
City Francis(35 & 90), Boyer(65)
Stoke Chapman(62)
Ref L Robinson
City Corrigan, Ranson, McDonald, Reid, Power, Caton, O’Neill, Gow, Francis, Reeves, Hutchison – sub Boyer(54)
Stoke Fox, Evans, Hampton, Dodd, O’Callaghan, Doyle, Griffiths, Heath, Chapman, Bracewell, Maguire – sub Ursem(82)
A better debut could not have been wished for as City’s £1M man Trevor Francis scored two and set up his new team-mate’s third at a packed Victoria Ground.
Francis put City ahead in front of thousand’s of travelling Blues as he left O’Callaghan for dead and easily beat Stoke custodian Peter Fox,
Stoke then pressed hard and got their just rewards when Lee Chapman equalised.
Francis was then the provider when he crossed to sub Phil Boyer who put Man City back in the lead just after the hour. And as Stoke pushed forward the new Kippax hero Francis cracked the ball past Fox in the last minute to crown a great debut.
