CITY 4 MIDDLESBROUGH 0
League Division 1
13th September 1975
attendance 30,353
scorers Royle(10), Marsh(27 & 44), Tueart(73)
Ref F Gray
City Corrigan, Clements, Donachie, Doyle, Watson, Oakes, Hartford, Bell, Royle, Marsh, Tueart – sub Power(unused)
Middlesbrough Platt, Craggs, Cooper, Sounness, Boam, Maddren, Murdoch, Mills, Hickton, Willey – sub Foggon(34)
RODNEY MARSH SCORES THE SECOND OF HIS BRACE
FROM THE PRESS BOX
TWO GOAL MARSH REBUKED BY COACH
PAUL WILCOX WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN 15TH SEPTEMBER 1975
Rodney Marsh could be forgiven for looking a bit put out by the fist-waving and the caustic words aimed at him by City’s coach, Ian MacFarlane, a couple of minutes from the end of the match at Maine Road. MacFarlane was also entitled to feel justified in his tirade, for if Manchester City had really tried on Saturday Middlesbrough might have gone under by eight or nine goals.
All right, four without reply is a comprehensive enough victory, and not one City supporter could have left the ground anything other than well satisfied at the way that Marsh’s brilliance topped a team performance which produced some scintillating attacking football. But double that margin as it could have been, would have produced a truer reflection of City’s class and superiority. MacFarlane’s displeasure at too much relaxation was a welcome sign that the attitude of settling for less than the best is not going to be tolerated.
Not that Marsh was solely to blame for losing concentration in a match that was won by half time: two other players also receive tongue lashings for reducing their endeavour. The verbal assault on City’s captain was most noticeable because Marsh had been instrumental in the total eclipse of Middlesbrough.
His arrogant individuality brought him two superb goals in a display that again stamped him as arguably the game’s greatest entertainer when he is in the mood. The fact that he can also be the most infuriating has to be accepted if the gems he produced on Saturday are not to be left unmined.
The full range of Marsh’s talents was exposed in a first half that wrecked Middlesbrough. His subtleties, cheekiness, deft flicks, and perfect passing, combined to show the Weirsiders as a bunch of predictable dullards who, but for Platt’s vigilance would have had more cause to rue the appalling frailties of their so called defence.
Royle headed the first goal in the tenth minute, and the stage was set for Marsh’s magic tricks. In the 27th minute he coolly assessed a lob into the net by way of the far post, and just before the interval, his precise long pass to Tueart began a move which ended with a delightful flick that had Platt stranded.
Middlesbrough’s desperation could be gauged by Willey’s substitution just after the half hour, but the only time their forwards were any sort of chances was in the period of City’s soft pedaling. By that time, however, Tueart had increased the margin, and Corrigan dealt so confidently with a couple of Mills’ bombs that Middlesbrough, and perhaps Marsh, were the only ones to go home shell shocked.
