CITY 2 PLYMOUTH ARGYLE 1
League Division 2
15th August 1987
attendance 20,046
scorers
City Stewart(82), Varadi(89)
Plymouth Law(36)
Ref A Seville
City Nixon, Gidman, Hinchcliffe, Clements, I Brightwell, Redmond, White, Stewart, Varadi, Scott, McNab – subs Simpson(76), Adcock(80)
Plymouth Cherry, Brimacombe, L Cooper, Smith, Law, Matthews, Furphy, Coughlin, Tynan, Evans, Summerfield – used subs S Cooper, Uzzell
PAUL STEWART AND IMRE VARADI ARE THE GOALSCORERS IN CITY’S SEASON OPENING WIN
FROM THE PRESS BOX
PETER GARDNER WRITING IN THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS FOOTBALL PINK FINAL 15TH AUGUST 1987
Nicky Law destroyed Manchester City’s bold and buccaneering start to the season when he headed Plymouth Argyle into a 35th minute lead as the new campaign kicked off in fast and furious fashion at Maine Road today.
City had earlier set a cracking pace, with the crowd responding to a blend of exciting football. But City, despite their aggression, failedto find a pay-off punch, although Paul Stewart, Imre Varadi and Ian Scott all went close.
City’s brave young lions tore into the opposition from the outset, with a near 20,000 crowd instantly responding to their exuberance and attacking endeavour.
Brimful of confidence the boy Blues gave Argyle a torrid time, with crosses accurate whipped to the centre from both flanks.
As early as the first minute Stewart headed over as he climbed majestically to reach a Gidman cross. Two minutes later, Varadi smoothly slipped through on his own only to see Cherry bravely blocking a fierce attempt from 10 yards out.
… In the 8th minute, City’s other young debutant Scott burst through to finish with a crisp angled drive, with Cherry desperately scurrying across his line to cover the ball as it skidded inches wide of a post.
… The crowd was loving every minute as the feast of attacking football continued. City were setting a fierce and unrelenting pace and there was little Plymouth could do to stem the tide.
… When Plymouth eventually forced a way forward it was an error by McNab that provided them with their first genuine shooting opportunity. Summerfield… shot hurriedly and Nixon saved on his knees.
… Argyle found greater confidence and composure after half an hour when they started to give the City defence a more severe going over.
In the 32nd minute Varadi was shown the season’s first yellow card for City following a foul on Summerfield and three minutes later City were caught napping as Argyle raced into the lead.
A Matthews corner on the left found Law beyond the far post and the big defender came in powerfully to drive a header into the far bottom corner of the net.
Half-time: Manchester City 0, Plymouth Argyle 1
… In the 52nd minute City were almost caught out again with Tynan connecting with a left flanking cross which Nixon held safely.
Stewart missed a glorious chance that would have put City level after 66 minutes. The striker cut in at top speed from the right only to finish with a thundering shot that crashed into the side netting when it would have seemed easier to score.
In a desperate last throw of the dice, Adcock replaced Scott for the final 10 minutes. And the substitution quickly paid off, Adcock playing the ball into Simson, whose shot enabled Stewart to score.
Simpson then followed up with a cracking drive that cannoned back off the crossbar.
… In a sensational finish Varadi won the match for City in the 90th minute after fine work by Adcock.