CITY 1 COVENTRY CITY 3
FA Cup 4th Round
23rd January 1982
Attendance 31,276
Scorers
City Bond (75 pen)
Coventry Bodak(89), Hunt(2), Hateley(23)
ref George Courtney
City Corrigan, Gow, McDonald, Reid, Bond, Caton, Hutchison, Reeves, Francis, Hartford, Power – sub Kinsey(45)
Coventry Blyth, Hormantschuk, Barnes, Thomas, Dyson, Gillespie, Bodak, Daly, Thompson, Hateley, Hunt – sub Butterworth(82)
Tommy Hutchison, one-time Coventry hero and, when this FA Cup-tie took place, someone idolised by Manchester City supporters, did the damage with his pre-match comments, according to Coventry’s Gerry Daly. The saga went like this…
THE CLAIM: “Coventry will be really frightened to death as they go into this game;’ said Tommy, “and it’s because of their poor track record at Maine Road:’
THE RESPONSE: “We stuck his comments up on the dressing room wall,” said Daly, “and they certainly helped us to win! Tommy said it was only a matter of sending I I jerseys along, but we proved that our I I jerseys were better than theirs.”
THE LAST WORD: “I don’t regret what I said;’ reiterated the unrepentant ‘Hutch’. “It was a good Cup-tie and we can’t complain about the result”
It must be said that Manchester City contributed greatly to their own downfall. It was generally agreed that the display was the worst for many a day, and manager John Bond made his thoughts known in the programme the following week…
“I’ve searched long and hard through my memories in management and I’m certain that our performance … was the worst show any team has exhibited in my charge. It was a performance full of complacency and some players going back to bad old habits.”
The rot started with Coventry’s first goal. From a corner taken by later-Blue Peter Bodak, the ball was headed down by Gary Gillespie and Joe Corrigan was unable to get at it to clear his lines. It ran loose to Steve Hunt and he cheekily popped it into the net.
Twenty minutes after Hunt’s strike, we were two down, this time Mark Hateley doing the damage. Hunt was the brains behind the move with a long and very precise pass which sent Hateley away to fire in a shot at Corrigan. It appeared to hit a divot, rear up against the giant ‘keeper’s arm, and wend its way into the net.
The City defence was all over the place. The right back position was always very vulnerable that afternoon. Ray Ranson was suspended and his likely successor, John Ryan, was cup tied, so Gerry Gow had been drafted in to fill the breach. The midfielder found himself out of his depth and City pulled him off at the break and put on Steve Kinsey, allowing Nicky Reid to retreat into the back four.
Further disaster overtook the Manchester Blues 13 minutes into the second half Asa Hartford had become increasingly frustrated, both with his own form and with that of the team in general, and his tackling became too much for the referee, George Courtney.
Asa was firstly penalised for a challenge on Garry Thompson but failed to learn from the referee’s wagging finger and repeated the performance on Danny Thomas.
Mr Courtney probably felt he had no option but to send the midfielder off for an early bath.
However, there was a marginal improvement by the home side during the second half, Trevor Francis drawing up the plans for a goal which merely served to raise the hopes of the fans. Trevor was heading for goal and was brought crashing down by the young Coventry defender, Peter Hormantschuk. It was a clear penalty and up stepped Kevin Bond to whack the ball into the net, high up past Jim Blyth’s right hand.
Three gilt-edged chances came our way in the last quarter of an hour but all were tossed away. If any one of these had been accepted, then a replay would have been very much on the cards…
The onslaught died out when a further sloppy goal put the seal on the result. A Coventry clearance found Peter Bodak just inside the Manchester half and he set off on a 40-yard run. Corrigan came out to narrow the angle and Bodak calmly chipped the ball over his shoulder into the far corner.
ADAPTED FROM AN ARTICLE IN THE CITY PROGRAMME 14TH FEBRUARY 1996
Coventry City were given little chance against John Bond’s high flying Manchester City when the draw was made. Dave Sexton’s young Sky Blues were in 16th place in Division 1 and had lost four league games in a row. Manchester City, the previous season’s Wembley losers, had lost only twice in 11 league games and were fourth in the table. Sexton’s kids however pulled off the shock of the round with a comprehensive win highlighted by a sensational third goal.
City’s new signing Gerry Francis, bought to add some experience to the youthful team wasn’t eligible and his place in midfield went to the season’s outstanding player Danny Thomas who was switched from right back and given the task of marking Manchester’s star Asa Hartford. At right back 19-year old Coventry-born Peter Hormantschuk, made his first start for the Sky Blues who lined up with eight players aged 22 or under.
Former Coventry stars Tommy Hutchison and Bobby McDonald were in the home line-up as was England star Trevor Francis a £1.2m signing from Nottingham Forest the previous September. Hutchison had stoked the fires prior to the game with a comment that City’s kids would be “frightened out of their skins” but he was forced to eat humble pie at the end of ninety minutes of thrilling Cup football.
The game was only two minutes old when Steve Hunt put the Sky Blues ahead on a ground where they had lost nine consecutive matches. He was at the far post to score after Paul Dyson had flicked on Peter Bodak’s corner at the near post.
A stroke of luck came City’s way in the 22nd minute. Mark Hateley, who along with his striking partner Garry Thompson was causing serious problems for Caton and Bond. hit a left foot shot at the home goal. The shot lacked power but took a bump and bounced over the outstretched arms of Joe Corrigan. This two-goal cushion suddenly got the confidence flowing through the side.
At half-time Manager Bond brought on substitute Kinsey for Gow allowing Hutchison to switch to the left wing and attack the inexperienced Hormantschuk and two strong tackles on Hutch earned the Coventry kid a booking. In midfield Hartford was getting increasingly frustrated under the close scrutiny of Thomas and he was sent off after bookable offences against Thompson and the nimble Thomas.
The drama continued in the 75th minute when Man City were awarded a penalty after Hormantschuk brought down Francis and Bond drove the ball home from the spot. Suddenly Man City were having their best spell and the Sky Blues were living on their nerves as Thomas limped off to be replaced by 17-year old debutant substitute Ian Butterworth. Within two minutes ‘Butty’ almost hit a sensational goal when his 25yard shot beat Corrigan but bounced back from an upright. With the minutes ticking away Bond missed a sitter and Jim Blyth pulled off a great save from Kinsey’s shot As the Coventry fans whistled for the referee to blow for time the coup de grace came. Butterworth played a short ball to Bodak 10 yards inside the Sky Blues half. Bodak scampered off with four home defenders in pursuit. An experienced player would have headed for the corner flag to kill off some vital seconds. But Bodak had the goal in sight and went for it. Corrigan came off his line and was left clutching thin air as Bodak chipped the ball over him with a touch of arrogance.
Match of the Day cameras caught the action and Bodak’s stunning goal was later voted ‘Goal of the Season’. Coventry went on to thrash Oxford 4-0 in the fifth round before losing 2-0 at West Brom in the quarter finals.
FROM ‘MEMORY MATCH’ IN THE COVENTRY PROGRAMME 19TH SEPTEMBER 2001