Manchester City v Bristol City 1976/77

CITY 2 BRISTOL CITY 1

League Division 1

11th September 1976

attendance 35,891

Scorers
City Tueart(25), Barnes(26)
Bristol City Fear(85)

Ref R Perkin

City Corrigan, Docherty, Donachie, Doyle, Watson, Conway, Barnes, Kidd, Royle, Hartford, Tueart – sub Power(unused)

Bristol City Cashley, Sweeney, Drysdale, Gow, Collier, Merrick, Painton, Ritchie, Mann, Gillies, Whitehead – sub Fear(71)

A GOAL FOR PETER BARNES

FROM THE PRESS BOX

BRISTOL DESTROYED IN ONE MINUTE

ALAN DUNN WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN 13TH SEPTEMBER 1976
Much sweat was spilled for comparatively little reward at Maine Road on Saturday when Manchester City ended Bristol City’s unbeaten reintroduction to the First Division. In the end a corrosive minute’s football from Manchester marked the difference, but for the other 89 the two pounded grittily at each other and Bristol impressed everyone with their honest endeavours.
The minute that mattered was the 25th. Tueart, who had produced a sufficiently dazzling series of dribbles to have pleased Les Coker. Don Revie’s assistant, took up the running from Docherty and swayed out to the right before suddenly cutting in and artfully lobbing the ball over Cashley. Straight from the kick off Barnes, on the other wing, intercepted a Bristol pass and beat Sweeney and Merrick before hitting a low, left-footed shot in off the far post.
The goals were timely for Manchester who were still trying to read the Bristol method, in which Mann worryingly made some solo runs and Gillies once pulled the ball back from the byeline to hit the bar. Three times Painton was thwarted by perfect saves from Corrigan, but these attempts were more than matched by the speed and cunning on the wings of Tueart and Barnes and the midfield grafting of Hartford and Conway, well backed by Doyle and Watson, who had a superb game.
Unhappily, all the City defenders were caught waiting for the whistle when Whitehead, in the 85th minute, rounded Docherty but seemed to have let the ball go over the byeline before centring. Fear scored with the Manchester defence stationary, warning in itself for the UEFA Cup game with Juventus this week.