MANCHESTER UNITED 3 CITY 0
FA Cup 4th Round
24th January 1970
attendance 63,417
scorers (45 pen), Kidd(47 & 65)
Ref D Smith
City Mulhearn, Book, Pardoe, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Lee, Young, Bowyer – sub Towers(52)
United Stepney, Edwards, Burns, Ure, Sadler, Morgan, Crerand, Sartori, Charlton, Kidd, Aston – sub Brennan
FROM THE PRESS BOX
City’s reign as champions of Manchester was terminated abruptly on Saturday by the best organised insurrection that Old Trafford has seen in years. United won 3-0 in their FA Challenge Cup fourth round match. and thus received generous compensation for their maltreatment by City this season.
As the customers left the ground, the question was posed “Oo d’yer fink played well fer the Reds, eh Joe?” And from the depths of Joe’s; tormented soul came the reply. “City did. The whole lot of ’em” Good for a laugh maybe, but still the most rational assessment of the weekend. United deserved to win, make no mistake on that score. City were shocking. and make no mistake on that one either.
A month ago, United made changes in a triumphant team for their League Cup semi-final second meeting with Clty, and they paid lor their folly. City committed an equally inexplicable error of judgement on Saturday by including Book who had been fighting for fitness all week. The news that he passed a late test might have been aimed at boosting the confidence of City players and supporters, but the aim was Wide. Or was it all bluff?
Not that Book let the side down. More to the point, he did nothing to lift it up as he has done so often. City obviously had suspicions about their captain‘s staying power, and whenever the ball went near him, City offered him assistance they could not afford. An experienced, destructive wingman would have harried Book out of sight. Unless the decision on play were his alone, Book was entitled to sympathy.
The chief reason for City’s defeat nevertheless was the collective indolence of their forwards, Bell emphatlcally not excepted. No use bellyachlng about not having the ball to play with. Nothing in the rules prohibits anybody from trying to get it. Lee was effective when he moved to the right wing after Summerbee’s departure with a leg lnjury,. which did little to conceal City’s wretched performance. In fact.it provided access to young Towers who hit a post with the only reputable shot City mustered.The magnificent Oakes, and to a lesser extent Booth, saved City from bigger disgrace.
You know, lt’s a funny thing, but there actually were some people who believed that with Law, Stiles, Best, and Fltzpatrick out of circulation, United would fall apart. Best and the Law of other days would not have wasted Saturday’s opening, but they could not have wrought more devastation than did Kidd. Sir Alf Ramsey was among those present, and must have enlarged his dossiers on Oakes and Kidd, both of whom deserve to go to Mexico at England’s expense.
Sartori’s enthusiasm has made a great Impact on United’s output, while Sadler improves all the time ln a defence which has won back its former discipline and resolution. Ure and Crerand can afford to smile Morgan gave United the lead with a penalty after Pardoe very obviously had tripped Charlton two minutes before half time. Seven minutes after the restart, Kidd beat Booth in the chase, and scored a fine goal. In the sixty fourth minute. a City free kick was cleared, and Kidd found himself in possession near the halfway line. Book and Oakes pursued hlm hopelessly, and Mulhearn advanced hopefully, but Kidd lobbed the ball brilliantly over the goalkeeper’s head. He had destroyed Clty as pitilessly as he had destroyed Arsenal.
No doubt this means a “crisis week” for dear old City. lt won’t be the first and City will get over It all right, more quickly perhaps with less phoney psychology, less training and less careless talk.
ERIC TODD WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN 26TH JANUARY 1969
