CITY 0 ARSENAL 3
League Division 1
15th March 1980
attendance 33,792
Scorers Brady(63 pen & 81), Stapleton(79)
ref Peter Willis
City Corrigan, Ranson, Power, Reid, Caton, Booth, Henry, Reeves, Deyna, Tueart, Bennett – sub Robinson(16)
Arsenal Jennings, Devine, Nelson, Talbot, O’Leary, Young, Brady, Sunderland, Stapleton, Price, Rix – sub Gatting(87)
KEVIN REEVES MAKES HIS DEBUT
FROM THE PRESS BOX
BOB RUSSELL WRITING IN THE DAILY MIRROR 17TH MARCH 1980
David O’Leary, Arsenal’s calculating young skipper, reckons it could take £1 million striker Kevin Reeves more than half a season to find his touch with City.
“I rate Kevin among the best in the business,” said O’Leary. “In a struggling side he may need up to six months to adjust and to really start scoring goals.”
More cynical observers might argue that with a debut marked by two misses and a costly penalty trip, the ex-Norwich star seems to have settled into the misfortune-prone Maine Road pattern.
Yet with a professionalism way beyond his 22 years, the Bournemouth-born golden boy said: “It was a silly penalty and there were a couple of other mistakes, but that won’t bother me. I was fairly satisfied.”
When Reeves brought down John Devine in 63 minutes for Liam Brady to open the score from the spot, the best of Malcolm Allison’s tactical intentions had already been cruelly destroyed.
Brady contributed to Frank Stapleton’s second goal before coolly claiming the third himself and generally dictating the match as only he can.
