CITY 4 COVENTRY CITY 2
League Division 1
21st December 1968
attendance 27,760
scorers
City Booth(16), Young(40 & 48), Curtis(53 og)
Coventry Shepherd(5), Hateley(77)
Ref Pat Partridge
City Dowd, Pardoe, Mann, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Owen, Bell, Lee, Young, Coleman – sub Bowyer(unused)
Coventry Glazier, Coop, Cattlin, Machin, Curtis, Clement, Shepherd, Hunt, Hateley, Martin, Carr – sub Setters
FROM THE PRESS BOX
If I were Tony Hateley or Willie Carr I should be wondering how much more a player had to do to prevent Coventry from sliding further towards relegation from the First Division.
Hateley, tall, dark and extrovert gave Trevor Shepherd the first goal of the Sky Blues’ two goals, scored the second himself with a flourish, and astonished his critics with the subtlety of his ball control.
Carr, slight, red haired and undemonstrative, ran, tackled and passed with cleverness and inexhaustible energy of another Alan Ball.
… Of City’s four goals only that which Neil Young drove into the roof of the net from 30 yards was not lucky or questionable.
Their first goal for instance was credited to Tommy Booth, but really belonged to the Maine Road gremlins.
When Dave Clements tackled Booth in the act of shooting, the ball ricocheted between the two of them and goalkeeper Glazier before plopping capriciously over the line.
City’s third and Young’s second goal had the same air of fantasy about it as Colin Bell played the ball through a square Coventry defence to Bobby Owen.
Owen appeared to be offside, but the pass evaded him, Young, however, ran past the static Coventry defenders to collect the ball, round Glazier and find the net at his leisure.
Afterwards the referee, Mr Pat Partridge, claimed that Owen, although offside, was not interfeerring with play.
Then four minutes after Mr Partridge had turned down Coventry’s heated appeal against this galling decision, George Curtis deflected a shot from Bell past Glazier.
COLIN MALLAM WRITING IN THE BIRMINGHAM DAILY POST 23RD DECEMBER 1968