HONVED 0 CITY 1
European Cup Winners Cup 2nd Round 1st Leg
21st October 1970
Attendance 14,000
Scorer Lee(65)
Ref R Medina
City Corrigan, Booth, Pardoe, Doyle, Heslop, Jeffries, Summerbee, Bell, Lee, Hill, Towers – subs Dowd(unused), Bowyer(unused), Oakes(unused), Connor(unused), Carrodus(unused)
Honved Bicskel, Tajti, Ruzsinazky, Marosi, Vary, Vagi, Pusztai, Kocsis, Titchy, Komora, Kozma – subs Karakas(45), Toth(66)
FRANCIS LEE GIVES CITY A 1-0 FIRST LEG LEAD
City flew to the unknown of Hungary expecting a cauldron of hate from a legendary hostile partisan crowd, however the Kispest Stadium was little more like a small division two ground and the crowd just numbered 14,000 so there would be no ’12th man’ for the hosts.
The Blues’ star man was Colin Bell who, despite being unconscious for two or three minutes after being accidentally kicked in the jaw by Honved’s Vari, continually drove the City team on, despite the obvious pain he was in. In fact ‘Nijinsky’ almost scored in the first half, a great team move which began with Corrigan, through Pardoe, Towers and Lee, who cleverly backheeled to the blood stained Bell, and ended with a thunderous shot which the Honved custodian tipped over the bar with a desperate save.
The Hungarians had started the game at a pace and really pressed the City defence, however within ten minutes, once the Blues had gotten their bearings they turned the pressure on Honved, and for the rest of the match looked in control of the midfield, young Derek Jeffries, in for the injured Alan Oakes, ably assisting Colin Bell in dictating the play. Oakes was named as one of City’s five subs, however it was just to have a name on the teamsheet as he was not match fit.
The winning goal came from a brilliant set piece free kick, that definitely must have been worked on on the training ground. Francis Lee ran up to take it but ran over the ball and continued his run into the box, Bell took the kick, passing to Mike Summerbee, who’s delightful chip found the sprinting Lee who dispatched it past Bicskel from an acute angle.
The only real scare for the Blues was ten minutes from time, when in a rare attack, Toth seemed to have bundled the ball over the line before Heslop cleared it, however despite Honved’s, possibly correct claims for a goal, the Spanish referee turned them down and play continued.
City’s performance was summed up by Joe Mercer “The lads were magnificent. They did the all important job of squeezing out Vagi, and won the game in the midfield. They could have had at least three goals, but that is the way of things at the moment.”
