CITY 1 IPSWICH TOWN 1
League Division 1
25th October 1975
attendance 30,664
scorers
City Bell(39)
Ipswich Hamilton(17)
Ref D Wallace
City Corrigan, Clements, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Barnes, Bell, Watson, Hartford, Tueart – sub Power(unused)
Ipswich Cooper, Burley, Beattie, Osborne, Hunter, Peddelly, Hamilton, Mills, Austin, Whymark, Woods – sub Sharkey(89)
Mike Doyle and Dennis Tueart celebrate Colin Bell’s spectacular diving headed goal
FROM THE PRESS BOX
,
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CITY ARE NOT SPARED THE ROD
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PAUL WILCOX WRITING IN THE GUARDIAN 27TH OCTOBER 1975
A new version of the club-before-country controversy was heard at Maine Road on Saturday when, in spite of the international implications in the drag of a match … a section of the crowd were concerned only with voicing their support for Rodney Marsh.
They were unmoved by the hamstring injury to Beattie which may keep the defender out of England’s team against Czechoslovakia, neither were they bothered that all the other seven internationals on show would be fit for their respective European Championship games on Wednesday. Their concern was that City could hardly have had a worse first home game since the deposing of Marsh.
An hour and a half after the game there were still a few die-hards howling for the heads of Tony Book, Mike Doyle, and even poor Colin Bell, who has not made one public statement one way or the other about the man who, no doubt, was enjoyng himself in Tampa Bay, Florida, at the time he was receiving such backing.
Such matters hardly concerned Ipswich, of course. Their injury situation, even before the late blow for Beattie, was such that Bobby Robson would have been delighted if he had been able to discard out of choice one of his main talents as Book has done. Little wonder then that the Ipswich manager was well satisfied with the point that could so easily have been two if Hamilton had taken the simplest of chances after only 10 minutes.
But it was the minority castigation of Bell that caused a rueful smile to crease Book’s deadpan features, for even if the England man has not been having the best of seasons he hardly deserved to be included among the targets for abuse. And after Book and Doyle themselves had gone to such lengths to explain in the programme their attitudes on Marsh they, too, could be excused feeling dismayed at such a response when Ipswich had not made City’s task easy.
Bell’s share of the barracking must have hurt him for his priorities were on regaining more recognisable form. And Bell at least before half time scored the goal that ensured City’s retention of their unbeaten home record after Hamilton, with a superb run and shot in the 17th minute, had atoned for his earlier miss.
Watson must have a question mark against his name for Bratislava after being unable to operate in defence for the past two weeks, and of City’s three England players, Bell is the most likely to continue hi international career, notwithstanding Jimmy Hill’s condescending approval on Match of the Day. But what true merit there was on Saturday belonged to two men whose England chances would seem to be severely limited now. Mills operated brilliantly in midfield for Ipswich, and against his promptings it was a wonder that City survived.
… While it might have appeared that they had made a Rod for their own backs by being unable to inject the element of individual surprise for which the game cried out, time is the crucial factor. While there will still be sympathy for Marsh, a couple of up-tempo performances free of minds intent on winning approval should provide another instance of the fickleness of the football public.
A new version of the club-before-country controversy was heard at Maine Road on Saturday when, in spite of the international implications in the drag of a match … a section of the crowd were concerned only with voicing their support for Rodney Marsh.
They were unmoved by the hamstring injury to Beattie which may keep the defender out of England’s team against Czechoslovakia, neither were they bothered that all the other seven internationals on show would be fit for their respective European Championship games on Wednesday. Their concern was that City could hardly have had a worse first home game since the deposing of Marsh.
An hour and a half after the game there were still a few die-hards howling for the heads of Tony Book, Mike Doyle, and even poor Colin Bell, who has not made one public statement one way or the other about the man who, no doubt, was enjoyng himself in Tampa Bay, Florida, at the time he was receiving such backing.
Such matters hardly concerned Ipswich, of course. Their injury situation, even before the late blow for Beattie, was such that Bobby Robson would have been delighted if he had been able to discard out of choice one of his main talents as Book has done. Little wonder then that the Ipswich manager was well satisfied with the point that could so easily have been two if Hamilton had taken the simplest of chances after only 10 minutes.
But it was the minority castigation of Bell that caused a rueful smile to crease Book’s deadpan features, for even if the England man has not been having the best of seasons he hardly deserved to be included among the targets for abuse. And after Book and Doyle themselves had gone to such lengths to explain in the programme their attitudes on Marsh they, too, could be excused feeling dismayed at such a response when Ipswich had not made City’s task easy.
Bell’s share of the barracking must have hurt him for his priorities were on regaining more recognisable form. And Bell at least before half time scored the goal that ensured City’s retention of their unbeaten home record after Hamilton, with a superb run and shot in the 17th minute, had atoned for his earlier miss.
Watson must have a question mark against his name for Bratislava after being unable to operate in defence for the past two weeks, and of City’s three England players, Bell is the most likely to continue hi international career, notwithstanding Jimmy Hill’s condescending approval on Match of the Day. But what true merit there was on Saturday belonged to two men whose England chances would seem to be severely limited now. Mills operated brilliantly in midfield for Ipswich, and against his promptings it was a wonder that City survived.
… While it might have appeared that they had made a Rod for their own backs by being unable to inject the element of individual surprise for which the game cried out, time is the crucial factor. While there will still be sympathy for Marsh, a couple of up-tempo performances free of minds intent on winning approval should provide another instance of the fickleness of the football public.