Manchester City v Leicester City 1971/72

CITY 1 LEICESTER CITY 1

League Division 1

18th December 1972

attendance 29,524

scorers
City Lee(pen)
Leicester Weller(7)

Ref David Smith

 City  Corrigan, Book, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Davies, Lee, Mellor – sub Towers(unused)

Leicester Shilton, Whitworth, Nish, Cross, Sjoberg, Brown, Weller, Sammels, Birchenall, Fern, Manley – sub Glover(unused)

FRANCIS LEE SCORES FROM THE SPOT

FROM THE PRESS BOX

PETER GARDNER WRITING IN THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS FOOTBALL PINK FINAL 18TH DECEMBER 1971
Wyn Davies was booked for the second time this season at the height of Manchester City’s siege on the Leicester City goal in a desperate struggle to wipe out a seventh-minute goal by Keith Weller at Maine Road this afternoon.
Davies previously booked at West Ham on November 20 had his name taken in the 21st minute for showing dissent at a decision by referee David Smith.
It was an offence committed in frustration more than anything else, for City had gone behind when a careless back pass by Tony Book let Weller in.
Harold Shepherdson, assistant manager of Middlesbrough, City’s third round FA Cup opponents next month, saw Leicester get the game moving before a crowd that was building up towards the 30,000 mark.
Sharp work by Lee saw him switch play to the right where Book fed Summerbee, but the winger crossed behind.

Then Davies pushed the ball through to Bell to provide more danger for Leicester. Bell pulled the ball back hard in front of the Leicester goal and Shilton was forced to go full length to cut out the danger as Mellor raced in.
Booth twice misdirected clearances, each time to Whitworth and City back pedalled hastily as Brown manoeuvered for a shot, which was cleared first time by Mellor.
Then after Bell had stabbed in a shot that bounced off Shilton. Leicester once more hit back and this time took a surprise lead.
Book telegraphed a long back-pass into his own penalty area and Weller quickly spotted his chance to advance forward and beat Corrigan with a low shot to put the visitors ahead after seven minutes.
City started their fight to get on terms with Bell chasing through and his progress was halted by what seemed a blatant trip by Nish, but referee Smith was adamant in turning aside City’s penalty appeals.
There then followed totally unjustified criticism of Book, who was jeered by the crowd every time he touched the ball.

The Leicester goal continued to come under siege and Booth, joining the onslaught twice saw shots cannon off hard-pressed defenders and Mellor, too, had a sizzling effort blocked.
City’s frustration mounted, and it showed in the 21st minute when Davies was booked for the second time this season after showing dissent when Mr Smith penalised Leicester instead of playing the advantage rule when Bell was storming through.
Davies showed a certain arrogance in disputing this decision and had to be taken by his own teammates towards Mr Smith after at first adamantly refusing, standing some 20 yards away and indicating that he wanted the referee to come to him.
Booth, winning the ball well enough continued to be erratic with his distribution and another wild clearance jabbed straight at Sammels put City in more trouble. The outcome was a chance for Birchenall, who ran well enough, but shot narrowly outside the post.
City hearts remained high, however, and as the pressure mounted again towards half-time they were unlucky not to get an equaliser when a short, sharp drive from Bell was cleared by Cross after a Summerbee effort had bounced off Shilton.
Book striving desperately to make up for his early error, featured in another City raid that ended with a right wing corner from which Mellor finally snatched at a shot to send the ball high over the bar.
Minutes from half-time Summerbee, out on the left, hit in a powerful shot that Shilton could only brush behind. Then Lee volleyed over from close in.
Birchenall had the ball in the net again within 60 seconds of the resumption, but he was well offside following a fine Leicester build up involving Weller, Brown and Sammels.
Weller in particular was looking impressive for Leicester as he chased back to clear when Sjoberg headed out a Donachie cross.

City’s aggression was maintained at peak pitch, but all the time they were being frustrated by a gallant Leicester defence plus their own ineffectiveness in front of goal.
This was particularly seen in the 54th minute when Lee flicked on a fine pass from Book and Davies shot City’s best chance so far outside a post.
There was also Shilton to consider. He continued to make a string of quite remarkable saves with a flying leap to hold a close-in header from Booth following a Lee left wing corner, one of his best of the match.
But City’s all-out attacking methods left them vulnerable to the counterpunch. And they might have gone two behind as Cross quickly ran into space to take a sharp throw-in just inside the Leicester half. When Brown took over City were open at the back with Fern racing through completely unmarked in the centre forward position.
However, Book went a long way towards making up for his earlier boob when he raced across to intercept Brown’s cross, heading the ball safely out of danger.