CITY 1 NEWCASTLE UNITED 1
Abandoned after 41 Minutes
League Division 1
1st February 1969
attendance 30,160
Scorers
City Owen(32)
Newcastle Horsfield(2)
Ref D Corbett
City Dowd, Book, Pardoe, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Summerbee, Owen, Lee, Young, Coleman – sub Towers(unused)
Newcastle McFaul, Craggs, Clark, Gibb, McNamee, Moncur, Scott, Horsfield, Robson, Davies
It was the third meeting of the two teams in eight days. And Maine Road’s pitch was already a ‘quagmire’ before kick-off, and the rain was still pouring down as the sides kicked off.
Both sides put up a good display despite the weather, and it was Newcastle who went in front much to the pain of Harry Dowd, who leapt to take a cross from Newcastle’s Gibb, he dropped the ball, and as he fell to the floor to try and grasp the free ball he must have caught his nose on the turf and fractured it, he never did grasp the ball and Horsfield poked it home to put the Geordies 1-0 up.
Just after the half hour City were level, as Bobby Owen turned in a low Tony Coleman cross.
The pitch was virtually now unplayable, but the teams decided to continue until the 41st minute when the referee decided he’d seen enough and abandoned the game.
This was my first football match. Taken by my cousin, lifted over the turnstile and found a couple of 1d on the floor of the Kippax.
My first match too, 8 years old. Remember Wyn Davies jumping all over scorer when Newcastle scored, thinking he was mad! He later played for City.
Memorable first game of many hundreds since, the only one I remember being abandoned – not bad for my first match!
Chris
CTID