CITY 6 SCUNTHORPE UNITED 0
League Cup 2nd Round
10th September 1974
attendance 14,790
scorers Bell(41, 57 & 60), Doyle(52), Marsh(72), Barrett(87)
Ref H Burns
City MacRae, Barrett, Donachie, Doyle, Clarke, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Marsh, Henson, Tueart – sub Keegan(77)
Scunthorpe Lavery, Markham, Atkin, Simpkin, Peacock, Davidson, Money, Collier, Taylor, Keeley, Roberts – sub Lynch
FROM THE PRESS BOX
SLICK CITY SLAM SIX
PETER GARDNER WRITING IN THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS 11TH SEPTEMBER 1974
Manchester City have at last found that ‘killer’ touch, none moreso than the ice-cool Colin Bell.
So often bait for minnows in the past, City rammed home their class outplaying Scunthorpe, who were hit for six in a one sided League Cup tie at Maine Road.
It still took the Blues 41 minutes to warm up against the Fourth Division side, but once the break had been made there was never a chance of a shock result emerging.
The way to round three was spearheaded by the deadly accurate Bell whose hat-trick followed other three-goal League Cup feats by Francis Lee and Rodney Marsh in last season’s run to Wembley.
It was one of Bell’s finest performances as a marksman for a long time and the manner in which he took his second goal and City’s third is well worth recalling. Dennis Tueart and Marsh paved the way before Bell volleyed in a left foot drive that no goalkeeper in the world would have saved.
City’s performance could not have been better timed. Manager Tony Book wanted a glut of goals to get his side in the mood for what will undoubtedly be their most important match of the season, against title favourites and present League leaders Liverpool on Saturday.
Scunthorpe had no answer to the power of Bell, Marsh’s artistry and the industry of Tueart and Mike Summerbee.
I liked, too, the way teenager Gerrard Keegan took his first chance of senior football when replacing Mike Doyle 13 minutes from the end. A pity he could not have been given a longer run, but even in that brief spell he showed encouraging signs.
Every goal apart from the second, a gift when Mike Atkin’s hasty back pass beat his own goalkeeper, was a good one as City ran up their highest Cup score since beating Reading 7-0 in an FA Cup replay in 1968, the year the Blues were League champions. A title omen perhaps!