On Tuesday evening a sparse crowd of 5,437, the lowest home
crowd since 1985*, watched City’s debut in the Johnstone’s Paint Trophy against
League Two side Burton Albion. The suffering fans were subjected to a
lacklustre ninety minutes football followed by a thrilling 19-goal penalty
shoot out culminating in a Coventry City victory courtesy of the hero of the
hour Joe Murphy. The Irish goalkeeper has taken a lot of stick from some fans
since he stepped into Keiren Westwood’s shoes last season, but on Tuesday
evening he not only saved Burton’s
tenth and eleventh penalties but stepped up to score the twenty second
penalty of the night to make it 10-9 to the Sky Blues and secure a place in the
last 32 of the competition.
For the Sky Blues it was their first penalty shootout since
2001 when, in a League Cup tie at Peterborough, after the teams had been level
at 2-2 after 120 minutes, City triumphed 4-2 on penalties. The few hundred fans
who travelled to Peterborough that day probably remember it as the day that
Manhattan Twin Towers were destroyed by Al Queda (11 September) and the game
should not really have gone ahead in respect of the dead. City’s successful
penalty takers that night were David Thompson, Jay Bothroyd, Lee Hughes and Lee
Carsley with only Magnus Hedman missing. Before Tuesday Hedman was the only Sky
Blue goalkeeper to take a penalty in a shootout.
Penalty shootouts were introduced into domestic football in
1976 when the League Cup adopted them if a replay was inconclusive after 120
minutes but other lesser competitions introduced them for swifter conclusions
and City’s first shootout was in 1988 in the Simod Cup semi-final at Reading.
With the scores level at 1-1 after 120 minutes City lost the shootout 4-3 after
leading 2-0 and the Second Division side went on to Wembley.
The only other shootout in a City competitive game was in
the FA Cup in 1998. After defeating Aston Villa in round five City were hot
favourites to beat Second Division Sheffield United to clinch a semi final
place. However a laboured 1-1 draw at Highfield Road saw the Sky Blues travel
to Bramall Lane for a replay. An early paul Telfer goal looked to have won the
tie but the Blades equalised with virtually the last kick of the game and a
goalless extra time meant penalties. Kicking into the rabid United Kop end
City’s penalty takers froze (including the normally deadly Dion Dublin) and the
Blades triumphed 3-1.
During the summer I received an email from Alan White of
Binley regarding the ‘other’ Jimmy Hill who played for Coventry City in the
1950's. Alan believed he was a Binley boy and that his late Dad often used
to tell him that he knew him well. He recently acquired a programme of
the Millwall v Coventry game played at the Den on Boxing Day 1955 in the
old Division 3 South. In the City line-up at no.11 is Hill.J , along with
Matthews, Austin, Timmins, Jamieson, Kirk, Harvey, Moore, Uphill, McPherson and
P.Hill.
Although Jimmy possibly lived in
Binley he came from Wishaw in Scotland where he was born in 1931. As a 17-year
old Jimmy Hill looked set to be an outstanding left-winger as he dazzled for
City’s youth team, Modern Machines FC and was given his debut at Hull in 1949.
His first team chances however were limited and it was only after Norman Lockhart
left for Aston Villa in 1952 that Hill won a regular place. He played 68 games
and scored eight goals before losing the left wing berth first to Colin
Collindridge then later to the prodigious Ray Sambrook and he moved to Millwall
in an effort to get first team football. His stay at the Den was short and he
went on to play for Wisbech Town and Shrewsbury. I am pretty sure he lived in
Coventry until his death in 1993.
* In 1985 1,086
watched a Full Members Cup game at Highfield Road against Millwall when neither
side could progress in the competition.
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