Jim's column 17.8.13

Coventry City's first game outside of the city boundaries took place at Northampton Town's Sixfields Stadium last Sunday and what a goal feast the small band of around 1,000 City fans witnessed. 3-0 ahead at half-time for the first time in over six years, Steven Pressley's young team ran out 5-4 winners over relegated Bristol City. 

I have been bombarded with questions all week about other high scoring games involving the Sky Blues and have compiled a list of all those games where there were eight or more goals in the last fifty years:

1963-64 City 8 Shrewsbury 1

1963-64 QPR 3 City 6

1964-65 City 5 Ipswich 3

1964-65 City 1 Leicester 8 (League Cup)

1964-65 City 3 Rotherham 5

1964-65 City 5 Newcastle 4

1974-75 Middlesbrough 4 City 4

1977-78 City 5 Norwich 4

1981-82 Southampton 5 City 5

1983-84 Southampton 8 City 2

1985-86 City 7 Chester 2 (League Cup)

1985-86 City 4 Birmingham 4

1990-91 City 5 Nottm Forest 4 (League Cup)

2002-03 City 8 Rushden & Diamonds 0 (League Cup)

2004-05 City 6 Derby 2

It was the first 5-4 scoreline since the famous victory over Brian Clough's Nottingham Forest in November 1990 when City led 4-0 before half-time only to be pegged back by a ten-minute Nigel Clough hat-trick before Steve Livingstone grabbed the winner. It was only the fourth time in the club's history that they have won 5-4 with the others coming in 1977 (the famous Christmas game when only a late Jim Blyth penalty save avoided a 5-5 draw with Norwich), 1965 (City led top of the table Newcastle 5-1, only to hang on to win) and 1963 (George Hudson netting a hat-trick on his debut). City have only once been on the receiving end of a 5-4 scoreline, at Southampton in 1950.

As expected the crowd at Sixfields was pitifully low and boosted by over 1000 Bristol City fans. the official attendance of 2,204 was just above the lowest home league crowd in the club's history, 2,059, set in February 1928 for a Monday afternoon 1-1 draw with Crystal Palace. A couple of readers pointed out that according to the Breedon Complete Record book published in 1991 there was a crowd of 1,660 v Hartlepools United in 1926. However there has subsequently been more research and the official league attendance records confirm the gate at this game was actually 4,744. My feeling is that the all-time low crowd will be broken before too long at Sixfields unless a good number of City fans have a change of heart and travel to Northampton.

I have a few reader's queries to cover over the coming weeks and will start with one from Dean Nelson who remembers Rotherham's John Galley being hit by a City fan in 1966 and seemed to think there was another instance. Galley, normally a centre-forward who had tormented City's defence (and scored a hat-trick on his Millers' debut) in the aforementioned 3-5 game in 1964, had taken over the 'keeper's jersey in the Christmas game at Highfield Road after regular 'keeper Alan Hill had broken his finger trying to stop a goal-bound Bobby Gould shot. Galley upset the City fans behind the old Covered End & one angry fan climbed over the wall & attacked Galley. Police dragged the culprit away & removed him from the ground but Galley was seen as the villain of the piece by the home supporters. City ran out 4-2 winners. If anyone can recall another incident where a fan attacked a visiting goalkeeper please let me know.