City suffered another
bad defeat at Northampton last weekend in a game marred by several
pitch invasions and flares on the pitch causing the game to be held
up several times. City's chances of a result were not helped by a red
card for Jordan Willis in the 19th minute – a somewhat
harsh decision but one which was upheld by the FA. Jordan is the
fifth City player to receive his marching orders this season,
following Dion Kelly-Evans, Jordan Turnbull, Ben Stevenson &
Lewis Page. In those five games City went on to win two (West Ham &
Chesterfield) and lose three (Bradford, MK Dons & Northampton).
The club record of seven red cards in a season is now under threat.
That record was set in 2001-02, City's first season out of the top
flight for 34 years when the following players 'saw red':
Lee Hughes v Bradford
City (a)
Youssef Safri v
Gillingham (a)
David Thompson v
Millwall (a)
Marc Edworthy v WBA (a)
Lee Hughes v Grimsby
(a)
David Thompson v Wolves
(a)
Jay Bothroyd v Crystal
Palace (a)
All seven were away
from Highfield Road and City ended up wining three of them
(Gillingham, Grimsby & Palace) with Hughes & Bothroyd both
scoring before receiving the red card, and losing the other four.
City finished nine points shy of the top six that season & whilst
it's all hypothetical if those four games had been won, City would
have been in the play-offs!
The following season
that number was equalled when the following received their marching
orders:-
Calum Davenport v
Brighton (a)
Youssef Safri v Crystal
Palace (h)
Craig Hignett v Burnley
(a)
Dean Gordon v Sheff
United (a)
Gary Caldwell v Nottm.
Forest (a)
Youssef Chippo v
Watford (h)
Gary McSheffrey v
Wimbledon (h)
Another unwelcome stat
from last Saturday was the third hat-trick of the season by an
opposition player. Cobblers' Keshi Anderson followed Bristol Rovers'
Billy Bodin and Cambridge's Luke Berry in scoring a hat-trick against
the Sky Blues. That is the first time City have conceded three
hat-tricks in a season since 1995-96 when Alan Shearer (Blackburn),
Gary McAllister (Leeds) and Savo Milosevic (Aston Villa) netted three
apiece. The worst season for conceding hat-tricks was in 1925-26 when
five opposing players did it. It was City's only season in Division
Three North and Fenner (Wigan Borough), Jepson (Accrington), Keetley
(Doncaster), Cookson (Chesterfield) and McDonald (Bradford PA) all
scored three.
Last week I wrote about
Joe Elliott's first ever City game - a friendly against Preston North
End in 1956 – and it prompted Rod Dean to write about his memories
of the game.
Last
week's piece on the Preston 1956 game was massive nostalgia for me.
My father had purchased a brand new Ford Popular in 1954 for £390
(he paid in cash utilising my school satchel) - a basic black car
with no heater, no indicators (my father added those himself). It was
an exciting time for our family and we took trips down to the
Cotswolds and travelled to my first City away match at Northampton in
the Autumn of 1955 (attendance 20,000 - a bit larger than last
Saturday).
We
stood on the 'famous duck boards' that were used in the football
season and then removed for the cricket season (Northampton's ground
was shared with the county cricket team). The only problem was that
my father had yet to pass his driving test! He did eventually pass at
his third try - a different world in those days when a lot of drivers
had never taken tests!
The
one thing I remember about the Preston game is the absolute run
around Finney gave the 'Ageing' Charlie Timmins - Charlie had
been a real 'servant' to the club since the 1940's, was a real
favourite with the fans but was coming to the end of the road. Such
changes were rare in those days but as you said ' Raynor switched
Charlie with Frank Austin at half time' - I can remember my father
saying after the match as we walked to the car ' Frank did a real
good job and kept Finney quiet' It's over 60 years ago but it only
seems like yesterday - some matches you remember like it was
yesterday others are a total blank!
Yes Frank had a good day!
I
had been to Wembley the previous season to see England beat Scotland
7-2 but Finney had not been selected so it was my first and last view
of this 'English Titan' - he and Stanley Matthews were the scourge
of Scottish Football in the 40's and 50's.
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