Last week I mentioned
the fact that Coventry City players with the same surname, Thomas,
had scored in the same game. Kwame & George Thomas netted in the
Gillingham victory two weeks ago and I did some research into other
similar occurrences for the club.
During the 1950s City
had several players with the surname Hill. Two of them, Brian &
Peter, are fairly well-known, and both passed away in recent times.
However Ray Hill and Jimmy Hill (no, not the bearded wonder) played
for the club in the 1950s and on more than one occasion the club
fielded three Hills in a game.
There are a few
instances of two Hills scoring in the same game, the last being in
April 1961 at Watford in a Third Division game. City lost 7-2 at
Vicarage Road and Peter and Brian netted the consolation goals. The
following season in the infamous FA Cup defeat to Kings Lynn saw the
last appearance together of the two men. When JH took over the
following week he told Brian that he wouldn't be playing as a forward
in future; Jimmy spotted the defending potential of Brian and he
became a key member of the defence that took the Sky Blues all the
way to Division One. Peter, on the other hand retired at the end of
the 1961-62 season and became the club's trainer.
The other occurrences
of two Hills scoring in the same game were:
1955-56 Norwich (h)
(won 5-3) - Peter & Jimmy scored as well as Denis Uphill!
1955-56 Millwall (h)
(won 5-1) – Peter & Jimmy scored.
1957-58 at Gillingham
(lost 2-3) – Brian's debut as a 16-year old. Peter also scored.
The game at Gillingham
in April 1958 was the only time that City fielded three Hills with
Ray making up the trio.
Several readers thought
that in the early 1990s two Williams might have scored in the same
game. City fielded four players with the surname Williams in the
decade, three of them christened Paul and the other John (the Flying
Postman).
Paul A Williams was a
loan player from West Brom, signed by Bobby Gould in 1992. He made
one start and one sub appearance without scoring and in both games
appeared alongside John.
Paul R C Williams
joined City from Stockport in 1993 and made 19 appearances, seven
from the bench over two seasons. He failed to find the net.
Paul D Williams joined
City from Derby County in 1995 and earned the nickname 'Willo'. He
made 199 appearances for the club over six seasons and scored six
goals. He never appeared with any of the other Williams.
John Williams joined
City from Swansea in 1992 and played 86 games scoring 11 goals
(including City's first in the Premier League) over three seasons.
The next question this
begs is – what is the most common surname of Coventry City players?
The answer is Smith – there have been 12 Smith's appear in first
team games for the club since they joined the league in 1919. However
no Smith has appeared since the winger David Smith (1987-93). Other
popular surnames are Jones (10), Clark(e) 9 and Williams 7.
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