By Aaron Leggott
After Saturday's emphatic 5-0 win at home to Barnsley, here are my top five quarter final performance's from City teams from now and in the past.
5: Manchester City 1 - 0 Stoke City. 3rd March 1934
This game will go down as the game which records the highest attendance at a club ground in England to this day. City comfortably beat the Potters 1-0 in front of 84,569 fans and secured a semi final tie against Aston Villa at Leeds Road.
City beat Villa 6-1 (familiar scoreline, hey?!) and ended up fulfilling club captain Sam Cowan's promise that the Blues would win the trophy after failing at the final hurdle the season before, thanks to goals from Fred Tilson which secured a 2-1 victory for City against Portsmouth.
4: Manchester City 1 - 0 Reading. 13th March 2011
Without a major trophy for 35 years, City went in to this game with hopes of ending that drought with a game against the only non-Premier League opposition left in the competition.
The game was tight and it took until the 73rd minute for City to win the game after Micah Richards headed in from a corner to set up a semi final tie at Wembley against rivals Manchester United. City won 1-0 once again and went on to win the trophy with the same scoreline as they overcame Stoke City in the final.
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| Photo: Ian Walton/Getty Images Europe |
3: Manchester City 1 - 0 Tottenham Hotspur. 1st March 1969
In his autobiography, Mike Doyle described this game as the hardest game in the whole cup run and it was a closely contested match which saw Francis Lee grab the only goal of the game.
City, of course, went on to win the trophy thanks to a 1-0 win against Leicester City at Wembley, in a game which was best remembered for Neil Young's great volley. Here is a link to City's route to the final that year: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/1969_FA_Cup_Final#Route_to_the_final
2: Manchester City 3 - 1 Everton. 11th March 1981
This was the replay following City's heroic 2-2 draw at Goodison Park after Paul Power equalised in the last minute to save City's FA Cup hopes. City went back to Maine Road and won the tie 3-1, but were finally beaten in the final, as Tottenham won 3-2 in the replay.
Below is a video of the first tie between City and Everton where Power equalised.
1: Manchester City 5 - 0 Barnsley. 9th March 2013
I have gone for this game as Number one not only for the goal margin, but for the way City had played throughout the game. Carlos Tevez was in great form to grab a hat trick, and whilst Paul Power's great equaliser in the 1981 Quarter final came close, this performance against Barnsley just edged it.
Highlights of the 5-0 win are below:
I went to both of the 1981 Everton games. Paul Power's equaliser came about 7 or 8 minutes from time.
ReplyDeleteCity had all of the stand behind the goal where Power scored, which was a mix of seating and a small paddock of terracing, and all of the small paddock down the Main Stand side.
As Power chipped McDonagh, the home keeper, the ball seemed to hang in the air, before it dropped into the net, sending everyone berserk.
Kevin Ratcliffe was sent off in the closing minutes after giving Tommy Hutchison a Liverpool kiss by the corner flag.
There was 52k+ on Maine Road for the replay, and the place was bouncing.
Bobby McDonald got two goals, one with a header, the other with a deflected shot from outside the penalty area, that was right in my eyeline in the North Stand.
Power put the icing on the cake by being sent through 1 on 1 with McDonagh, and stroking the ball into the net.
Everton got a late consolation goal, but it was too late, as all 4 goals were scored in the second half.
Villa Park, and Ipswich,the best side in the country, awaited us in the SF!