Manchester City will be clear favourites to beat Peterborough United when the teams meet in the fifth round of the FA Cup this week. Even though there is only one division between the clubs, they exist in different worlds. Three divisions separated the clubs the last time they met – their only previous meeting, which was also in the fifth round of the FA Cup – but City fans were not as confident when they travelled to London Road on Valentine’s Day in 1981.
“There’s no way Manchester City can afford to be complacent,” said Peterborough manager Peter Morris. That may sound bullish for a manager who was working in the fourth tier, but City had been humiliated by lower league opponents, Shrewsbury and Halifax, in the previous two seasons and they had sacked Malcolm Allison just a few months earlier. Things were improving under new boss John Bond, but the 8,000 City supporters who made the trip to Peterborough must have been trepidatious. Barry Davies and the Match of the Day cameras also made the trip, clearly hoping for a shock.
The FA Cup draw had thrown up some interesting fixtures for Bond. In the third round his team had thrashed a Crystal Palace side managed by Allison. In the next round, he had enjoyed a victory over his former club Norwich, with his son playing for the club he had left behind.
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The Peterborough tie also had a link with the City manager’s past, pitting him against Morris, who he had signed seven years earlier. “I have a close connection with John,” said Peterborough boss Morris. “He signed me for Norwich for £70,000 when I was 31, and then encouraged me into management at Mansfield. John’s cup run this season has been about reunions of one kind or another and they have been happy ones so far. I hope we can change that.”
Peterborough had joined the Football League in 1960 and had bounced between the third and fourth tiers since then. Morris took over in 1979 as the team had slipped back into the Fourth Division, but the 1980-81 season brought encouragement in both league and cup. They were putting together a promotion challenge and had already beaten Northampton, Barnet, Chesterfield and Notts County in the FA Cup, evoking memories of their memorable run to the quarter-finals in the 1964-65 season.
The team was an ideal blend of youth and experience. Micky Gynn (19) and Trevor Quow (20) provided energy in midfield, with centre-back Trevor Slack (18) rumoured to be on the radar of a number of top-flight clubs. Skipper Billy Kellock (26) enjoyed a fine season, earning a place in the PFA Team of the Year, with winger Tommy Robson (36) and Alan Slough (33) ably supporting the younger players, the latter having made it to the final with Fulham in 1975.
But it was centre-forward Robbie Cooke who was creating a lot of hype before the City tie. The 23-year-old had previously played for Morris at Mansfield before dropping outside of the Football League. His prolific form at Grantham Town earned him a £12,000 move to Peterborough, and his 21 goals so far that season was bringing him to the attention of the media.
Peterborough took advantage of the cup fever, increasing ticket prices and bringing in receipts reportedly topping £40,000. For a club that had been losing £3,000 per week the previous year, the cup run provided a boost – although many journalists were unimpressed with the hike in admission prices.
One man who would not be present at London Road was Bond. Struck down with flu, the City manager was forced to hand the reins to assistant John Benson. City’s selection dilemmas centred on choices between youth and experience: Tommy Caton or Tommy Booth at the back, Dave Bennett or Dennis Tueart in midfield. In the end, one of each was chosen – Booth and Bennett – with the former proving the match winner. But for large periods of the first half, City had to weather a storm that at points threatened to overwhelm them.
Sadly for Peterborough, Cooke and Kellock – who had scored 32 goals between them that season – suffered an off-day in front of goal. Robson was a constant threat throughout the first half, providing a chance for Cooke that he headed wide. Kellock mistimed a header from another Robson cross, before Cooke spurned a chance to volley Peterborough in front. Gynn was lively and almost scored from a mishit shot.
City scored the only goal of the game in the 40th minute, Booth firing home after a shot from Paul Power had been blocked. The man who had played in the 1969 final – the last time City had gone past the fifth round – celebrated in front of an ecstatic away end. Peterborough fans must have felt hard done by after they had missed so many chances and their mood would not have been improved when Kellock missed a glorious opportunity a few minutes after City had scored. With that miss and the half-time whistle, all the wind seemed to disappear from Peterborough’s sails.
View image in fullscreenRicky Villa scores for Spurs against Manchester City in the FA Cup final replay in 1981. Photograph: PA Images/Alamy
The second half was quiet. City managed the game well and it became clear there would be no shock defeat this year. But the 27,780 present had seen Peterborough give them a scare. “As exits go, this one must have been particularly galling, for during the first half the home side genuinely outplayed their daunting opponents,” Julie Welch wrote in the Guardian. Welch did not hold back on her criticism of City in the opening 35 minutes: “For much of the time, in fact, they played like well-disciplined carthorses.”
Morris added to the condemnation of City. “I thought City were rubbish,” said the Peterborough manager. “They did nothing. But we got frightened because we couldn’t believe we could play so well. We had them at our mercy but didn’t take our chances.”
“We were fortunate not to be two or three down at half-time,” Benson admitted. Yet it was hard to be too scathing of City’s performance. Peterborough’s poor finishing had let them down. In the end, they would finish fifth in the league and also miss out on promotion.
City’s season was going in the other direction. Their momentum kept building under Bond and they saw off Everton and Ipswich Town on their way to reaching the FA Cup final. The final did not go to plan for Bond and his players. City and Spurs played out a 1-1 draw on 9 May before returning to Wembley five days later for the replay. Spurs won it 3-2, with Ricky Villa scoring one of the greatest goals ever scored in the competition. It wasn’t to be for City, but at least they had avoided another defeat to a lower league team. Expectations have certainly changed.
This article appeared first on That 1980s Sports Blog
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