Matchday Memories: On This Day 1982 – Man.City 1-3 Sky Blue Steve Whitton’s Wonderland!

On this day (8th April) in 1982 Manager Dave Sexton‘s Sky Blues visited Manchester City‘s Maine Road  for their penultimate Division One game of the season. The ‘other’ light blues didn’t know what hit them as the Coventry Sky Blues took up a 2-0 half-time lead and a 3-1 full-time win over the Mancunians with a hat-trick on five, six and seventy minutes from our ‘Cannonball Kid’ Steve Whitton.

Steve had now scored five goals in two games after an extraordinary five all draw at Southampton four days earlier (a Mark Hateley treble provided City with their other goals). Today’s win, in front of 27,580 in Manchester proved how strong CCFC’s finish was this season with only one defeat and six wins in their last thirteen league games! Even better, this win gave us revenge over the Lancashire club who had beaten us at Highfield Road on 12th December by the only goal of the game scored after only nine minutes by Denis Tueart.

John Bond‘s team was outplayed and had to rely on a consolation goal (twelve minutes from time) from Trevor Francis who looked one of the few members of the home side to be really up for the game. Pleasingly, this win broke the desperate Manchester City hoodoo the Sky Blues had hitherto been suffering (eight league defeats running).

Manager Dave Sexton on the run

Dave Sexton‘s team that day comprised (CCFPA members underlined):-

The late Les Sealey, Steve Jacobs, Brian ‘Harry’ Roberts, Ian Butterworth, Paul Dyson, Gary Gillespie, Steve Whitton, Martin Singleton, Mark Hateley (sub. Peter Hormantschuk), Garry Thompson and Steve Hunt.

John Bond put out the following Man.City  side:-

Alex Williams, Andy May, Bobby McDonald, Nicky Reid, Kevin Bond, Tommy Caton, Phil Boyer, Kevin Reeves, Trevor Francis, Asa Hartford and Paul Power       Referee:- C.Seel

Future Sky Blue full back (and CCFPA member) Bobby McDonald was playing for the defeated home team that day. Man. City also had former Sky Blue icon (and CCFPA member) Tommy Hutchison and a future CCFC Club Chairman Ray Ranson on their books at this time.

Sadly, Dave Sexton‘s men lost their last game of the season 0-1 at Highfield Road to local rivals Birmingham City, but finished in a comfortable fourteenth spot four places and eight points behind their opponents today.

Liverpool took the title by four points from Ipswich Town and the three relegated clubs were Leeds United, Wolverhampton Wanderers and bottom club Middlesbrough.

Thanks to CCFPA’s Mike Young (& Dean Nelson) for sourcing the images.