Matchday Memories: On This Day 1980 – See Milne’s Men Beat Birmingham By Best Of Three
On this day (15th November) in 1980 the Sky Blues were managed by (now CCFPA member) Gordon Milne in what would prove to be his last and ninth season in the hot seat at Highfield Road. The visitors to Highfield Road on this day were local rivals, fairly recent CCFC landlords, Birmingham City with both teams poddling around in the middle reaches of Division One at the time. In the event, Milne’s men came out on top by the odd goal in three in front of 18,249 Midland fans.
Highfield Road, drenched by a day’s worth of rain, had become a soggy quagmire encouraging mistakes galore on both sides, so there was plenty of exciting incident to keep the crowd enthralled. The Sky Blues scored in both halves to take the match and the points but it was the Blues’ Alan Curbishley who scored first after 36 minutes. This was quickly negated by a strike five minutes later (four before half time) from CCFPA member Andy Blair.
There was everything to play for in the second period, therefore, but it was the Sky Blues Steve Hunt (a quite recent CCFPA recruit) who got the decisive goal ten minutes before the end! This ‘goal of the month’ candidate, a magnificent run and curled shot, was accomplished after a one-two with Sky Blues striker (and CCFPA member) Garry Thompson.
Brum’s ‘gaffer’ Jim Smith (later to become Assistant Sky Blue boss under CCFPA recruit) Roland Nilsson in 2002 was disappointed that the referee failed to award what he regarded as a stonewall penalty late in the game but it was the light blues who prevailed gaining full revenge for the 3-1 reverse at St. Andrews in the season’s opener!
Thanks to former CCFPA committee member Dean Nelson you can relive again Steve’s goal by clicking on.
Milne’s men that wet afternoon were (CCFPA members underlined):-
The late Les Sealey, Mick Coop, Brian Roberts, Danny Thomas, Paul Dyson, Gary Gillespie, Peter Bodak, Andy Blair, Mark Hateley, Garry Thompson and Steve Hunt.
Jeff Wealands, Dave Langan, Phil Hawker, Alan Curbishley, Joe Gallagher, Colin Todd, Alan Ainscow, Keith Bertschin, Frank Worthington, Archie Gemmill and Kevin.
Gordon Milne‘s final season in charge saw the Sky Blues narrowly miss out on a Wembley Final in the League Cup losing on aggreagate to West Ham United in the semi finals. In the league we finished in sixteenth position in Division One, three points clear of trouble, whilst Brum ended their season in thirteenth.
Midland rivals for both clubs, Aston Villa took the title this season four points clear of runners up Ipswich Town. The Tractor Boys’ East Anglian rivals Norwich City fell through the divisional trap door in twentieth place along with Leicester City and, bottom, Crystal Palace.
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