Best/worst cup game?

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

Brighton away - John Bond's last game, lost 4-0 in the pissing down rain in an open end

Best the two semis in 81 and 2011

 

[lazza]

My best Cup Game was my first ever game: the 6-0 thrashing of Norwich City at Maine Road in 1981 (so just about 35 years ago)

The worst? scum away in 1996, when we were robbed by a conning referee who awarded a penalty that even the rags weren't appealing for!

 

[Mad Eyed Screamer]

My best Cup Game was my first ever game: the 6-0 thrashing of Norwich City at Maine Road in 1981 (so just about 35 years ago)

The worst? scum away in 1996, when we were robbed by a conning referee who awarded a penalty that even the rags weren't appealing for!

Alan fucking Wilkie.......
You could see the rags in the Stretford End howling at Wilkie when he blew because they assumed he had given a foul against them..... then they twigged the twat had given them a pen and they cheered the prick....

 

[Harlaching Sky Blue]

Best game: Everton Quarter Final Replay 1981,,won 3-1...buzzing atmosphere, was only 8 at the time but fell in love with Maine Road...wagon wheels, bovril, the constant bell ringing, the mist and mud on the pitch, the caravan souvenir shop...Paul Power got me and my dad tickets, because my Mam cut his Mams hair!!..cant have done a good job mind, as we didnt get tickets for the Semi or Wembers!

Worst Game: Brentford away 1:3..although I did get my photo in a piccie when some Sunday Supplement did a special on inflatable Bananas....mind you that empty post Wigan Cup Final feeling ran it close...

 

[Blue Feather]

The 2011 semi and final were the best for obvious reasons. Spurs 3-4 amazing (but then we got knocked out by the myth-makers). Wigan 2013 was flat as f**k and the League Cup quarter-final at Palace from a previous era was a massive anti-climax.........quite a few lads not very happy that night !!! Myth-makers away in the League Cup semi was sh*te as well, really thought were going to do it, especially after Tev scored.....

 

[pace89]

Couldn’t really enjoy the semi-final against the Rags although it was an amazing day but the one against Chelsea stands out as a really good performance. I’ll be in a minority of one on this but the defeat in the final seemed to me to be as much about tactics as the confirmation that Mancini was getting the boot and the players making sure he was out of the door. The games were usually tight against Wigan when they were in the Premier League as Martinez would invariably play a 3 man midfield and use the extra man to take advantage of Toure pushing a long way up the pitch. Martinez adopted the same approach that teams had used to fox us in the Champions League and we couldn’t find an answer. We played them at home a few weeks before the final and only managed a fortunate 1-0 thanks to Tevez belting one in from outside the box. I’m not saying the Mancini stuff didn’t contribute to our inability to react to their system but Wigan’s approach definitely exposed the weaknesses that existed and had been seen before. Against other sides who would have set up more conventionally we may have scraped through.

The idea that the players would give up on a trophy in a Wembley final to allow the club to sack the manager doesn’t add up. Those players wouldn’t have cared either way- they would have taken the medal and then demanded a transfer, gone on strike, whinged about not getting a birthday cake or whatever if Mancini had stayed and they wanted out. Why sack off the final but not the semi-final or the derby at OT a few weeks beforehand if they wanted Mancini gone?

The 5-2 at home to Spurs was dismal. Cardiff wasn’t much better. The quarter final at Ewood Park was by far the worse. The team that got us promoted out of Div 1 in 2002 was leagues better than that side. Always thought it was odd that Barton was the butt of the abuse that day as he was far from our poorest player and he did try.

 

[M18CTID]

The final against Stoke aside, obviously the semi against United takes some beating. I think that was the turning point for post-takeover City and it was the first time for us at the new Wembley and the first time at Wembley since the Gillingham game. Drank enough beer before and after to sink a battleship - the perfect City match day for me. We did the business against our biggest rivals in a huge game and had a cracking day out to boot.

Amongst the less obvious matches, QPR away in the 4th round in 1993 remains one of my all time favourite cup ties. QPR is always a cracking away day and in the lead up to this one, we were made aware of the stat that they hadn't lost a home FA Cup tie for something like 13 years. Not only that, Les Ferdinand was their star player and all the reports in the days leading up to the match suggested he was injured and would play no part. However, he made a miraculous recovery and started the match. There were thousands of blues there packing out the away end and loads were in their end too. I was in the seats above the terracing and with about 20 minutes to go, David White smashed an unstoppable shot into the roof of the net to give us the lead. Cue a pitch invasion from blues below on the terrace. A few minutes later Vonk doubled our lead with a close range effort and we were in dreamland. The celebrations were manic and the away end was jumping. There followed the obligatory nervy finish with Holloway halving the deficit as we approached injury time and some late pressure saw QPR win a corner. Incredibly, the ref blew up before they had a chance to take it and we were in the hat for the 5th round draw.

As for my least favourite cup games, there are a fair few contenders and I've narrowed it down to Spurs at home in the "93 quarter final, Cardiff away in '94 (for reasons off the pitch as well as on it), and the 4-1 loss at Lincoln in the League Cup in '96.

 

[JGL07]

My worst FA Cup experience was a match at Shrewsbury around 1965. I had booked the train ticket in advance but was hit with a bad dose of flu but recovered just in time to go to the match.

The one good news was that someone had left the gate at the back of the terrace open and we got in for free. The bad news was that City played with no skill, no passion, and no effort.

The players were on the same train back and while all the supporters were gutted, they seemed unconcerned and spent the journey smoking, drinking and chasing the girls.

There were a few seven players in that team but you wouldn't have guessed.

The Saturday after was I think when City had their lowest ever League crowd against Swindon.

But then shortly after City signed Johnnie Crossan and things started to improve.

 

[silverback]

I remember as a kid we played Southampton in the Cup at Maine Road. I think they were in Division 2 but were on a giant killing run. They brought an army of fans they beat us 5-1 or something.......

Well remembered, what a shambles made worse for me because my brother was playing in a Semi Final somewhere and it was a toss up to see where I went. Anyway down to Maine Road expectations were high but a typical City showed up that day and it did indeed finish 1-5. They had Terry Paine playing for them and he tore us a new one, an unknown at the time and obvious research was none existent and he did to us what Mike Summerbee did for Swindon a few years later.
Just looked it up and it was 1960, where have those years gone?

 

[nellyonthewing]

Well remembered, what a shambles made worse for me because my brother was playing in a Semi Final somewhere and it was a toss up to see where I went. Anyway down to Maine Road expectations were high but a typical City showed up that day and it did indeed finish 1-5. They had Terry Paine playing for them and he tore us a new one, an unknown at the time and obvious research was none existent and he did to us what Mike Summerbee did for Swindon a few years later.
Just looked it up and it was 1960, where have those years gone?

Thanks Silver back .I was in shock after that game .It was then I first realised 'complacency' is in City's DNA.