LongsightM13
Well-Known Member
Will Sunday put an end to 'Typical City' once and for all?
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/jan/06/joy-of-six-fa-cup?CMP=EMCFTBEML853" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... CFTBEML853</a>
Portsmouth, shock cup winners over Wolves in 1939, hold the record for holding on to the trophy for the longest time. The tournament was suspended during the second world war, and the cup was kept safe and sound by the south-coast club for the best part of seven years. So it was only fair they let go of it with immediate effect once proper hostilities ended and footballing ones resumed. Portsmouth and Birmingham City were the last two names out of the velvet bag in the 1945-46 third-round draw, but that was all the hanging around Pompey did in the competition that year. City won 1-0 after two games – every tie was a two-legged affair in this first post-war season – with the deciding goal sent sailing past his own keeper by the appropriately named Portsmouth defender Reg Flewin.
The next holders to fall at the first hurdle were Manchester City. And when City fall, they make sure they get full marks for artistic merit. On the same day Sir Anthony Eden resigned as prime minister, City set about ending their own reign in the grand style. In a third-round replay against Newcastle United on a boggy Maine Road pitch, City went 3-0 up before the break, thanks to a Bob Stokoe own goal, one from the previous season's final hero Bobby Johnstone, and another from Paddy Fagan. On the few occasions Newcastle attacked, Bert Trautmann – his neck fully repaired – stopped them in their tracks. All good and well.
Soon after the restart, Tommy Casey scored a penalty to bring the score back to 3-1. Play, reported WR Taylor in the Guardian, became scrappy: "Casey burst through to kick the ball so high over the bar that it flew towards the scoreboard and drew attention to the fact that Peterborough United were beating Lincoln City, something of more interest than the play at that particular moment." The game would spice up eventually, though. Despite going down to 10 men, with Dick Keith injured, Newcastle hauled themselves back into the game. Alex Tait polished off a mazy dribble to make it 3-2, then with five minutes to go, Bill Curry waltzed in from the wing and equalised.
Johnstone made it 4-3 to City early in extra-time, but Len White immediately equalised after latching on to a loose backpass, before scoring the winner. "At the end, a City supporter was rash enough to say something about bad luck. The scorn of the Tyneside rejoinder had to be heard to be believed. 'With three goals start?! Unlucky?!' Supporters on both sides could hardly believe what had happened, but one Newcastle partisan was in no doubt and intended, he said, to celebrate with caviar and chips."
<a class="postlink" href="http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/2012/jan/06/joy-of-six-fa-cup?CMP=EMCFTBEML853" onclick="window.open(this.href);return false;">http://www.guardian.co.uk/sport/blog/20 ... CFTBEML853</a>
Portsmouth, shock cup winners over Wolves in 1939, hold the record for holding on to the trophy for the longest time. The tournament was suspended during the second world war, and the cup was kept safe and sound by the south-coast club for the best part of seven years. So it was only fair they let go of it with immediate effect once proper hostilities ended and footballing ones resumed. Portsmouth and Birmingham City were the last two names out of the velvet bag in the 1945-46 third-round draw, but that was all the hanging around Pompey did in the competition that year. City won 1-0 after two games – every tie was a two-legged affair in this first post-war season – with the deciding goal sent sailing past his own keeper by the appropriately named Portsmouth defender Reg Flewin.
The next holders to fall at the first hurdle were Manchester City. And when City fall, they make sure they get full marks for artistic merit. On the same day Sir Anthony Eden resigned as prime minister, City set about ending their own reign in the grand style. In a third-round replay against Newcastle United on a boggy Maine Road pitch, City went 3-0 up before the break, thanks to a Bob Stokoe own goal, one from the previous season's final hero Bobby Johnstone, and another from Paddy Fagan. On the few occasions Newcastle attacked, Bert Trautmann – his neck fully repaired – stopped them in their tracks. All good and well.
Soon after the restart, Tommy Casey scored a penalty to bring the score back to 3-1. Play, reported WR Taylor in the Guardian, became scrappy: "Casey burst through to kick the ball so high over the bar that it flew towards the scoreboard and drew attention to the fact that Peterborough United were beating Lincoln City, something of more interest than the play at that particular moment." The game would spice up eventually, though. Despite going down to 10 men, with Dick Keith injured, Newcastle hauled themselves back into the game. Alex Tait polished off a mazy dribble to make it 3-2, then with five minutes to go, Bill Curry waltzed in from the wing and equalised.
Johnstone made it 4-3 to City early in extra-time, but Len White immediately equalised after latching on to a loose backpass, before scoring the winner. "At the end, a City supporter was rash enough to say something about bad luck. The scorn of the Tyneside rejoinder had to be heard to be believed. 'With three goals start?! Unlucky?!' Supporters on both sides could hardly believe what had happened, but one Newcastle partisan was in no doubt and intended, he said, to celebrate with caviar and chips."