I’ve seen it mentioned often in the build up to today’s FA Cup tie between Manchester City and Cheltenham Town that the two clubs have never met before. Well, that may be true for competitive fixtures but there has been a previous meeting.
On August 2nd 1994 the two teams met in a testimonial for Cheltenham midfielder Steve Brooks. City classed the game as a reserve team friendly and my own records show the following details:
I have the attendance as an estimated 300 but Cheltenham sources say 816 which has to be more like it (I’ll correct my records now!).
The City team was: Margetson, Kerr, Beech, Simpson, Foster (Smith 66), Harkin, Finney, Groenendijk, Mike (Brown 75), Griffiths (Thomas 46), Whitley (Sharpe 46). Unused sub: Nurse.
The goals were scored by Carl Griffiths (2) and Michael Brown for City; Jimmy Smith and Simon Cooper for Cheltenham.
Thanks to Martin Wilson for reminding me of this game.
Gary James' Football Archive 