On this day (12 November) in 1898 Manchester City’s tenth League game of the season saw them travel to promotion rivals Glossop North End. According to the Glossop Chronicle the attendance was 7,000 with over half the attendance coming from Manchester. City won the match 2-1 with goals from Gillespie and Meredith. The Chronicle reporter described the opener as ‘the softest I have ever seen.’ He went on: ‘Williams [Glossop’s ‘keeper] got down to stop the ball as it rolled quietly goalwards, but he completely missed it, although it was going so slowly it hardly rolled as far as the net.’
The Glossop match came in the middle of a 13 match unbeaten run, placing City as comfortable League leaders. The main photo is of Glossop in 1898 and the following is of City that same season.
You can find out about the return game here:
Gary James' Football Archive 