With Manchester City and Plymouth meeting this weekend it’s worth remembering this past encounter between the two teams. They met on 10 November 1987 – only three days after City had thrashed Huddersfield 10-1 in the League. The meeting with Plymouth was in the Full Members’ Cup – then sponsored by the unforgettable Simod Sports Shoes. Manchester’s football focus had been on Mel Machin’s goalscorerd and, once again, City entertained.
Plymouth suffered a 6-2 defeat only three days after the Huddersfield massacre. Again the press picked up on City’s exploits and for once the rather irrelevant Simod Cup dominated the back page headlines. The Star concentrated on the role played by Tony Adcock who had scored his second hat-trick in three days. Under the headline “Adcock’s ‘Arf Hour” reporter Kevin Francis concentrated on the news that the £80,000 signing from Colchester was only in the side because of injury to Imre Varadi, and suggested that Machin would have a difficult selection problem once Varadi returned to fitness. Machin, who also had the prolific Paul Moulden recovering from injury, looked forward to the time when he would actually be faced with the problem of selecting two of the four decent strikers he had on his books!
Interestingly, City’s first goalscorer against Plymouth, Andy Hinchcliffe, was being watched by Liverpool manager Kenny Dalglish. Already the Blues were aware that almost all the wealthiest British clubs of the period were keen on City’s headline grabbing young players. Only four months later Rangers manager Graeme Souness arrived at Maine Road to watch the game against Swindon. He paid to sit in the North Stand, and watched the exploits of Paul Stewart while covering half his face with a scarf to hide his identity! It didn’t work. A Sunday People reporter spotted the Rangers manager and his assistant, Walter Smith, and forced the pair to leave before they attracted further attention.
For a while the interest in the achievements of City’s young players was high and this meeting with Plymouth certainly gained more headlines for them. The goalscorers that night for City were: Andy Hinchcliffe, Paul Lake, Paul Stewart and Tony Adcock (3).
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Tomorrow’s feature is on the 1988-89 season. If you missed the earlier features then start here:
The 1980s: 1980-1981 Gow, Hutchison & McDonald
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