Matt Kite reminded me
this week that we are approaching the 40th anniversary of
Coventry Sporting's famous FA Cup run which saw them get the scalp of
league club Tranmere Rovers. Matt is the son of David Kite who was
the manager of Sporting at the time and both father and son have been
big City fans for many years.
After progressing
through the FA Cup Qualifying rounds, Sporting reached the First
Round proper for the first and only time in their history. The draw
paired them with Tranmere and it was quickly clear that their small
ground at Kirby Corner would be unable to cope with a sizeable crowd.
Coventry City stepped in and offered to host the tie at Highfield
Road. On 22 November 1975 Sporting pulled off a major giant-killing
act, beating their high-flying Division Four opponents 2-0 with both
goals scored by 19-year old Rolls Royce apprentice Stewart Gallagher.
A crowd of 4,565 watched the tie and gave a massive financial boost
to the part-timers .
In the second round
Sporting, whose assistant manager was former City and England
goalkeeper Reg Matthews, were given another home tie, this time the
visitors were Third Division Peterborough United. The fans were
dreaming of another victory followed by a tie with Coventry City in
round three. Posh however, managed by former City boss Noel Cantwell,
had other ideas and shattered the dream, winning 4-0 in front of over
8,500 fans at Highfield Road.
It's a massive game at
the Ricoh Arena today with league leaders Gillingham in town for the
top v second clash. With the teams level on points and separated by a
single goal, the winners will be league leaders tonight. There was
much speculation on Twitter this week about the last time the Sky
Blues were the league leaders other than at the start of the season.
In 2001-02 City were top of the Championship for one day at the end
of October after a 10-match unbeaten run culminating in a 2-0 home
victory over Sheffield Wednesday, remembered for a superb goal direct
from a free-kick from Youssef Safri. The following day Wolves beat
Burnley 3-0 to leapfrog City and Roland Nilsson's team never reached
those heady heights again.
Prior to 2001 City had
not been in top place in any league apart from brief spells in the
early weeks of 1992-93 and 1989-90. You have to go back to the Jimmy
Hill for the last time the club were in the top position for any
length of time. In 1966-67, the Second Division Championship season
the Sky Blues were slowish starters and did not hit top spot until a
win at St Andrews on 7th January. They kept top spot until
the end of March and only regained it during the final match of the
season as they leapfrogged Wolves to snatch the title.
By coincidence, fifty
years ago this weekend the Sky Blues hit the top spot in Division Two
following a 1-0 win at St Andrews. They stayed there one week and
missed out on promotion by one point, having to wait a further season
to reach the First Division.
Another question, from
Moz Baker, was: when was the last time that Sky Blues were involved
in a top v second game in any division? My immediate reaction was to
say the Wolves game at Highfield Road in 1967 when 51,452 watched
City beat their West Midland rivals in the Second Division. Phil Fisk
on Twitter reminded me that early in the 1992-93 season,
second-placed City hosted league leaders Norwich City. Peter Ndlovu
replied to an early Ian Crook strike by the Canaries and the game
ended 1-1. In the Premier League's inaugural season Bobby Gould's Sky
Blues never got as high as second again and finished 15th.
There was also an early season game in 1978-79 when City, unbeaten in
their first five games, were second and travelled to Anfield to face
leaders Liverpool. City lost 1-0 to a Graeme Souness goal.
There was sad news last
week that former City goalkeeper Marton Fulop had lost his fight
against cancer and died at the young age of 32. The Hungarian joined
City on loan from Tottenham in October 2005 after Stephen Bywater was
recalled by West Ham. City were in the bottom three in the
Championship when he arrived but he kept a clean sheet on his debut,
a 1-0 home win over Luton. Dennis Wise is credited for City's
remarkable turnaround that season but Fulop has to take a lot of
credit too. He gave the defence great confidence and he was only on
the losing side twice in 18 games at the Ricoh as the new stadium
became a fortress for the only time. City finished eighth that season
– their best finish in eleven seasons in the Championship – and
Fulop played 33 league and Cup games under Micky Adams.
In late 2006 Roy Keane
signed him for Sunderland and he played sporadically for the
Wearsiders over the next four seasons, interspersed with loans at
Leicester, Stoke and Manchester City. In 2010 he rejoined Keane at
Ipswich and was a regular in their Championship side for one season
before a move to West Brom where he warmed the bench as back up for
Ben Foster under Roy Hodgson for the 2011-12 season. His final move
took him to Greek Superleague side Asteras Tripoli and he won a Greek
Cup runner-up medal with them in 2013. Marton won 24 full caps for
Hungary and would have won more but for the form of Gabor Kiraly.
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