Blackburn Rovers v Manchester City FA Cup 5th Round 1968/69

BLACKBURN ROVERS 1 CITY 4

FA Cup 5th Round

24th February 1969

attendance 42,315

scorers

City Lee(13 & 73), Coleman(59 & 78)

Blackburn Fryatt(58)

Ref R Harper

City Dowd, Book, Pardoe, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Lee, Young, Coleman - sub Owen(unused)

Blackburn Blacklaw, Newton, Calloway, Mulvaney, Coddington, Sharples, Metcalfe, Darling, Fryatt, Martin, Connelly - sub Douglas(70)

 TONY COLEMAN AND FRANCIS LEE SCORE CITY'S 2ND AND 3RD GOALS

The game, which should originally have been played on 7th February 1969, but it suffered a whole spate of postponements through the weather and also a flu epidemic which swept through the Rovers' squad as effectively as we were to do when the game finally took place on Monday 24th February. With the post-war track record weighted heavily in Blackburn’s favour, and also considering that City had only played one game since 18th January, and that was abandoned before half-time, the home fans in the 42,315 crowd had every reason for optimism. But this was to be City's Cup year, remember? We had already dismissed Luton and Newcastle, and Ewood held no fears for the Blues. On the night there was clearly a whole division in class between the teams, and City were unstoppable. The teams cautiously probed each other for the first 13 minutes of the game. Jim Fryatt caused a few problems for us with his ability to get up to high balls, while Lee and Surnrnerbee looked threatening in patches. Then came the first blow to Rovers hopes. Colin Bell, whose passing on the night was sheer magic, split the Rovers' defence and Lee left them looking for an offside flag that never came. Keith Newton tried to close the distance but when Franny had an opportunity like that there was generally only one outcome. He raced over 40 yards, showed the ball to 'keeper Adam Blacklaw, and planted it firmly home.

Half-time came with City in the driving seat, but Manager Eddie Quigley clearly gave his players new heart for the resumption, Fryatt equalising with a header after only three minutes. But their celebrations were quelled 10 minutes later when City winger Tony Coleman latched on to a square pass from Bell and hit home a screamer, with his 'wrong" right foot. City then kept up the pressure. Neil Young evaded a series of wild challenges to feed Lee, whose run ended with another unstoppable shot past Blacklaw. Then Coleman completed the scoring a little later to give us a 4-1 win and a home tie against Spurs the following Saturday. FROM AN ARTICLE BY JOHN MADDOCKS PUBLISHED IN THE CITY PROGRAMME 5TH SEPTEMBER 1987 

TONY COLEMAN MAKES IT 4-1

FROM FRANCIS LEE, TRIUMPH, TREACHERY AND TOILET ROLLS Then followed an enforced winter break from the League with pitches unplayable, which meant it was almost a month before our next game, In the FA Cup again. This was the rearranged fifth round at Blackburn's Ewood Park... ... We could have been excused had we been rusty, as could Second Division Rovers, given they'd overcome a flu epidemic, but we were more than ready. I raced onto a cracking pass from Colin Bell, after 13 minutes to open the scoring and, as I did, I had Malcolm Allison's game plan ringing in my ears. He reassured us that Rover's defence was far too square, and we'd beat them with through balls. He couldn't have written a better script, Their Striker Jim Fryatt headed them back on terms early in the second half But there was only one outcome on the night. Another good pass from Belly set up Tony Coleman, and he made it 2-1 with a fine shot. Next, Neil Young slipped a few challenges to find me, and I finished my run with a good shot past keeper Adam Blacklaw, Five minutes later, Coleman got a second goal, too, to wrap it up 4-1.