CRYSTAL PALACE 0 CITY 1

League Division 1

19th August 1970

Attendance 33,118

scorer Oakes(70)

Ref L Callaghan

City Corrigan, Book, Pardoe, Doyle, Heslop, Oakes, Towers, Bell, Summerbee, Lee, Hill – Sub Jeffries(unused)

Palace Jackson, Sewell, Wall, Payne, McCormick, Blythe, Scott, Kember, Queen, Birchenall, Tambling

FROM THE PRESS BOX

DESMOND HACKETT WRITING IN THE DAILY EXPRESS 20TH AUGUST 1970
One simple goal snatched a £200 pay packet from Crystal Palace’s grasp last night.
The man who laid it on, Freddie Hill, who cost only £11,000 when City bought him from Halifax late last season.
Palace were powering forward in search of a cash win when Hill suddenly stepped up 20 minutes from the end.
He picked up a Mike Summerbee pass, slid forward and crossed the ball perfectly, Alan Oakes was up with the attack, and his shot crashed into the net off a post.
Pity poor Palace ‘keeper John Jackson who, until them, had been having a fairly leisurely evening as his enthusiastic pals really turned the pressure on to City.
This man Hill could turn out to be the bargain buy of the year. The accuracy of his dross for that goal was simply a reflection of his general ability.
Yet Palace had made all the running. I felt that they would have done so even without the incentive of that enormous pay packet.
And Manchester City, of whom I expected so much this season? They fumbled their way through the match, showing so little of the skill we know they possess.
It was incredible to see internationals like Summerbee, Francis Lee, and Colin Bell looking very ordinary soccer mortals indeed.
This was the kind of game which typifies the system of running madly without real thought or planning. I believe the teams which will win honours this season will be those which have have the wit to pause and contemplate.
Twice this week I have seen teams trying, it seemed, to run themselves to destruction. It is obvious that this game must be calmed down.
Palace poured on pressure from the start. Bobby Tambling was inches wide with a shot that would have turned the whole course of the game.
Then Gerry Queen had a shot smothered by City goalkeeper Joe Corrigan, and the rest of the first half brought grateful applause from the enthusiastic and tolerant crowd.
It seemed inevitable and it happened. Palace moved into relentless attack again in the second half and Jim Scott fired in a shot that Corrigan scrambled to hold,
Then it looked as though a shot from Bobby Tambling was going to bring the reward. Palace were demanding. But Corrigan, though he fumbled again, managed to hang on.
So it was from this move that City scored. They had other chances too, like the astonishing miss from Lee, when he hammered the ball wide of an empty goal.
Yet on the evidence of it all, ragged City didn’t deserve victory. And they certainly didn’t deserve to rob Palace of that hefty weekend pay packet.