CITY 4 SOUTHAMPTON 2

League Division 1

30th August 1967

attendance 22,002

scorers
City Young(29 & 59), Bell(65 & 68)
Southampton Chivers(33), Davies(35)

Ref K Wynn

City Dowd, Book, Pardoe, Cheetham, Heslop, Oakes, Hince, Summerbee, Bell, Young, Coleman – sub Doyle(10)

Southampton Forsyth, Webb, Hollywood, Fisher, Gabriel, Walker, Paine, Chivers, Davies, Melia, Sydenham – sub Wimshurst(unused)

  NEIL YOUNG SCORES CITY’S FIRST TWO GOALS

FROM THE PRESS BOX

Manchester City, who in the first half seemed to be striving in vain to prevent Southampton from completing a double over them, took command after the interval at Maine Road last night by sheer physical effort and won 4-2.
It was their first win of the season and revenge in full for their defeat 3-2 at The Dell the previous Wednesday. In the end their defence recovered from the shaky start that made the scoring of Southampton‘s two goals easy. They owed their victory mainly to the attack, in which Bell was at his best during the last 20 minutes. Efforts like they made last night can mask the lack of a consistent goalscorer like Davies, of Southampton, who faded out of the picture in the second half. Davies was not alone in this and only Fisher maintained good form for Southampton throughout the match.
City , obviously feeling that the double threat of Chivers and Davies in the penalty area needed to be countered by something special, bunched in the middle with the result that the first real threat came from the right wing where Paine sent In a tentative lob that beat Dowd and bounced off the top of the crossbar. Having survived this and lived perilously on two other occasions when Davies rose to high centres, City decided lt was time they started posing their own problems. A fine drive by Young was headed tor a corner by Gabriel from between the posts with Forsyth well beaten.
City continued to put Southampton under pressure with lively approach play. Coleman moving in from outsde left and creating most trouble for Southampton. They scored first. Young beating Forsyth with a drive in the 29th minute after a crisp pass by Summerbee had ended a move started by Hince on the right wing. For all the promise shown by their attack City were soon let down by their defence. In the 32nd minute Chivers received a pass within the penalty area from Paine, and since no defender tried to stop him, he drove it home. A few minutes later Southampton were ahead, 2-1. Davies ran on to a pass from Fisher and dribbled the ball down the centre, beating Heslop twice as the defender backed before him. Then Davies beat Dowd with a fine shot.

COLIN BELL SCORES HIS SECOND GOAL AND CITY’S FOURTH

Bell, who had been recovering his form slowly after taking a heavy blow early ln the game, nearly put City level shortly after the interval. He took the ball on the right wing, beat the back twice, and his drive from 30 yards was just prevented from entering goal by the near post by a super dive from Forsyth.
The force of a shot by Sydenham nearly sent the ball into goal between Dowd’s legs, but generally City were on top in the second half. Young scored his, and City’s second goal in the 24th minute when Summerbee’s shot was not fully cleared. Six minutes later Hince, making only his second appearance for the first team, he scored two goals on his last, chased a loose ball to the dead ball line, stopping it Just in time and centreing it almost miraculously. The ball came across low and Bell running forward, made it 3-2 with a superb diving header. A few minutes later Bell scored again, reacting quickly when a pass came to him inside the penalty area.
Brian Crowther writing in The Guardian 31st August 1967