CITY 1 COVENTRY 0
League Division 1
5th September 1973
attendance 30,931
scorer Marsh(72 pen)
City Corrigan, Pardoe, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Oakes, Summerbee, Bell, Law, Carrodus, Marsh – sub Lee(45)
Coventry Glazier, Coop, Holmes, Mortimer, Craven, Dugdale, Smith, Alderson, Stein, Green, Hutchison – sub Barry(unused)
Joe Mercer’s first return to Maine Road as manager of the opposition probably deserved at least a point, however Denis Law may have begged to differ, for had not Coventry’s custodian made some amazing saves from the Scottish striker on his second stint at City, the Blues could have been out of sight by half time.
As it was it took a dubious penalty decision by poor referee Robert Armstrong to hand both points to City, as Peter Gardner described the incident in the Manchester Evening News; “Even Joe Mercer had to smile about the penalty that had Manchester City fans rolling in the Aisles at Maine Road…
The Blues probably burned up all their penalty luck for the season in that one incident when Francis Lee, second half substitute for the injured Alan Oakes, did nothing more than appear to fall over the legs of Alan Dugdale.”
Lee left the penalty duties to the transfer listed Rodney Marsh, who calmly converted the spot kick to give City both points.