CITY 4 WEST HAM UNITED 2

League Division 1

2nd October 1976

attendance 37,795

Scorers
City Owen(45), Tueart(54 & 89), Hartford(80)
West Ham A Taylor(62), Doyle(84 og)

Ref J Taylor

City Corrigan, Clements, Donachie, Doyle, Watson, Owen, Barnes, Kidd, Royle, Hartford, Tueart – Keegan(unused)

West Ham Day, Coleman, Green, T Taylor, Lock, Bonds, Brooking, McGiven, Jennings, A Taylor, Paddon – sub Ayris(51)

FROM THE PRESS BOX

PETER GARDNER WRITING IN THE MANCHESTER EVENING NEWS FOOTBALL PINK FINAL 2ND OCTOBER 1976
Gary Owen, 18 year old England youth international, provided the pick-me-up tonic for Manchester City as they strived desperately to shake off the hangover inflicted by a double dose of defeat in the last eight days.
The St Helens born youngster timed his first ever League goal to perfection, shooting the Blues ahead just seconds before half-time against West Ham United at Maine Road.
It was a psychological killer breaking the deadlock of what had otherwise been an uninspiring match.

City, beaten by their arch rivals from Old Trafford last week and then kicked out of Europe on Wednesday, put West Ham under enormous pressure but until this superb Owen effort the chances had gone begging, although Brian Kidd was unlucky with one effort that was agonisingly inches off target.
Doyle sent Jennings flying with a foul tackle just inside the City half, but with the crowd building towards the 34,000 mark the free kick went straight through to Corrigan.
Tueart made progress down the right holding off a double pronged challenge from Paddon and Lock with his cross going behind off the West Ham full back for a corner.
Tueart kept United under pressure on the right hand side but finally his left footed cross was straight into the hands of Day.

… If anything the Hammers were the more creative side at this stage, Paddon pushing through some penetrating passes that were only just failing to find their mark.
… When City did start to string passes together the result was a more positive look.
The hard working Donachie foraged forward from the halfway line and Owen switched the point of play to the right where Clements crossed for Tueart to send a header dipping just over the crossbar.

… Barnes crossed from the left and Kidd headed just over with Tueart challenging for the centre.
City despite their pressure, were getting nowhere fast in a game that had not reached any great heights.
… In the 39th minute Kidd looked as though he might break his League scoring duck with a cleverly flighted shot, but it went agonisingly inches the wrong side of a post.
Just before half-time City finally broke the deadlock with a first ever League goal from Owen. Royle had failed to make the break down the right but when the ball was played into the middle Owen cheekily chipped it forward to score a delightful goal as the ball tipped tantalisingly over the hands of Day.
Half-time: Manchester City 1, West Ham United 0.

Within seconds of the restart City could have had a second goal. From a fine Clement’s clearance down the right, a spirited run by Hartford saw him reach the ball to cross in front of Day, but Royle, coming in by the far post, was able only to drive the ball outside.
… In the 53rd minute City took an even firmer grip on the game with a second goal created for them following a mistake by Hammers skipper Bonds.
It was his bad pass that put Barnes in possession and though the City youngster was partially held off by Tommy Taylor, Barnes managed to squeeze the ball through to Tueart who had the easiest of tasks of driving the ball home as he came in fast from the right, increasing his lead as City’s top marksman this season.
… West Ham hit back with Tommy Taylor getting the ball out to Coleman, although the full back’s cross flew straight at Corrigan. And in their next raid, in the 64th minute, they struck a decisive blow by trimming the arrears with a fine goal.
Paddon split the Blues at the back with a fine diagonal cross that left Alan Taylor all the space he needed on the right. He exploited the situation superbly shooting well past Corrigan as the City keeper left his line to try and retrieve the position.

… Nine minutes from the end Hartford finally earned his pay off with his first goal of the season. Tueart made the running but when he found his way blocked from the right Hartford took over and placed a well angled drive wide of Day.
And then, five minutes from the end, the Hammers did get a second goal thanks to City skipper Doyle. Corrigan could be faulted at punching a Paddon cross instead of catching it when there seemed no imminent danger.
The ball flew up in the air and when Watson went up for it so did Doyle, who turned it back into his own net with a header.
The scoring feast was not over yet however, in the 89th minute Tueart was again on the mark, slotting the ball in from the right after another splendid run by Clements, who had certainly made the most of his return.