Manchester City v Coventry City League Cup 5th Round Replay 1973/74

 CITY 4 COVENTRY CITY 2

League Cup 5th Round Replay

16th January 1974

attendance 25,409

scorers City Summerbee(65), Lee(80 & 83 pen), Law(87) Coventry Alderson(35 & 68)

Ref Pat Partridge

City  MacRae, Barrett, Donachie, Doyle, Booth, Towers, Summerbee, Bell, Lee, Law, Marsh - sub Leman(unused) Coventry Glazier, Coop, Holmes, McGuire, Craven, Dougdale, Cartright, Alderson, Stein, Carr, Hutchison - sub Green

 DENIS LAW STABS THE BALL HOME THROUGH THE QUAGMIRE

The Replay at Maine Road was played in torrential rain which left the pitch a sea of mud. Yet the abysmal conditions only added to the enjoyment of the match, which was played at an unusual time of 1-30pm midweek, due to restrictions on electricity from the miner's strike. Saunders' City did everything but score as they pounded away at Coventry for half an hour. Then against the run of play Coventry took the lead through the diminutive Alderson, who was on the mark with a shot that Keith MacRae possibly should have saved, but he saw the ball bounce off his arms and trickle into the net. Shortly before half time Glazier made a superb save from Bell, and the City fans were thinking they would never score. The second period was much like the first and eventually It was Summerbee who scored the equaliser with just over an hour gone. Within three minutes, however, Alderson had struck again, swooping on to a Bell mistake, to beat three defenders before scoring a great goal. It seemed all over. But City fought back again with two goals from Francis Lee, the second being a penalty, City were now 3-2 up.The tie was then settled when Denis Law made it 4-2 very late in the game. The headlines the next day proclaimed City as "THE MUDDY MARVELS" in what was one of the best ties ever played in the League Cup.