Tag Archives: Manchester City

NOT QUITE A PERFORMANCE FOR A KING

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Cup finals excepting, the only time Liverpool have played in front of  a reigning monarch was in 1920 when their game against Manchester City at Hyde Road was watched by King George V. The Reds were unable to put on a royal show though as they went down 2-1 after being in the lead at half time.

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The King was in Liverpool the day before the game to attend the Grand National at Aintree. His train arrived at Fazakerley shortly after noon, and crowds braved the rain to line the mile long route to the racecourse, to where he was transported in a landau accompanied by his host the Earl of Derby. As the King took his seat at the front of the grandstand,  the crowd gave three cheers and the National Anthem was played.

After watching Troytown win the race, the King went to Knowsley Hall for tea with the Earl of Derby then joined the Royal Train at Huyton, which then left for Didsbury. He spent the night on the train which was surrounded by policemen and soldiers. The next morning he was joined for breakfast by the Town Clerk and Lord Mayor of Manchester, before being taken into the city. Once there he visited Grangethorpe Hospital in Fallowfield, where wounded soldiers from the Great War were being treated. He then gave some Royal Red Cross Medals to hospital nursing staff, before being taken to Hyde Road for the game.

The King was taken on to the pitch where he shook hands with all the players from both sides. He then took a seat in the directors box to watch the match along with 40,000 other fans. Liverpool had the better of the first half with the forward line linking extremely well. Inside right Harry Chambers gave them the lead from the penalty spot after twenty minutes  and he could have had two more before the break but Jim Goodchild made a couple of fine saves.Harry_Chambers

City improved after the break and Horace Barnes equalised on the hour. The Reds fought back and were the better side but with fifteen minutes remaining Barnes scored again to give City the lead. Again the Reds fought back but they couldn’t find an equaliser and City had avenged their 1-0 defeat at Anfield a week earlier.

This had been the second time the Reds had been watched by King George V and on the previous occasions the Reds had also lost. That was at Crystal Palace in the FA Cup final in 1914, when they went down 1-0 to Burnley. In 1921, King George V watched a game at Anfield, but it didn’t involve the Reds. After visiting Liverpool for the Grand National on 18th March, he stayed on to watch the following day’s FA Cup semi final between Cardiff and Wolves, which ended  in a 0-0 draw, Wolves winning the replay 3-1 at Old Trafford.

 

LIVERPOOL LEAVE IT LATE TO BEAT LATE CITY

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In the second home game of 1966-67, Liverpool beat newly promoted Manchester City with a late winner after they had surrendered a two goal lead.

Champions Liverpool had won their opening game of the season against Leicester, but two away trips since then had ended in defeats to Everton and Manchester City. In addition to beating the Reds a week earlier, newly promoted City had won against Sunderland and drawn with Southampton and had hopes of maintaining their unbeaten start to the season.

The clash with City was set for Tuesday 30th August 1966 and the City team stopped off in Lymm on their way to Liverpool for an early evening meal. Leaving in what they thought was good time, they got caught in a rush hour traffic jam and then were held up in matchday congestion once they got near the ground.

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With just half an hour to go until kickoff, the City squad had no choice but to leave the coach and make the rest of the journey on foot, hauling the kit skips with them. Needless to say the ribbing they got from Reds fans was merciless and on arriving at the ground, there was no time for any preparation or teamtalk as the kickoff had already been delayed for a short time.

Liverpool were swift to punish their opponents and with Peter Thompson in fine form on the wing, they were 2-0 up inside the first seven minutes through Roger Hunt and Geoff Strong. However, City managed to regain their composure and Jimmy Murray pulled a goal back before half time. In the 2nd half City stunned the Reds when Matt Gray scored an equaliser. However, their earlier ordeal finally took it’s toll and Roger Hunt got Liverpool’s winner ten minutes from the end.

For City manager Joe Mercer, an ex Everton player, the defeat had been hard to bear as he was keen to do the league double over the Reds so early in the season. He blamed the coach driver for taking the route he did (the M62 was just at the planning stage then) but they still hadn’t recovered by their next game. Seven days later West Ham beat them 4-1 at Maine Road.